It’s 1994 and the first episode of friends has just aired. There are less than 700 branded coffee shops in the UK, no one has a clue what an iced venti caramel macchiato is and Lincoln & York founders, James Sweeting & Simon Herring are hand roasting coffee beans in a garden shed.
Flash forward 30 years and the UK is now home to over 10,000 coffee shops, it’s totally normal to take photos of latte art, and Lincoln & York is one of the UK’s largest independent coffee roasters, supplying over 150 customers across 32 markets.
It’s safe to say the UK coffee market has come a long way since we started Lincoln & York back in 1994 and we have worked closely with major players in leading this rapid growth. Being at the forefront of UK coffee culture has been a real learning curve, so as we celebrate reaching ‘the big three zero’, we’re taking a moment to reflect on four lessons we’ve learnt along the way.
Have an ‘I’ll be there for you’ attitude
After three decades, we understand that being a coffee partner goes far beyond simply sourcing high grade commercial coffee and roasting it to perfection. Customers depend on the wider support that we offer, viewing us as not just partners in coffee but an extension of their team, there for all their coffee needs.
From our market insight and data to the expertise of our coffee team, including knowledge from three of the UK’s 135 coffee Q Graders, we’re on hand to help customers make informed decisions based on the latest trends in the coffee market to make sure their blends are the best they can be and are served perfectly every time.
What’s hot in coffee is constantly changing
Throughout the last 30 years, the world of coffee has undergone significant transformations. From the era of instant coffee and advert breaks filled with the infamous ‘Gold Blend couple’ of the early 90’s to the recent rapid rise in speciality coffee, we’ve witnessed the coffee landscape continuously evolve in new and exciting ways.
When we first started roasting coffee back in 1994, a dark roasted blend of Arabica and Robusta beans was our core offering. Today, changing consumer tastes mean we see a much bigger demand for 100% Arabica blends, and for medium-lighter roasts, which allow the individual flavours of the coffee to really stand-out.
Over the past decade, there’s also been a major uptake in demand for speciality coffee. Almost half of those surveyed in our independent research have said they would ‘always’ or ‘occasionally’ pay more to try a special blend or single origin coffee, demonstrating this demand for new and increasingly higher quality coffee options in recent years.1
Investment pays off
From humble beginnings in a garden shed, we now roast 9,000 tons of coffee every year, which is the equivalent of around 80 million cups of coffee. Continued investment in equipment, facilities and our team has allowed us to reach this point and having grown consistently for the past 30 years, we now have plans to double the business in volume terms by 2026, supported by further on-going investment.
We have made over £4 million in investments over the last four years, in areas such as our 600kg roaster (the biggest in the UK), a high-speed retail packing line and a new warehouse and storage facility. We also have a new state-of-the-art coffee lab and innovation space at the roastery, where our coffee team work to create bespoke blends, and quality check all the coffee that comes through the business.
Later this year, we’ll be continuing this investment with the installation of a brand-new high speed manufacturing line and you can now explore the roastery for yourself through our interactive roastery experience.
Think about tomorrow today
Just as the sector has changed rapidly in the past 30 years, we’re conscious that further change is on the horizon, especially when it comes to climate change. It is predicted that the land suitable for growing coffee will decline by 50% between now and 2050 if nothing changes, yet the demand for coffee in the same period is expected to double.2
It is because of this that we’re committed to securing a sustainable future for all our local and global coffee communities by sourcing responsibly and creating more sustainable packaging solutions.
Our roastery was awarded Carbon Neutral status in 2023 – working in partnership with One Carbon World; and we’ve made a commitment to move to 100% recyclable packaging by the end of the year. We’re well on the way to achieving this goal and have removed 112 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic over the last 12 months.
We are also proud members of World Coffee Research, the only industry driven organisation leading the charge for agricultural innovation in coffee. Through our work with them, we will support the organisations goal of launching 100 new climate change resistant varieties of coffee by 2030 to help future proof our industry against a backdrop that is increasingly at risk.
Dedicated to making a positive contribution in the farming communities that we source from, we’re also partnering with Omwani Coffee and Migoti Coffee, where we are funding the construction of a reservoir in Burundi. The reservoir will be located near a washing station and will provide families with clean water in the coffee farming community of Kinama.
To takeaway
In addition to the lessons learnt during our coffee journey so far, our three decades of growth are testament to the hard work and passion of the team. And, as we embark on the next phase of our growth journey, our emphasis on people and family values remains a key priority.
At Lincoln & York, we are proud to all be working together towards a shared goal and our plan is to continue building our reputation for service, delivery and reliability for the next 30 years and beyond.
