HECTOR ARZATE

The context

I'm in the process of acquiring a small specialty coffee company. After analyzing their operations, it became clear that the highest-margin opportunity wasn't retail — it was B2B wholesale (selling roasted coffee to other cafés). Most cafés buy 4–6 kg per week and pay very low margins (~70 MXN per 5 kg). The real value was in helping these cafés operate more efficiently and profitably.

Problem discovery

Instead of just selling coffee, I explored what additional problems these 150+ café clients were facing:

• Unpredictable barista absences (no-shows, vacations, turnover)
• Poor inventory control of milk, bread, syrups, and supplies
• Manual ordering and high waste
• No digital presence (menu, payments, loyalty)
• Lack of training and operational standards

This led to a broader vision: build a subscription-based operating system for cafés that goes far beyond selling beans.

The solution concept

BearShark OS is a multi-tenant SaaS platform that turns a roastery into a full-service partner for its café clients. For ~$200 USD/month per café, the system provides:

• Automated inventory tracking and weekly purchase recommendations
• Barista coverage network (on-demand trained baristas + full-time placement)
• Digital menu + QR ordering
• Payments and basic financial control
• Training modules and operational playbooks
• Contract roasting visibility between roastery and client

The goal is to increase the roastery's revenue per client from ~$15–20/month (just coffee) to $200+/month while genuinely helping cafés reduce costs and operate better.

Design process

1. 1. Business analysis

   Mapped the current revenue streams and identified B2B as the highest-leverage area.

2. 2. Opportunity rainstorming

   Listed every possible service that could be added on top of the existing coffee supply relationship — barista staffing, inventory, digital tools, training, and more.

3. 3. Core value definition

   Narrowed it down to the highest-impact features that could be delivered as a monthly subscription.

4. 4. Wireframing & system sketching

   Created low-fidelity sketches and flow diagrams (currently in PLVB2B/) to define the main user journeys for both roastery owners and café staff.

5. 5. Functional build (current phase)

   Focused first on making the system actually work:

   • Multi-tenant architecture with per-tenant subdomains
   • Role-based access (owner, manager, staff, barista)
   • Inventory and production modules for the roastery
   • Basic dashboard and ordering flows for cafés
   • Row-Level Security at the database level

   The priority right now is function over polish. Once the core workflows are stable, the visual layer will be refined.

Current state

The platform is in active development. It already supports multiple tenants, role permissions, and the foundational inventory + production logic. Click any screen below to open it full-size.