RAVE Coffee opens new roastery following trend-bucking growth

Cirencester-based RAVE Coffee will move into its brand new premises this week, following a £1,000,000 renovation project facilitated by substantial sales growth in 2022. Despite UK ecommerce dropping by a record 10.5% last year, RAVE was able to achieve a 22% uplift in turnover during the same period, allowing the independent roastery to push ahead with its ambitious expansion plans.

Built to accommodate the roastery’s next 10 years of growth, featuring an expanded production space and a 1,000 sq. ft. café and shop, RAVE HQ has been funded significantly by a notable increase in sales of its Coffee Club subscription service. With many in specialty coffee anticipating a drop in sales due to the UK’s ongoing cost of living crisis, RAVE has seen Coffee Club membership rise by over 60% in 2023, as increasing numbers opt to budget for their coffee on a monthly basis.

Over the past 5 months, local construction company Dryfesdale Construction Ltd has transformed a 10,000 sq. ft. derelict industrial unit, that had been left unoccupied and deteriorating for the past 15 years, into a modern, multifunctional premises. The space will house RAVE’s new Loring 70kg roaster, its existing 35kg Loring roaster, all fulfilment operations and offices, while even incorporating a purpose built cupping room and coffee laboratory.

Breathing new life into a forgotten patch of the town, this state-of-the-art roastery is the next step in RAVE’s mission to produce outstanding coffee for all, that is kind to the planet and everyone involved in the supply chain. Huge windows in the café will offer panoramic views of the roastery, allowing visitors the chance to see their coffee go all the way from green bean to cup, while in the shop, an eco-friendly refill station will help customers reduce waste as they top up on the freshest coffee around.

Vikki Hodge, co-founder of RAVE Coffee, commented:

“RAVE HQ has been a long time in the works, but a period of sustainable growth in 2022 allowed us to accelerate our plans. As a result, we seized upon an opportunity to renovate a heavily dilapidated, but characterful industrial unit in Cirencester, finally bringing product development, production, packing and fulfilment back under one roof. We’re proud to be seeing such growth at RAVE, especially against a backdrop of declining ecommerce in the UK, and feel this can be attributed to our longstanding commitment to providing exceptional quality coffee that is fair to our growers, fair to the planet and fairly priced for our customers.”

Production will begin at RAVE HQ on Friday 28 April, with the café and shop opening on Tuesday 2 May. All RAVE Coffee products are also available to purchase at ravecoffee.co.uk.