✏️ Words by: Shaun Lynch
Another year on the books, what a bloody ride it’s been!
If there’s one thing we’ve learned at Dog & Gun Coffee, it’s that every year has its own flavour of challenges and triumphs. This one was no different. Right off the bat, I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s stuck with us by buying our coffee, sharing our posts, or simply cheering us on.
We’re still a relatively small outfit and your support makes a world of difference.
Here are some highlights from this year:
Milestones
A couple of big milestones landed in our lap this year.
First off, we hit our five-year anniversary—no small feat in a landscape where most small businesses don’t even make it this far. Then we crossed 50,000 direct-to-consumer orders, which, if you do the math, is a staggering amount of coffee finding its way into your mugs 🤯 🤯 🤯
It’s humbling to think of how many of you are sipping our roasts on adventures in the bush or simply surviving in the urban jungle.
I’d like to point out how much our team grew… not so much in headcount (nor weight!), but in how each member stepped up to new responsibilities and tackled the ever-increasing demand. A bit of incremental stress can be a good teacher, and I’m genuinely really proud of how everyone rose to the occasion.
A fresh look and some new offerings
Some of you might have noticed we gave our branding a slight facelift, including a new logo. We wanted something timeless and felt it was time to freshen up the look.
We also revamped our Hog Choccie packaging, shifting to a 500-gram tin with new artwork and we’ve also added a Spiced Chai Latte mix in the same format—a welcome addition to our “Not Coffee” range. Not everyone is a coffee fiend (weird, I know, but it happens), so we’re slowly introducing some new products to keep the whole camp happy.
After being pestered for some time now, we’ve also re-introduced our Full Flavour Decaf - turns out there’s a fair few of you now who appreciate coffee taste without the caffeine buzz.
And for those craving variety, our brand new Reload Packs let us bundle multiple roasts of our Pre-Loaded Drip Filters, you also get a cheeky ammo case to sweeten the deal.
Rolling with the punches
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face” – Mike Tyson
Being punched in the face sucks but in business, you have to just roll with it and keep pushing forward. At times though, 2024 felt like doing a couple of rounds with Iron Mike.
This year saw a relentless wave of price hikes - everything from shipping to raw ingredients had us feeling the pinch. The cost of our green beans alone soared by a whopping 66%... no small matter given the volume we roast!
I spent more time than I’d like just hunting for cost-cutting measures so that we could stay competitive and, most importantly, keep our team intact.
That same hunt for efficiency brought our pick-and-pack operations back in-house. Partly it was a cost-control move, but we also missed that personal touch… knowing who’s ordering from us, penning quick notes in each box, and sometimes tucking in a small surprise.
Turns out we’ve become a more efficient bunch since we last did our own shipping because our warehouse team is now humming along better than ever.
Progress felt slow this year but we survived and, ultimately, the business is significantly stronger than ever as a result.
Out and about
We made it to our first SSAA Shot Expo this year with Harrison leading the charge, and Corey and Santiago backing him up at the stand. It was a decent turnout and it’s always a pleasure to for the team to be able to meet so many of you face-to-face. There’s nothing like shaking hands and chatting about getting outdoors, brewing coffee, and everything in between.
As for the team’s excursions this year… Santi, Corey and myself chased red stags, tahr, and chamois on New Zealand’s rugged West Coast early in the year. Santi shot his first ever animal, a young chamois buck, thanks to a generous kiwi lad lending his time and his rifle. Corey bowled over a nanny tahr on the hike out and I spooked a few good critters but never let an arrow fly.
Rache spent a fair bit of time in the water, shooting her first few species of fish, bagging her first cray and exploring the remote islands of Raja Ampat.
We had an epic Christmas party on Stradbroke Island with the Cobb Grill gang and squeezed in handful of 4WD trips and other team camps, too.
If you’re into Landcruisers (or wheeling in general), you’ll love the little film we did with LCS4x4 in the Victorian High Country. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/9fY-bMWa_rI
This year we tried to mix things up beyond just hunting, but I still managed to notch a handful of trips out with the bow - bagged a decent buck in the rut and then took a few does throughout the year to top up the freezer. Cape York felt like a second home with a couple of solid trips to hang with my good mates at Kayuga Adventures.
Looking forward
You often hear from brands that “exciting things are coming next year,” but we mean it. It feels like 2025 is going to be our best year ever 💪
We’ve got EPIC giveaways in the works, new roasts on the horizon, and some proper good long-form video content planned.
Plus, a few more crazy adventures are already on the drawing board—Fiordland and Raja Ampat, we’re looking at you.
If you’ve read this far, thank you. It’s tough to convey the full scope of what goes on behind the scenes, but we’re constantly striving to do more for you - new products, bigger community, better service. Five years in, and we’re only just hitting our stride.
Here’s to another year of adventure and good coffee!
Cheers,
Shaun + Team DAG