Brigg firm celebrating 30 years of manufacturing coffee

Lincoln & York in Brigg celebrate 30 years in business
-Credit: (Image: GrimsbyLive)


Your cup of coffee may have come from a town in northern Lincolnshire which roasts 9,000 tonnes each year.

Brigg-based private label coffee roastery, Lincoln & York supplies major high-street chains, independent coffee shops and retailers nationwide from its 6000sq ft facility. Bosses and 90 staff are celebrating a major milestone as it reaches its 30th anniversary this year and remembering the first hand-roasted coffee they made a shed when the business was born.

In the year The Channel Tunnel opened, Four Weddings and a Funeral was released and the first episode of Friends was aired, Lincoln & York was established by founders James Sweeting and Simon Herring, who began hand roasting coffee beans in a garden shed. Over the past 30 years Lincoln & York has built a team of 90 employees, many of whom have been working for the company since the early days.

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This includes Tom Altoft, who started packing coffee, before working his way up to become the company’s in house roasting expert, developing unique roast profiles for Lincoln & York’s customers. He is also one of three expert coffee Q Graders at Lincoln & York, the coffee equivalent of a wine sommelier, of which there are only 135 in the UK.

Founded during the emergence of UK coffee culture, the business has expanded rapidly in the last 30 years. No one knew what a an iced venti caramel macchiato was.

James Sweeting, the founder of the business, said: “When the business was first established, many of the coffee shops that line our high streets today simply didn’t exist. As coffee culture exploded throughout the 90s, we had to scale, grow and adapt with our customers’ businesses and the growing demand from consumers for great quality coffee.

“We now supply over 150 customers across the hospitality and retail space with 9,000 tons of coffee every year, the equivalent of around 80 million cups. So, although you may have never heard of Lincoln & York, we’re really proud that over the last 30 years the majority of UK coffee drinkers will have enjoyed our coffee.”

During its 30 years of business, Lincoln & York has built a reputation for high quality coffee, integrity and an expert team spanning all aspects of the coffee industry, from sourcing and tasting to market insight and data.

Committed to securing a sustainable future for its local and global coffee communities, Lincoln & York has also made great strides in responsible sourcing, creating sustainable packaging solutions and cutting emissions to be awarded its Carbon Neutral roastery status by One Carbon World in 2023.

Lincoln & York Managing Director, Ian Bryson said: “There’s no doubting how far we’ve come in a relatively short space of time and our growth has been testament to the hard work and passion of the team, who join us in our celebrations.

“Having grown consistently for the past 30 years, we now have ambitions to double the business by 2026. This growth will of course be supported by continued investment in the roastery, including a £1million investment this year.

“As we embark on the next phase of our growth journey, our emphasis on people and family values remains a key priority. We are all working together towards a shared goal and our plan is to continue building our reputation for coffee knowledge, service, flexibility and reliability for the next 30 years and beyond.”