Cycling businessman Rob woke up and smelled the coffee

How did the business start?

We opened in April of 2015. I worked in the food industry

all my life, in Ireland and the UK. I'm originally from Douglas, had operated my own business, but sold it in 2008. I was looking for an opportunity to get out on my own again. The economy changed in 2015 and I felt it was the right time to get back in, so I took over the place on George's Quay.

The cafe is cycle themed. We always had a passion for cycling. We have the magazines in here, and cycling being shown, and we get a lot of cyclists in. We are very lucky that up-and-coming Irish cyclist Eddie Dunbar is a regular here. I was a big cyclist before the cafe opened, but it's hard to get the time now. I got out on the bike last week for the first time in a while.

What has changed since you opened?

We took over the unit attached to the cafe, which was separated by a partition wall. We realised that we would require the space as we were growing, so we spoke to the landlord. We have the cafe in part of it, and part is for our coffee roaster.

Why did you decide to get into roasting coffee?

We were buying imported coffee and we were not happy with it. So, we wanted to know what went into doing your own. We went to Germany and bought a roaster and did a few training trips. Then we did the Supervalu Food Academy and were on the shelves with them in January.

Then the Aldi programme started in May, and we'll hit every store next week.

How did you develop your own blend?

The trend in Ireland has been moving towards lighter roasts. We would traditionally have had dark roasts, but as people are travelling more and returning home from places like Australia, they are picking up that palate. We had to start to cater for that.

Last summer, my son and I went to England to meet with green bean coffee brokers. We were looking for someone to link us right to the farmer and settled on Schluter. They have built up their relationships with the farmers over years. A lot of coffee programmes focus more on the branding and marketing than actually helping the farmers, but they focus on community projects that will make a difference, like building a bridge in Colombia last year. For a few cent on the kilogram, they can make a huge difference to the farmers.

We will never get to the scale where we can import containers directly from the farmers, but this allows us to have that kind of relationship.

How has it been going down with customers?

So far, it's been very well received. It's going very well, so we must have hit something right. It's been great in the cafe and we've noticed a massive increase in liquid coffee sales.

We have an online shop up and running too, and we've already had orders from Ireland, the UK, France, and America.

Tell us more about getting the coffee into Aldi.

It's been a whirlwind since we started. Dealing with them has been great. They have really supported us. 

A lot of it is about understanding their requirements. They have had a really open relationship to help us get to the shelves. They don't want people to be afraid of them. They want you to get on the phone. If you are having a problem with, say, deliveries, they will know people who can help you. They couldn't have been more helpful.

On Tuesday, our first delivery left Geroge's Quay for Naas, and we sent a delivery to Mitchelstown yesterday. The opening order is over a tonne of coffee. I saw a much more established coffee roaster in the UK on Instagram recently celebrating their first big order of 250 kilograms. This is four times that which shows you the sheer scale of Aldi.

It's been phenomenal for us. It's been a fantastic roller coaster. But until you get the deliveries on the shelf and know it's okay, you can't stop. But the excitement has been incredible.

We have 22 staff and three have been working exclusively on the Aldi order for the last month. There is a chance of them continuing to work on it exclusively.

What's in the future for the business?

When we were doing our research, we met with some other roasters to get advice. So we got a bigger roaster than we needed at the time. 

There isn't that much of a difference in price, but, once they're installed, they are hard to change. But the risk we still have is that we will have to change the surrounding as we scale, which means that we may have to move to a warehouse. 

It would be a shame to not be able to roast in the cafe anymore, but it would be a sign of success too. We are looking at options at the moment, but haven't made any decision yet.