One way to use Local Lead Finder. Local Lead Finder is a $10 Google Sheets template I built that turns any Google Maps search into a lead list: every business, with phone, website, rating and reviews. This post is one use case for it: selling baked goods or coffee to cafes. I’m not a bakery or roaster; this is the playbook I’d follow if I were, run for real with the template. Other ways to use it are listed at the end, or see all 18 lead generation ideas.
If I had a commercial bakery or a small roastery in Boise, I’d want my pastries in the case or my beans in the grinder at the cafes people already line up at. The hard part isn’t the product. It’s knowing which coffee shops can actually say yes, and who to talk to.
Search “how to sell to coffee shops” and page 1 is mostly written for the cafe owner: how to boost sales, marketing ideas, what merch to put by the register, a guide to adding a pastry program. The few posts from suppliers are forum threads and a Facebook group where someone asks “who sells through coffee shops?” Nobody hands you the list. So here’s what I’d do this week instead. I ran it for real with Local Lead Finder, a $10 Google Sheet I built that pulls every business on Google Maps into a spreadsheet. One search found 142 coffee shops around Boise, and 83 of them are independent cafes where the owner decides. You’ll get the busiest ones, which to skip, the towns, and the message I’d send to sell wholesale to coffee shops.
TL;DR
- One “coffee shop” search across 42 Boise areas found 142 shops, and 83 are independents with a coffee-ish name and no chain.
- Pitch independents, where the owner can say yes; the 13 chain locations like Dutch Bros and Black Rock decide elsewhere.
- Don’t pitch beans to cafes that roast their own, like Caffeina Roasting Company; pitch them pastries if you bake.
Who this is for
- Small-batch coffee roaster: you get every independent cafe in a metro, busiest first, so you know where a free staff bag is worth dropping off.
- Commercial bakery owner: you get a list of cafes to pitch wholesale baked goods to, with phone numbers and towns.
- Pastry wholesaler: the review counts show which cafes move the most customers past the pastry case.
- Syrup or oat milk maker: independent cafes pick their own suppliers, and this is every one of them in one sheet.
- Food product sales rep: you get a territory list sorted by town, with the chains already set aside.
Before you start
- A Google Places API (New) key
- Local Lead Finder set up in your Google Drive
- Local Lead Finder itself
- Your region, like Boise, Idaho
- A sample box of pastries or a bag of beans to leave behind
- A short message that says what you make and asks one question
Don’t have a Places API key yet? How to get one free. Haven’t set up the sheet? Setup takes 5 minutes.
A quick note for bakers: I’m picturing a commercial kitchen here. If you bake at home, check your state’s cottage food rules before you sell to businesses.
The run: every coffee shop around Boise
Region: Boise, Idaho. Find Areas pulled 42 areas: Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Garden City and Kuna, plus Boise neighborhoods like the North End and Depot Bench. Then Find Leads > Search in All AREAS, keyword “coffee shop”:
It came back with 142 coffee shops. Each row has the name, phone, address, rating, number of reviews and website.
Independent coffee shops vs chains
A chain location can’t say yes to your croissants. The buying happens somewhere else. So I split the list:
- 83 independent cafes. These have a coffee-ish name and aren’t a chain. The owner is usually the one who picks the beans and the pastries.
- 13 chain locations. Dutch Bros, Black Rock, Human Bean, Starbucks and similar. Skip them.
One honest catch: I counted independents by name. A cafe without “coffee” or “cafe” in its name gets missed, so some real independents, like Rembrandts and Push & Pour, aren’t in the 83. Scroll the full list before you call it done.
To count a chain, I used COUNTIF with a wildcard, like this:
=COUNTIF('coffee shop (AREAS)'!A2:A,"*Dutch Bros*")
The independents to visit first
More reviews usually means more customers walking past the pastry case. Here are the most-reviewed independents:
- Flying M Coffee House, 1,436 reviews
- Alchemist Coffee Overland, 1,297
- Caffè Luciano’s, 897 (Garden City)
- Tipsy Chef Cafe, 858 (Meridian)
- District Coffee House, 749
- Slow by Slow Coffee, 708
That’s where I’d start. Busy counters, and owners who chose to be independent.
“They exist in every town, ready to be taken over and grown. Just ask the owner.” (Codie Sanchez, How Small Business Can Transform Your Wealth)
At an independent cafe, the owner is the one who can say yes to your pastries, so that’s who I’d ask for.
Roasters on the list
Some of these cafes roast their own coffee: Caffeina Roasting Company, Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters and The Roasteré. If you roast, skip them; they’re not buying beans. If you bake, they’re still good pitches for pastries.
Read the names for other clues too. Sunshine Spice Bakery & Cafe and Sunflower Bakery and Cafe have “bakery” in the name, so they probably bake for themselves. They’d be a better fit for a roaster than a baker.
Coffee shops by town
- Boise 88
- Meridian 19
- Eagle 15
- Garden City 13
- Kuna 6
The Riggins row is Two Rivers Coffee Roasters, which a neighborhood called Two Rivers pulled in. It’s nowhere near Boise, so delete it.
If you deliver, this is your route. Boise is most of the list, but Meridian, Eagle and Garden City are worth their own trips.
The town comes from the address with this formula:
=QUERY({ARRAYFORMULA(REGEXEXTRACT('coffee shop (AREAS)'!C2:C143,"([^,]+), [A-Z]{2} \d{5}"))},"select Col1, count(Col1) group by Col1 order by count(Col1) desc")
The message
Here’s how I’d pitch. For bakers: drop off a sample box at a slow hour, not during the morning rush. For roasters: leave a free bag for the staff to try on shift.
Set this as the WhatsApp message in SETTINGS so every cafe’s link opens with it:
Hi! I bake [pastries] in a commercial kitchen here in Boise. Could I drop off a free sample box for you and your staff this week? If you like them, I’d love to talk about supplying your case.
Roaster version: “I roast small batches here in Boise. Can I drop off a free bag for your staff to try?”
Then work down the list, busiest first. Mark each cafe Outreached so it turns green and you never pitch the same shop twice.
Step by step
- Get a Places API key and set up Local Lead Finder.
- Put your city in SETTINGS > Region and run Find Areas. Boise gave me 42 areas.
- Search “coffee shop” in all areas. I got 142.
- Set aside the chain locations (Dutch Bros, Black Rock, Human Bean, Starbucks).
- Sort the independents by reviews, busiest first. Check the full list for independents without “coffee” in the name.
- If you roast, skip the cafes that roast their own. If you bake, keep them.
- Delete anything outside your area, like the one row in Riggins.
- Visit at a slow hour with a sample box or a staff bag, and mark each cafe Outreached.
Common pitfalls
- Pitching chain locations: the 13 Dutch Bros, Black Rock, Human Bean and Starbucks locations don’t pick suppliers at the counter. Spend your samples on the 83 independents.
- Trusting the name filter: independents were counted by name, so cafes like Rembrandts and Push & Pour got missed. Scroll the full 142 before you finish.
- Pitching beans to a roaster: Caffeina Roasting Company, Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters and The Roasteré roast their own. Pitch them pastries instead, if you bake.
- Keeping rows from outside your area: a neighborhood named Two Rivers pulled in Two Rivers Coffee Roasters in Riggins. Check the town column and delete it.
- Trusting neighborhood names: the Basque Block area pulled in the Basque Market and a chorizo shop. Sort by Area and look at the odd ones.
- Showing up in the morning rush: nobody tastes a sample box with a line out the door. Go at a slow hour.
- Forgetting to mark Outreached: mark each cafe with Find Leads > 3. Outreached so it stays green in every future search.
Learn the Google Sheets formulas in this post
- 3 Ways to Count in Google Sheets: the COUNTIF with a wildcard that counted the Dutch Bros locations.
- How To Sort A Filter: sort the independents by reviews so Flying M and Alchemist sit at the top.
- 200 REGEXMATCH Examples in Google Sheets: the pattern matching behind pulling the town out of each address and matching coffee-ish names.
- How to Create a CRM in google sheets w/ Dashboard: a next step for tracking which cafes got a sample box and who wants to order.
Better Sheets has hundreds more tutorials like these. If you want to get better at Google Sheets, join Better Sheets.
Other ways to use Local Lead Finder
- Selling on Consignment to Salons and Spas: a razor kit, 55 shops: for product makers who want shelf space without a wholesale order.
- How to Get Your Product Into Salons: a new shampoo, 284 salons: for beauty product makers who want their product on salon shelves.
- How to Build a Local Business List in Google Sheets (142 coffee shops, Boise): for anyone who wants a whole local business list in one sheet.
- How to Get Commercial Cleaning Contracts: property managers and plazas: for commercial cleaners and janitorial crews.
All 18, grouped by who they’re for: Lead generation ideas: 18 local businesses to sell to.
FAQ
How do I sell to coffee shops?
Start with independent cafes, where the owner picks the suppliers. Build a list of every one in your area, visit at a slow hour with a sample box or a free staff bag, and ask for the owner.
How do I sell wholesale baked goods to cafes?
Bake in a commercial kitchen, then pitch the independents with the most reviews first, since they have the most customers. If you bake at home, check your state’s cottage food rules before you sell to businesses.
Should I pitch chain coffee shops?
Not at first. In Boise there were 13 chain locations, like Dutch Bros and Black Rock, and they don’t choose suppliers at the counter. The 83 independents can say yes in one conversation.
What’s the difference for a roaster and a baker?
A roaster should skip cafes that already roast their own, like Caffeina Roasting Company or Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters. A baker can pitch those same cafes pastries.
How do I keep track of which cafes I’ve visited?
Mark each one Outreached from the Find Leads menu. The row turns green, gets copied to the OUTREACH tab, and stays green in every future search.
How much does a search cost?
Each area is one Google Places request per results page, on your own Places API key, so this search was 42 requests. Google gives up to 1,000 searches a month free, and the sheet shows the most a search could cost before it runs.
Is Local Lead Finder a scraper?
No. It uses Google’s official Places API with your own key, and writes the results into your own Google Sheet.
Get the sheet
Local Lead Finder is $10, and free for Better Sheets lifetime members.
