Coffee beans, equipment and new product innovations part of multi-million Euro deal
Maxol has announced a five-year contract with one of Ireland’s leading coffee and tea companies, Bewley’s. Valued at €10 million, the contract includes 270 tonnes of coffee beans exclusively sourced for Maxol by Bewley’s, and the installation of new coffee machine equipment in 72 Maxol company owned stores.
The multi-million Euro deal between two of Ireland’s leading, family-owned companies followed a competitive tender involving four companies. The partnership will also see the introduction of two new variants across an initial 20 Maxol stores: iced coffee and oat milk coffee.
Bewley’s supported the roll out of Maxol’s proprietary ROSA coffee range in 2018 and last year, more than 3.5million cups of ROSA coffee were sold in the Republic of Ireland. A brew of freshly roasted Arabica beans, ROSA coffee is only sold in compostable or reusable cups across Maxol’s network of independent retailers in ROI.
As part of the contract, 130 coffee machines will be replaced, units will be upgraded and new digital screens will be installed and, for the first time, selected Maxol stores will offer customers iced and oat milk coffees.
Brian Donaldson, CEO of The Maxol Group said: “Maxol is becoming as well known for its coffee as it is for its traditional fuel and retail convenience offering. Therefore, choosing a partner that could not only provide a fantastic quality product but was also highly innovative was critical to our decision to work with Bewley’s again. The synergy between two Irish, family-owned companies working together in the retail convenience space was also important and, given the estimated 20 million cups of ROSA coffee we expect to sell over the next five years, we are confident we have secured a really strong partnership.
“We’re excited about the prospect of bringing two new coffee variants to our customers and we know from our customer insights that iced and oat coffees are in big demand. Our plan is to introduce these to around half of our network of company-owned stores within the next 12 months as part of our overall innovation and investment strategy.”
Jason Doyle, MD of Bewley’s added: “We are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to extend our partnership with Maxol. We look forward to building on our great collaboration to deliver an innovative, sustainable and quality experience for consumers with our renowned Fair Trade coffee and Rainforest alliance certified tea together with our unrivalled coffee equipment and servicing expertise. It is a great privilege for us to partner with a like minded, family-owned Irish business where superior quality is a non-negotiable element.”
With more than 240 company and dealer owned stores across Ireland, the family-owned Maxol business has been at the heart of Irish communities for more than 102 years. In 2022, Maxol joined the national Champion Green movement to demonstrate the company’s backing for Irish SMEs and its commitment to supporting local businesses and communities.
Bewley’s is a leader in the coffee and tea solutions for the Food Service and Retail sectors in Ireland serving over 4,000 hotels, restaurants and cafes. Sustainability is core to Bewley’s philosophy and it was a founding member of Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme. It introduced Fair Trade coffee into the Irish market and currently accounts for 45% of all Fair Trade coffee sold in Ireland. It also has a partnership with “Love Irish Food.”