diff --git a/cmd/ingester/main.go b/cmd/ingester/main.go
index bbdc0e36dc1..0a4516935c8 100644
--- a/cmd/ingester/main.go
+++ b/cmd/ingester/main.go
@@ -21,8 +21,10 @@ import (
 	"os/signal"
 	"syscall"
 
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+	"github.com/uber/jaeger-lib/metrics"
 	"go.uber.org/zap"
 
 	"github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/cmd/env"
@@ -35,6 +37,7 @@ import (
 	pMetrics "github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/pkg/metrics"
 	"github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/pkg/version"
 	"github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/plugin/storage"
+	"github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/storage/spanstore"
 )
 
 func main() {
@@ -85,43 +88,7 @@ func main() {
 			if err != nil {
 				logger.Fatal("Failed to create span writer", zap.Error(err))
 			}
-			unmarshaller := app.UnmarshallerFromType(options.Encoding)
-			spParams := processor.SpanProcessorParams{
-				Writer:       spanWriter,
-				Unmarshaller: unmarshaller,
-			}
-			spanProcessor := processor.NewSpanProcessor(spParams)
-
-			consumerConfig := consumer.Configuration{
-				Brokers: options.Brokers,
-				Topic:   options.Topic,
-				GroupID: options.GroupID,
-			}
-			saramaConsumer, err := consumerConfig.NewConsumer()
-			if err != nil {
-				logger.Fatal("Failed to create sarama consumer", zap.Error(err))
-			}
-
-			factoryParams := spanconsumer.ProcessorFactoryParams{
-				Topic:          options.Topic,
-				Parallelism:    options.Parallelism,
-				SaramaConsumer: saramaConsumer,
-				BaseProcessor:  spanProcessor,
-				Logger:         logger,
-				Factory:        metricsFactory,
-			}
-			processorFactory, err := spanconsumer.NewProcessorFactory(factoryParams)
-			if err != nil {
-				logger.Fatal("Failed to create processor factory", zap.Error(err))
-			}
-
-			consumerParams := spanconsumer.Params{
-				InternalConsumer: saramaConsumer,
-				ProcessorFactory: *processorFactory,
-				Factory:          metricsFactory,
-				Logger:           logger,
-			}
-			kafkaConsumer, err := spanconsumer.New(consumerParams)
+			kafkaConsumer, err := newConsumer(options, spanWriter, logger, metricsFactory)
 			if err != nil {
 				logger.Fatal("Unable to set up consumer", zap.Error(err))
 			}
@@ -158,3 +125,44 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
+
+func newConsumer(options app.Options, spanWriter spanstore.Writer, logger *zap.Logger, metricsFactory metrics.Factory) (*spanconsumer.Consumer, error) {
+	unmarshaller := app.UnmarshallerFromType(options.Encoding)
+	spParams := processor.SpanProcessorParams{
+		Writer:       spanWriter,
+		Unmarshaller: unmarshaller,
+	}
+	spanProcessor := processor.NewSpanProcessor(spParams)
+
+	consumerConfig := consumer.Configuration{
+		Brokers: options.Brokers,
+		Topic:   options.Topic,
+		GroupID: options.GroupID,
+	}
+	saramaConsumer, err := consumerConfig.NewConsumer()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "Failed to create sarama consumer")
+	}
+
+	factoryParams := spanconsumer.ProcessorFactoryParams{
+		Topic:          options.Topic,
+		Parallelism:    options.Parallelism,
+		SaramaConsumer: saramaConsumer,
+		BaseProcessor:  spanProcessor,
+		Logger:         logger,
+		Factory:        metricsFactory,
+	}
+	processorFactory, err := spanconsumer.NewProcessorFactory(factoryParams)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "Failed to create processor factory")
+	}
+
+	consumerParams := spanconsumer.Params{
+		InternalConsumer: saramaConsumer,
+		ProcessorFactory: *processorFactory,
+		Factory:          metricsFactory,
+		Logger:           logger,
+	}
+
+	return spanconsumer.New(consumerParams)
+}