Black Sheep Is Different

FOR COFFEE BRANDS READY TO GROW

Build a coffee brand people choose.

I partner with coffee leaders to turn ideas into brands that stand out and sell themselves.

LET’S TALK →

20+ years launching and growing coffee businesses.

TRUSTED BY COFFEE INDUSTRY LEADERS

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Great coffee isn’t enough to grow a brand.

Quality and sustainability are expected. Your customers have dozens of good options, and being another “high-quality, sustainably sourced coffee company” gives them little reason to choose you.

Growth gets harder when:

Your positioning sounds like everyone else’s.
→ Customers can’t quickly understand what makes you different.

Your products lack a clear market opportunity.
→ You invest in development, packaging, inventory, and launch before proving why people will buy.

Your marketing isn’t driving enough demand.
→ More content and more activity won’t solve an unclear strategy.

I find the opportunities that can move the business forward, then help you build around them.

TALK ABOUT YOUR BRAND →

Find the clearest path to growth.

I work with founders, CEOs, VPs, and directors at the points where brand decisions have real financial consequences.

✔️ Position your brand

Define the audience, competitive white space, value proposition, messaging, personality, and story that give customers a clear reason to choose you.

OUTCOME: A brand your team can explain, sell, market, and build around.

✔️ Build the right products

Identify market opportunities, develop the product strategy, find production partners, work through costs and pricing, and prepare for launch.

OUTCOME: Products built around a market opportunity and a viable path to growth.

✔️ Go to market

Turn your positioning into sales, marketing, channel, pricing, launch, and growth strategies.

OUTCOME: A focused plan for reaching the right customers and converting attention into sales.

✔️ Build the customer experience

Translate the brand into packaging, websites, menus, cafés, bar flow, and other customer touchpoints.

OUTCOME: A consistent experience from first impression through purchase.

DISCUSS YOUR BUSINESS →

What coffee leaders say

"Darleen was a key and collaborative consultant for the Chobani Oat Milk launch. Her deep expertise in specialty positioning was instrumental in our successful focus on top U.S. coffee shops."

— Rosalyn Emerson, Channel Marketing Director of Chobani

“Bringing THORSDAY to life required a true strategic partner. Darleen covered it all: naming, brand strategy, menu, and store design. Highly recommend her to any founder."

- Peter Twickler, Founder & CEO of THORSDAY

“What sets Darleen apart is her experience, connections, and ability to see the big picture. She shaped Yah Yah Yah from naming to brand building and treated it as her own. I highly recommend her."

- Sarah Yahya, Founder & CEO of Yah Yah Yah

“Darleen has clarity of insight, demonstrated in her Barbax work, quickly absorbing our rambling efforts and elevating the essential brand promise with actionable language. Like a hammer, she nailed it.”

- Laura Sommers, President & CEO of The Coffee Dept

"Darleen offers an eclectic package of experience, contacts, and enthusiasm that I sorely needed, bringing 20+ years as a coffee professional with a keen eye for brand positioning and marketing."

— Craig Bailey, CEO of FoamAroma

"Darleen is an incredibly talented food innovation expert. She's highly productive and always takes whatever steps are needed to get the work done."

— Louis Kanganis, Former COO of Taylor Lane Organic Coffee

"Darleen's deep coffee industry knowledge was invaluable as I took over Laughing Cat. As a solo business owner scaling up a legacy brand, her guidance went beyond just creating a brand playbook—she became a true ally."

— Steven Horn, CEO of Laughing Cat Coffee

LET'S TALK →

MEET DARLEEN SCHERER

Coffee exECUTIVE.

Brand strategIST.

Both sides of the business.

I’ve spent more than 20 years in coffee as an entrepreneur, operator, product developer, and brand strategist.
I founded and built Gorilla Coffee in Brooklyn, worked with established food and beverage companies including Chobani and Taylor Lane, and have advised coffee businesses at different stages of growth.
That experience gives me a practical understanding of the decisions behind a coffee brand: what to sell, who to sell it to, how to position it, how to bring it to market, and where to invest limited time and money.
Today, I use that experience to help coffee leaders make those decisions with greater clarity.