The Convenience industry can learn from new ‘coffee disruptors’ like Roasting Plant®

Roasting Plant, the speciality coffee shop chain, is on a roll. The US and UK-based business, which has been dubbed the “Willy Wonka” of coffee is poised to expand to 105 stores over the next five years.

Roasting Plant was founded by former Starbucks director Mike Caswell in 2007. Responsible for profit improvement at the coffee giant and with an industrial engineering background, Caswell wanted to create a better customer experience that was also profitable. He realized that automation was the key to emulating the choices consumers have in fine wine or whiskey but in coffee. Roasting Plant offers the best quality coffee beans within a few days of roasting, while at the same time improving store-level profitability.

Caswell combined his coffee and engineering experience to develop Javabot™, an automated in-store roasting and brewing system that automatically roasts coffee in every Roasting Plant store. Tightly integrated with state-of-the-art Swiss-made Super-Automated brewers, each cup is brewed to order from any single origin coffee in less than a minute.

“Starbucks does great commercial coffee at scale and is a world leader, but nobody has been able to do that with a high-end coffee experience – Caswell knew that automation was the key,” recalls Jamie Roberston, Roasting Plant’s CEO.

US debut

The first store was launched in New York’s Lower East Side with little fanfare or marketing but focused on ensuring the technology worked. It won a great response. “Customers could taste the difference,” Robertson reports. Stores followed in London and Washington DC and, following the 2008 financial crisis, under licence in Detroit, with SSP at airports in Denver, Minneapolis and San Francisco and in The Fresh Market in North Carolina and Florida.

Robertson joined the business in 2017. He had previously run his own leadership consultancy business and had recently completed an executive MBA in Switzerland.

“I was looking for an exciting opportunity in a growth industry, that was disruptive and using tech and with global scale. Roasting Plant had that potential,” he says.

Operating in a market with a CAGR of +11%, using automation to deliver a super consistent speciality coffee experience, ground and brewed very quickly by the cup, Roasting Plant ticked Robertson’s boxes.

He invested and agreed to a joint venture to bring the brand to London and see if it had global appeal.

UK launch

The first UK store was opened in 2019 and on its success Roasting Plant raised funds for a second store on the Strand. Then Covid hit and the business was forced to close for three months but remained cash positive through government support. A further funding round followed and Roasting Plant added three more stores to its roster: in Selfridges, High Holborn and South Molton Street. It also attracted a lead investor, and Caswell recruited Robertson to become CEO and launch a new growth strategy and plan.

He assumed that role in January 2022 and launched the plan with a target for 105 stores, split across the US and UK over the next five years.

The business is currently developing a pipeline for stores in London and Washington DC. New York, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Austin will follow in the US.

Roasting Plant is also securing interest from licensed operators in Dubai and with SSP for airport locations in the Middle East.

“Every week we receive enquiries for new territories,” he says. “We’re focused on growing smartly, at the right pace to develop the brand. As we raise more capital, we’ll accelerate the pace of growth in our current markets and expand to new ones.

“We’ve been able to fund growth, have strong proof of concept and all stores are cash flow positive, making +25% EBITDA. We have lovely brand footprint in terms of design and look and feel and a strong food program – and we’re continually seeking opportunities to improve,” Robertson says.

The team, including a head of operations, CFO, CMO, head of tech, head of innovation and manufacturing, and head of coffee, are all in place and the business is poised for growth, he adds.

“That’s based on great customer feedback – they call us the Willy Wonka of coffee, due to the in-store Javabot roasting and brewing system that sends beans flying throughout the store in clear pneumatic tubes to the roaster and then to the brewers for every single made-to-order cup. But the proof is in the taste: they love the choice of bean by the cup, the amazing flavour, aroma and smoothness of our coffee. Plus, you can taste the different origins, for example, each with its unique flavour profile and character—a fruity Ethiopian or chocolatey Guatemalan,” he adds.

Game-changing tech

As well as winning on the customer side, Javabot is a game changer for speciality coffee and delivers on the commercial front, Robertson says. This is key since the business is buying in speciality beans, which can be up to five times more expensive than commercial coffee. Further, compared with traditional operators, Roasting Plant reduces labour (no cashiers – only baristas) and can deliver a much greater volume than through manual machines.

Aside of the automation, Roasting Plant is focused on providing a high-quality store environment, great food and excellent service. To reflect the team’s passion for coffee and product knowledge, team members are called curators rather than baristas and there is a focus on engaging with customers versus working behind a coffee machine all day, Robertson says.

Roasting Plant offers eight single origins in store plus its own Roasting Plant blend, which has a chocolatey, smooth and spicy profile that Brits love, Robertson reports.

In terms of consumer trends, Robertson reveals the business finds strong speciality-focused in the UK, but they’re less-inclined to spend on the really high end speciality coffee like Jamaican Blue Mountain whereas in the US it sells extremely well. “UK consumers are more price conscious than the US. That’s not due to the cost-of-living crisis, it’s just where the consumer is at in terms of coffee. I’d expect the demand for more esoteric and amazingly tasty coffees to evolve in London just as it has in the US,” he says.

Quality coffee and food

Foodwise, Roasting Plant is focused on the key day parts and aims to match its quality coffee offer in food.

Breakfast items included poached egg pots with avocado and smoked salmon, sour dough, croissants, yogurts plus gluten free and vegan options. While ‘better for you’ lines are on the menu, ham and cheese toasties are still the best sellers, as consumers seek out treats, Roberston says.

On the drinks side, Roasted Plant offers new blended beverages like matcha plus organic fruit smoothies and frappes. For the iced coffees, Roasting Plant uses its own FlashChiller™ technology, which extracts the hot coffee and chills it rapidly before hitting the ice in the cup so that the full flavour is undiluted by the ice. Unlike cold-brew, Roasting Plant offers the full flavour extraction of a hot brewed coffee, made from freshly roasted beans and instantly FlashChilled – fresh and cold!

Customers are also guaranteed to be served coffee within a few days of roasting so it is at its peak flavour (before the discernible flavour and aroma compounds lose their power) and before dreaded oxidation turns oils rancid and fowl tasting (in case you’ve ever wondered why most black coffee tastes off and bitter) and will be of a consistent quality due to the automation. Roasting Plant operates multiple integrated super automated brewers and can easily add more as needed to handle high volume without adding additional staff. Coupled with a choice of milks that means it can make six or more coffees per minute.

“Everybody who comes in wants their coffee yesterday. With Javabot you get your coffee much more quickly than at the competition even though it’s made to order by the cup,” Robertson says. While take out dominates, the larger stores have around 50 covers and a busy seated environment helps encourage people to come in and buy coffee to go, he adds.

Affordable treat

While labour has been challenging post-Covid and Brexit, there are signs that shortages are beginning to ease slightly and the hospitality industry is working hard to raise the profile of careers in the industry, Robertson says. Working patterns are also changing. While hybrid working emerged due to Covid, there is a gradual return to the office: Monday to Thursday versus Tuesday to Thursday and even into Friday these days. Robertson welcomes the move. “Coffee shops are a daily ritual, perfect meeting spot and great place to relax or get a little work done – an affordable luxury. We also offer freshly roasted whole beans by the bag for days at home, augmenting the store performance in this new world of work.”

“Good coffee deserves to be shared – we offer a better experience than our competitors,” Robertson says. “Hospitality is a hard but rewarding business. If I have had a terrible day, I will go into store and talk to customers and see them experiencing the Willy Wonka of coffee with friendly staff, amazing coffee and good food, then it’s all been worthwhile – it keeps you going and we’re so excited to bring our Javabot joyfulness and speciality deliciousness to more people in London, the US and beyond!”