The North Yorkshire coffee company has shipped beans to the Outer Hebrides as part of growth which has seen its reach quietly expand
The Rounton Coffee roastery near Northallerton(Image: Routon Coffee)
An independent North Yorkshire coffee company is expanding its reach on the back of major investments to transform its facilities. Rounton Coffee was created by David Beattie 13 years ago, after he fell in love with coffee during a visit to Sumatra.
He quit his career in chemical engineering to launch the business and grow it into an award-winning supplier of speciality coffees from across the world. Following a recent six-figure investment into its production capabilities, Rounton Coffee is now roasting up to a ton of beans every day as national demand grows for its coffee, with orders arriving from places the team never expected to reach.
Middlesbrough-born Mr Beattie said: “We are now shipping coffee to the Outer Hebrides, where we have a wholesale partner, and when I started the business in 2013, would have been unfathomable. Our growth still feels a bit surreal, as we started life at farmers’ markets simply as a way of sharing our love for really good quality, ethical coffee with people like us.
“We just wanted to share what we were passionate about, and we’ve been lucky that over the years, more and more people have also found a passion for quality coffee.”
Based inside an old granary building outside the village of East Rounton, near Northallerton, the small company currently packs around 2,150 bags of beans each week. Recent investment in machinery included a £150,000 commercial roaster which uses 80% less energy than traditional devices and which has also improved both the consistency and output at their village HQ.
David Beattie, founder of Yorkshire’s Rounton Coffee(Image: Rob Evans Photography Ltd)
The growth has also enabled Rounton Coffee to give back more to the community. Donations have been made to the North Yorks Moors Trust, and it is also involved in sponsorship to help schoolchildren in some of Teesside’s most deprived postcodes to connect with nature.
“A big part of why we do what we do is it gives us a platform to give back, be it in our community or our suppliers, and the more the business grows the more we can do that,” he added.
“In terms of our growth, I think lockdown was a game-changer for independent coffee companies. People found themselves at home and spending a bit more on higher quality products, and that really opened a lot of people’s eyes to the quality of coffee that was available outside of supermarkets.
“Since then, we’ve been fortunate that the coffee boom has only kept going. But what really matters is that, as a business, we can use coffee as a force for good. Our suppliers are paid fairly, and that really matters to us.
“Some international coffee brands have faced justified criticism for how they treat farmers and how suppliers are treated, and we want to play our small part in doing things differently. But we also want to improve lives closer to home. We are a small team who were all born and live in the area, so it matters to us that the business leaves a really positive footprint – and that it is something we can truly be proud of.”