Taking wholesale coffee orders by email vs standing orders
Updated October 26, 2026 · For specialty coffee roasters with wholesale accounts
A lot of wholesale coffee runs on email: each café writes in when they are low, someone at the roastery copies it into the roast plan, and the bags go out. It is flexible and every café already knows how.
Email orders are hard to plan around. You don’t know next week’s volume until the emails arrive, orders hide in long threads, and a café that forgets to write runs out on a Saturday. Standing orders flip it around: the café agrees a regular amount and cadence, and you change it only when they ask.
Order by email vs standing orders
- Planning the roast
- Orders by email Wait for the emails
- Standing orders in SackOrder Next ship dates for every café, sorted
- A café forgets
- Orders by email They run out
- Standing orders in SackOrder The order is already on your board for its ship date
- Changes
- Orders by email In a thread
- Standing orders in SackOrder Edit the order; it keeps a history of who changed what
- The café checks
- Orders by email Emails you
- Standing orders in SackOrder Opens its private page with orders and ship dates
- Holidays and closures
- Orders by email You hope they say
- Standing orders in SackOrder Pause the order and resume later
| Orders by email | Standing orders in SackOrder | |
|---|---|---|
| Planning the roast | Wait for the emails | Next ship dates for every café, sorted |
| A café forgets | They run out | The order is already on your board for its ship date |
| Changes | In a thread | Edit the order; it keeps a history of who changed what |
| The café checks | Emails you | Opens its private page with orders and ship dates |
| Holidays and closures | You hope they say | Pause the order and resume later |
Moving cafés to standing orders
- Look at each café’s last two months of email orders and suggest a regular amount and cadence.
- Set it up as a standing order with the next ship date.
- Send the café its page so they can see exactly what is coming.
- Keep email for one-offs and changes, not the routine.
When email is still right
New accounts that are still finding their volume, and cafés that order rarely, can stay on email. Standing orders suit the regulars, which for most roasters are most of the wholesale volume.