Launching into a saturated market just before a pandemic is not a recipe for business success which is why this specialty coffee roaster needed to take a different approach and became more than just a supplier to their partners and producers.
This is what Fire & Flow Coffee did to impress the panel of judges to become the 2021 winners of the Gloucestershire Live Business Innovation Award.
Key business points:
- Fire & Flow Coffee are specialty coffee roasters based in the heart of the Cotswolds
- Founded in 2019 by twice UK Barista Championship finalist, Callum Parsons with his best mate since school, Phil, and Phil’s fiancée Char.
- Their aim is to inspire others and share their experience on how to get the most out of speciality coffee and honouring the devoted farmers at source.
The winning entry:
Fire & Flow Coffee source specialty coffee from dedicated growers around the world paying a premium price for the love and attention that goes into growing and nurturing each coffee plant. They work with farmers who match their values in taking care of their staff and also who work holistically with the environment in which they farm. They support all their partners with free training and consulting based on their belief in being more than just a supplier.
With the UK coffee scene being saturated with great roasters Callum knew his coffee business needed to stand out which he has achieved in many ways. Most notably, by becoming the UK’s first community owned coffee roaster meaning all wholesale partners are gifted a small shareholding as their way of celebrating success together.
Their many firsts also included being the UK’s first vegan founded coffee roastery and they launched the first ever coffee focused on plant milk, taking it to the next level by developing a coffee that pairs perfectly with all plant milks!
They use recyclable and carbon neutral retail coffee packs and they collect used wholesale kilo bags from their customers and have them sent for recycling to reduce their impact on the environment.
Before the first lockdown in March 2020 Fire & Flow Coffee hadn’t even launched their website as they were focused on the wholesale business. During lockdown they launched ‘give the gift of coffee’ which was very popular allowing customers to send gifts to loved ones or businesses to send coffee to their employees. They also launched a ‘brew at home’ program where companies could send coffee to their employees and Callum hosted a Zoom about how to brew better at home and some basic coffee education. The highlight of which was hosting for PTC, a multi-billion dollar software provider.
Fire & Flow have plans to become carbon positive, B-Corp and continue their journey of providing not only excellent coffee but excellent support for their partners.
