Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Volker Meyer-Lücke; founder and CEO: Our goal with Alrighty is to take specialty coffee out of its niche and make the industry fairer and more social. To achieve this, we support the underdogs in coffee and place a special focus on protecting diversity. After all, the coffee sector is unfair and faces various challenges – lack of transparency, structural discrimination, environmental protection and the effects of climate change, to name but a few. The current generation of coffee growers is getting older and cannot find new blood. Women usually have little chance of succeeding in the industry. Many African countries are being left behind by coffee export giants such as Brazil or Vietnam. The bottom line is that fewer and fewer producers and countries of origin are involved. This leads to less diversity – both in the industry and in taste – and the loss of livelihoods in the coffee origins.
Coffee rethought
Munich Startup: But that already exists!
Volker Meyer-Lücke: With Alrighty, we want to rethink coffee holistically. To this end, we have developed the Caretrade philosophy to support those who have had relatively fewer opportunities in the coffee industry to date: young farmers, women and farmers from Africa. Every Alrighty bean is responsibly sourced – in ecological, economic and social terms. All farmers use tools such as soil analysis, diversification of coffee fields or shade cultivation and thus contribute to environmentally friendly agriculture. We consistently pay fair prices that are well above the market price in order to offer farmers a secure livelihood and are also actively committed to combating the gender gap and structural and geographical discrimination.
We do not use aluminum for our packaging and only use single-origin plastic so that it can be recycled. We have also opened the first Alrighty roastery in Munich, where the focus is clearly on innovation and sustainability with a unique, resource-saving energy supply for the roasters. The roastery is also a café and event location where coffee-related events are held at regular intervals. Together, we want to change the industry for the better, have fun and educate people – without pointing a finger.
A brand that is fun
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Volker Meyer-Lücke: We all have a background in the beverage world, share a passionate enthusiasm for coffee and have set ourselves the goal of putting people at the center of coffee cultivation. My co-founder Daniel Rizzotti has over two decades of experience in marketing and sales in the retail and food service sectors – including at Dallmayr, where we met. After starting my coffee career in 1988 at a coffee roaster in Bremen, I was an authorized signatory at Dallmayr from 2000 to 2022. Our third co-founder, Sebastian Kroth, who previously worked in marketing at The Coca-Cola Company for 13 years, also has a great passion for coffee, always has a fresh perspective on our topics and enriches our team with a new perspective. Together with Alrighty, we want to rethink coffee, make specialty coffee accessible to the mainstream and create a brand that is fun – without compromising on quality and attitude.
Problems on the coffee market
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Volker Meyer-Lücke: The biggest challenge was to build a company from scratch – that is, from building the physical infrastructure to selling the finished product. At the moment, the coffee market is also more challenging than I have ever experienced in 35 years. This makes sourcing coffee much more complex and difficult. In addition, the European regulation for deforestation-free supply chains (EUDR) will change the market. This means that from January 1, 2025, companies will have to ensure that imported products such as cocoa, soy or coffee sold in the EU are not deforested or degraded in order to protect the climate and biodiversity. This is an important step towards protecting the environment.
At the same time, this means that for every coffee that is to be placed on the European market, the exact plot of land where it was grown must be documented. This poses existential challenges, particularly for smallholders in fragmented coffee-growing regions such as Ethiopia or Kenya, as it is often difficult or impossible to determine the exact origin of the beans due to local trade and marketing structures. If the directive is not amended, it will make it even more difficult to source coffee from the underdogs we support.
Alrighty wants to get specialty coffee out of its niche
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where would you like to be in five years?
Volker Meyer-Lücke: Our overarching goal is to bring high-quality and responsibly grown specialty coffee out of the niche and into everyday life. In a year’s time, we would like to further strengthen our presence in the retail and food service sectors. In five years, we see a sales potential of between 50 and 100 million euros, which corresponds to an annual production volume of up to 5,000 tons.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Volker Meyer-Lücke: We find Munich – and our location in the Werksviertel in particular – to be an ideal location. The Werksviertel is a vibrant spot, is one of the most ambitious construction projects and is green, urban and sustainable – which makes it a perfect fit for our philosophy.
Munich Startup: Risk or security?
Volker Meyer-Lücke: Going from being an employee to self-employment is probably always a bigger risk. But life is full of risks and, in my opinion, you should always follow your convictions.
