When it comes to coffee, David Beattie knows his stuff.
As founder of Rounton Coffee, he’s slept in jungles in search of the perfect beans. But a good cuppa is just one reason David launched the award-winning business.
“I was a chemical engineer in Teesside. It was the career I’d trained for, but then I travelled,” said David.
“In Sumatra, I watched people roast coffee, and my world changed.”
But it wasn’t the smell and taste of those freshly roasted beans that made David change careers.
It was the people roasting them.
“I wanted a business that could help those working on these plantations improve their lives,” he added.
Fast forward a decade, and Rounton Coffee’s impact has been felt in far more places than just Indonesia.
To date, the company has pledged tens of thousands of pounds – and a lot of coffee – to support organisations from the Ouseburn to Uganda.
Among those supported is Raw Material, an organisation planting 11 million trees in East Timor’s coffee forests.
Given that’s over 8,000 miles from Rounton’s rustic HQ in the shadow of the A19, it would be easy not to get involved.
But as a proud 1% for the Planet business, Dave believes it is the company’s “duty” to do so.
“We are not a business that views success purely in pounds and pence,” he said.
“Commercial growth and doing the right thing should go hand in hand, especially in our industry.”
And it is an industry – and business – on the up.
Having started life on local farmers’ markets with his wife, Tracy, Rounton Coffee is a genuine independent success story.
From those humble origins, Dave and his team have grown the business to the point they are roasting up a tonne of beans per day – packing as many as 2,000 bags a week.
A recently launched subscription service has quickly become hit, doubling in subscribers in one year partially due to Rounton’s cult nationwide following in a crowded market.
Recent data shows there are almost 900 UK roasters – a number that’s growing year-on-year.
But despite Rounton’s impressive range securing eight Great Taste Awards last year – including two-stars for their Rwamatamu beans – the company’s focus is still fixed on people.
Locally, Rounton Coffee has supported several good causes, including the North York Moors Trust, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the Ouseburn Trust, alongside grassroots groups and charities across North Yorkshire and Teesside.
One initiative particularly close to David’s heart is the Stepping Stones to Nature programme, which helps underprivileged children from Teesside’s most deprived areas experience the countryside – often for the first time.
During the pandemic, Rounton launched Nightingale Coffee, supplying free coffee and equipment to NHS hospitals.
Meanwhile, the business has donated thousands of pounds to Myaware, a charity supporting people affected by myasthenia gravis, following the diagnosis of David’s son with a rare genetic form of the condition.
“Rounton Coffee has always existed, in part, to help others,” added Dave.
“We don’t aspire to be some faceless multi national company.
“Our ethos is to do the right thing – whilst making and drinking some great coffee along the way!”
And that ethos extends to their suppliers, who are promoted heavily on Rounton’s packaging and website.
For Dave, they are the lifeblood of the company and at least twice a year he embarks on often lengthy journeys to visit them across the ‘coffee belt’.
Brazil. Rwanda. Peru. Zambia.
Not places easily accessible via Ryanair.
The journeys can be gruelling – but the rewards huge.
“We’ve developed relationships with our suppliers that go beyond business,” he added proudly.
“They are part of our business, and our story.”
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