0:00
This morning, the beverage that might be
0:02
in your hand right now is getting more
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>> International tariffs put on
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coffee-producing countries are hiking up
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>> With coffee prices surging and consumer
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spending falling, the coffee industry is
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in crisis. And the big companies such as
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Starbucks and Costa have responded by
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slashing jobs and closing stores. But
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how is one small South London producer
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managed to buck the trend and carve out
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a niche in this very aggressive
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>> Coffee is a super competitive space and
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you've got, you know, amazing, very
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small local businesses. You've got some
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of the world's biggest chains in the
0:51
world all trying to do things that, you
0:53
know, have been huge challenges. Of
0:55
course, you know, the one that it's hard
0:57
to to not have stand out is the day that
1:00
your entire high street business gets
1:02
closed by the government and you go
1:04
from, you know, whatever, however many
1:06
millions of revenue to zero overnight
1:08
with a few hundred people to figure out
1:10
what to do with that. Yeah, hopefully
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the business will never face a challenge
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>> So how has Grind grown from just one
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store into 40 million pounds a year
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business, winning SME of the year along
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the way, and partnering with big names
1:23
such as Gary Neville?
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>> The original idea for Grind was uh
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purely out of necessity. I inherited my
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dad's old mobile phone business, which
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was in a small circular building on Old
1:40
Street roundabout, and I decided to turn
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it into a coffee shop. And a lot has
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happened since then. And yeah, way more
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than I could ever have imagined. The
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brand has changed a huge amount. I mean,
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we went from one kind of very hipster
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style Shoreditch coffee shop to now, you
1:57
you know, the the breakout specialty
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coffee brand in the in the UK that's
2:00
available everywhere from our stores to
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all of the grocers to onboard British
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>> For Grind, great coffee starts with a
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bean, and that means finding the best
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suppliers. That job falls to Grind's
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head of coffee, Howard Gill, who had
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just landed back in the UK from his
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latest bean hunting trip to Brazil.
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>> The coffee starts on the farm, on the
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trees, and it gets picked and processed
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and driven to the port in Brazil, for
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example, in Santos, and then it gets
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shipped to us here in the roastery, and
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then we take the green beans and we
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roast them and deliver them out to
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>> But there's more to the coffee business
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than finding the perfect bean. So, how
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has Grind managed to create a coffee
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that stands out in such a competitive
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>> We wanted to just take the quality of
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everything up. So, you know, so that's
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what we really really focus on, taking
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that specialty coffee piece, which we
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learned, you know, the hard way on the
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high street in real life, and now like
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translating that into all the different
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ways that the people buy coffee.
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>> So, what's the secret to the perfect cup
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of coffee? While we had Howard in his
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laboratory, we wanted to ask him how he
3:06
would make his perfect cup of coffee.
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>> It's a very simple brewing method. You
3:11
basically have a paper filter.
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Um we're going to wet the filter paper
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this way. We're not going to taste any
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of those papery flavors.
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Um I've got 32 g of coffee here.
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around 70 to 80 g of water on top.
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Wait for a little bit.
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Cheers. See what you think.
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>> That is really sweet, isn't it?
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>> It's really sweet straight away on the
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palate. It's really light as well. You
3:56
don't get any of the heavy that
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obviously there's no burn in there
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>> it's it's not been burned, but it's
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really light and it's really floral and
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>> Over the past 5 years, Grind [music] has
4:06
continued to diversify and innovate. Its
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latest innovation is instant coffee that
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can be made with both hot and cold
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water. These initiatives are all part of
4:16
the desire to create a sustainable
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>> One of the things that's amazing about
4:20
Grind now, but also, you know, makes it
4:22
makes it challenging is that we've got
4:24
these distinct businesses. So, we have
4:26
our high street business, we have our
4:28
online business, and we have our grocery
4:30
business, and and and B2B with with some
4:32
amazing partners. So, they're all kind
4:34
of their own business. So, it's so
4:36
keeping, you know, keeping this that
4:38
whole ship moving in the same direction
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and keeping the values and the brand
4:42
aligned between all of those is hard.
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>> The coffee chain now operates a total of
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14 physical stores and three coffee
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trucks in London, Manchester, and Dubai.
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>> The people who all work really well
4:55
And yeah, it's just a really nice place
4:58
>> It's a really fast-paced environment. I
5:00
get to meet a lot of different people
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from different backgrounds, and I think
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it's quite entertaining as well as kind
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>> From just one store to a 40 million
5:09
pound a year business, Grind and its
5:11
iconic pink coffee cans have taken over
5:14
the UK coffee scene. At a time when the
5:16
industry is in crisis, it's a brand to
