The new 85,690sq ft facility in Basildon, Essex, called Paradise Street will see roasting capacity grow from 11,000 tonnes of coffee per annum to 45,000 tonnes per annum. It will enable Costa to produce coffee for 2.1 billion cups of coffee per year.
Construction on the premises began in November 2015 and it is expected to operate for the next 20 to 30 years.
The move signals a major milestone in the business’ expansion and provides a platform for its national and global growth plans.
Dominic Paul, managing director of Costa, said: “Costa is growing rapidly as a global business and our new roastery will provide the platform for sustained international expansion as we continue inspiring the world to love great coffee. Turning on our new roasting capacity is a landmark for the business. It’s a statement of our ambition to grow and our passion for great coffee.”
The new roastery has also been designed to improve efficiency. Green coffee beans are shipped to Tilbury Docks just 14 miles from the roastery – half the distance to the old Lambeth roastery.
New production methods also allow the receipt and storage of 24 tonnes of green coffee per hour – up from six tonnes at Lambeth, Costa added, while state-of-the-art in-house processes will increase productivity by 25% compared to the previous roastery.
In addition, the roastery also includes a coffee academy to train 3,000 baristi per year and will operate on a zero waste-to-landfill basis.
Giorgio Fioravanti, production director, said: “This excellent new facility will enable Costa to grow for decades to come, as we look to go from the UK’s favourite coffee brand to the world’s favourite. The latest roasting technology we have here will help us to do that, slowly and carefully roasting every coffee bean to seal in the unique flavour of our coffee.”
Costa opens £38 million roastery in Essex
1 min read
Coffee brand, Costa has opened a £38 million roastery to quadruple its capacity, it has been announced.
