When do you actually need to order green?
Stock and weekly usage give the run-out date. Lead time and a buffer give the date that matters: order-by. No signup.
Enter your stock and weekly usage to see the runway.
Questions
Running out is a choice made weeks earlier.
- How much green coffee should a roastery keep on hand?
- Enough to cover your supplier's lead time plus a safety buffer, at your real weekly usage. With a 3-week lead time, a 2-week buffer, and 44 lb roasted-equivalent a week, the reorder point is around 220 lb — anything less and a late shipment or a heavy week has you roasting the buffer. Beyond that point, more stock is a freshness and cash-flow cost, not security.
- How do I calculate when my green coffee will run out?
- Stock divided by weekly usage gives weeks of runway; multiply by seven for days and count forward from today. The more useful date sits earlier: run-out minus lead time minus buffer is the last day an order keeps you covered. That order-by date, not the run-out date, is the one to put on the calendar.
- How long does green coffee stay fresh in storage?
- In stable, cool, dry conditions, most greens hold their character for 6–12 months past landing; past a year they fade toward papery and flat. Runway math has a quality ceiling as well as a floor — a great price on a year of stock is not a great price if the last third of it cups noticeably duller.
- What safety buffer should I use for green coffee orders?
- One to three weeks is typical. Size it to the two risks it absorbs: how variable your weekly usage is, and how reliable the supplier's quoted lead time has proven. A roastery with steady wholesale standing orders can run leaner than one whose volume swings with seasons and one-off orders.
This math, running by itselfRoastConsole tracks runway per lot, from your actual roasting.Every roast draws down the lot that supplied it, so the run-out and order-by dates update themselves — no weekly usage estimate required. Start a free trial.