Lincoln & York is a world-class coffee roaster nestled in the north of Lincolnshire. Known for its premium quality and professional integrity, the roastery has experienced exceptional success over its 30 years in business. Managing Director Ian Bryson laid out the company’s history and highlighted what the future has in store, during an in-depth interview with Inside Food & Drink. Report by Imogen Ward.
Founded by James Sweeting and Simon Herring in 1994, Lincoln & York emerged from humble beginnings, hand roasting coffee beans in a garden shed. Over the last 30 years, the pair built the business into what it is today: a 9,000 tonne per year coffee company supplying major players in the coffee industry across the UK and Europe.
2024 marks the 30th anniversary of L incoln & York and its reputation for exceptional coffee – an achievement that would have been impossible without its loyal customers and employees. That is why the business celebrated this momentous occasion by honouring these individuals.
“We planned a number of events to celebrate our anniversary,” explained Managing Director Ian Bryson. “Each year, we attend the London Coffee Festival, which is one of our biggest events. For this year, we invited many of our customers, past and present, some staff and players from across the industry to celebrate with us. It was a lovely evening, and it was great to hear James reminisce about the last 30 years.”
Also at this event, Lincoln & York launched, and gifted to customers, its special heritage blend coffee, giving a modern twist to the business’ original roast in honour of the anniversary.
Additionally, the company is celebrating closer to home with another occasion in October, dedicated to its 90 staff – some of whom have been with Lincoln & York since the early days.
Looking back over everything Lincoln & York has achieved, there is certainly plenty to celebrate.
Investing for the future
Over the last five years, Lincoln & York has invested significant capital into its factory in Lincolnshire.
“We have invested about £4 million into our factory, to ensure it is state of the art,” said Mr Bryson. “We now have six Italian Brambati roasters, which are the Rolls Royce of roasters, and 15 packaging lines.
“Our business is built on an ethos of quality, consistency and flexibility, so we needed to make sure our facilities upheld that commitment.”
Just last year, the company also invested significant time and money into improving its coffee development and tasting lab, expanding its warehouse space, and acquiring a brand-new highspeed manufacturing line worth more than £1 million.
“Using last year as a baseline, we intend to double our business volume by the end of 2026, so we needed to ensure our site could facilitate that growth,” commente d Mr Bryson.
The new manufacturing line will be running by the end of 2024, just in time for the arrival of several new major clients.
“Over the last two-and-a-half years, we’ve dedicated a lot of time into really understanding our customers,” explained Mr Bryson. “We wanted to better comprehend both the in-home and out-of-home coffee markets, as well as what our customers want, both now and in the future. This has helped retain clients and draw in new ones.”
An
experience like no other
With so much change happening at Lincoln & York, the company was eager to share the news with its customers. However, given that the roaster serves a global client base, this could be quite a challenge. To overcome this, Lincoln & York developed a new interactive roastery experience.
“Last year, our Marketing Manager Keely completely rebuilt our website, and discovered a tool capable of creating an interactive roastery experience,” revealed Mr Bryson. “We aren’t in the easiest of locations for our customers in the UK, let alone those further away in Europe. So, this tool will enable clients to explore our offices and roastery – from the moment the green beans reach us to where the roasted coffee is packed and shipped off – all without having to leave the comfort of their office.
“This has been an incredibly exciting development, and we can’t wait for our customers to try it out!”
The interactive roastery experience relies on a lot of information that was carefully gathered from each area of the business.
“Within the first 30 seconds of entering our roastery, people always say it’s a really incredible place to be,” added Mr Bryson.
“It’s a fantastic facility and this tool has been a great way of showing it off and highlighting what customers can expect from us in the future. ”
A greener bean
As Lincoln & York implements new and exciting ways to improve, one thing has remained the same – its commitment to the environment. With coffee beans sourced from every major coffee-growing region in the world, Lincoln & York buys only the best, ethically sourced beans. From Fairtrade to Rainforest Alliance and Organic Coffee, Lincoln & York sources more than 80% of its beans from growers supported by these certifications.
The company also abides by a four-pillared CSR plan focusing on the environment, the coffee community, its people and supporting local businesses.
Since summer 2023, Lincoln & York’s roastery has been carbon neutral certified, following a pivotal partnership with leading net zero solutions provider One Carbon World. Initially, the roastery had targeted carbon neutrality by 2024; however, following several months of hard work Lincoln & York secured the certification one year ahead of schedule .
“One Carbon World really helped us understand the very complex journey to net zero and carbon neutrality,” said Mr Bryson. “We
are incredibly proud of achieving carbon neutrality one year early, but we are also at the beginning of a very long journey, and there’s still a lot we need to accomplish.
“This first step has been a huge one though, and it has placed us ahead of a lot of our competitors.”
Lincoln & York has also worked with consultants to improve its renewable energy usage and find new ways to offset and reduce its emissions. From becoming one of the first UK roasters to use recyclable packaging to installing solar panels on its factory roof, Lincoln & York has developed a real green thumb.
As it focuses on the future, the coffee roaster intends to continue growing and advancing its offering while maintaining this eco-friendly attitude. One area of the market the company is interested in is the increasing demand for cold coffee. The roasting business has been working alongside partners in the UK and America to decipher the best way to establish a premium range of cold coffee offerings within the UK and Europe.
Although there is no set date for when these items may be available, the company intends to take its time, ensuring each product meets the Lincoln & York seal of approval.
“We are witnessing more and more consumers prepared to pay extra for a better-quality coffee, which is very exciting for us, because that’s a key part of our business,” said Mr Bryson, in conclusion. “A culture of quality has been instilled in Lincoln & York over the past 30 years, and it is one that will never leave us.” n
