AI has become one of our best levers for amplifying the right parts of the business.
This recent play at Epoch Coffee worked better than expected:
We saved hours, tightened our outreach, and grew our wholesale arm without adding a single headcount.
Here’s what we did:
We wanted to break into a new wholesale market in British Columbia.
That usually means days of manual research, dead ends, and cold calls that go nowhere.
So we tried something different.
We used AI—before we ever picked up the phone.
Here’s the exact playbook we used to find high-fit wholesale leads in a brand new region:
Google Places API
→ We pulled a list of cafés in inland BC with:
• A 4.4+ rating
• 100+ reviews
→ Why? Because we weren’t looking for a phone book—we wanted quality signals.
ChatGPT Filtering
→ Removed other roasters (not our target)
→ Sorted the rest into High / Medium / Low potential
From 60 raw names → 38 qualified leads
• 9 high priority
• 22 medium
• 6 low (saved for later)
Then we did what humans do best:
→ Built the relationships. Shared the story. Made the pitch.
That’s what fractional AI integration looks like.
Not full automation—just smart amplification.
AI didn’t win the customer.
But it gave us back the hours to show up better, faster, and more relevant.
If you’re experimenting with AI and not sure where to start—
This kind of lead gen system could be your first win.
Happy to share how we set it up.
Drop a comment if you’re curious and want to chat.
