B.C. entrepreneur hit with $25K in tariffs on essential U.S. imports

A small business in British Columbia is speaking out about the impact of tariffs on goods imported from the U.S. on its bottom line.

John Sanders is the owner of Origins Coffee Roasters, a wholesale coffee company established in 1999 on Granville Island that sells to cafes and the general public. It currently has two employees.

“We have to import everything that we use in this business,” said Sanders, whose company recently picked up a big client, OEB Breakfast Co., which has 20 locations across Canada and two in the United States.

“[The contract] requires us to bring in over $100,000 of equipment, all manufactured in the U.S.” Sanders said. “I just got hit with a $25,000 tariff charge to roll this company out. So that is a real tough hit. Business is hard. Expenses are hard.”

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Origins Coffee Roasters must supply the coffee grinder machines and automatic coffee brewers in order to secure the account.

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Sanders said he has no choice but to import equipment needed for their business.

“We’re the ones that are going to suffer for the tariff,” he said. “We cannot pass this on to our customers, 100 per cent. We have to eat this tariff unless the government comes and helps us.” He said the $25,000 will take about a year and a half to even out on the books.

Sanders said despite having to import U.S. goods, Origins’s coffee is a product of Canada.

“One of the initial conversations with the OEB was going local, going Canadian because they were buying from a U.S coffee roaster,” he said.

“Every coffee company in Canada right now that is buying from a U.S. coffee roaster will pay 25 per cent more in tariff charges. That’s a lot to handle in a small business.”

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Sanders said he would like the government to take a closer look at what products could be hit with tariffs, because in his case, there are no Canadian alternatives.

“There’s no manufacturer in Canada that creates any of this equipment for us to use in Canada whatsoever,” he said. “We are forced to go outside of our borders to buy this equipment.”

“Most of all brewing equipment, grinding equipment comes out of America.”

Sanders said he loves what he does, despite the paperwork and dealing with governments but he will continue to provide coffee for as long as he can.

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