A lockdown business born from a love of freshly roasted coffee

You look to expand the growing business and move from your home in Burtonwood into a dedicated unit, where you can offer roastery tours and serve hot drinks!

Ellis Roberts and Toni Molyneux started Burtonwood Coffee Company almost two years ago when the world was in the midst of a global pandemic.

Born from their own love of coffee, the couple wanted to share the passion for freshly roasted coffee with people in the local community.

Here, in our Trader of the Week feature, Ellis and Toni tell us how they turned a hobby into a business and what their plans are for an even more successful 2023.

Ellis and Toni at one of their artisan markets

What’s the name of the business?

Burtonwood Coffee Company – a coffee roastery and mobile coffee bar

What’s the address?

We have converted space at our home in Burtonwood that we use to roast our coffee. Our aim is to secure a dedicated unit to offer roastery tours and to serve fresh hot drinks.

When did you open the business?

In January 2021. It was a lockdown venture born from our love of coffee, which led to us sharing what we love with people in our local community and further afield.

Has it always been in the same location?

Yes, we’ve been a home-based business in Burtonwood for almost two years but we are hoping to expand in 2023. Moving into a bigger space will allow us to use a larger roaster and roast more coffee!

Are you local to the area? Did you grow up here?

We both grew up in Widnes. We met at high school and have been together for 13 years. We moved to Burtonwood in 2019. Toni’s family are from Burtonwood and we knew it would be the perfect place to call home.

Tell me a bit about your business

Burtonwood Coffee Company is a small-batch coffee roaster. We roast a variety of coffee from different origins including Colombia, Brazil, India and Kenya. We also offer our own blends such as our B-17 and Control Tower. We roast all our coffee fresh each week, which ensures optimal flavour and allows us to fully control the quality of our product. We have an online shop and we’re often at Great Sankey and Birchwood artisan markets. As well as selling coffee directly to customers, we also offer coffee wholesale, which means you can grab a delicious cup from one of five Warrington-based businesses - Mamar’s at the Old Bank on Bridge Street, Saffy’s Sandwich Bar in Stockton Heath, Little L’s Teapot, a vintage caravan based in Penketh, G and G’s Cafe on Lovely Lane and the Fursty Fox, a horse trailer based in Culcheth. These are fantastic female-owned businesses.

Burtonwood Coffee Company coffee is sold in venues around Warrington

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Why did you decide to open your own business?

We both have a love and a passion for coffee. We’ve been lucky enough to travel the world tasting some of the best produced coffee and we wanted to try and roast some ourselves.

What’s your business background?

Toni works full-time as a business consultant for a Chester-based company. After five years as a marine engineer in the Royal Navy, Ellis left the service in August 2022 and now works as a mobile mast maintainer, meaning he has to have a great supply of coffee to keep well-fuelled on the road.

Why this type of business?

We never expected the business to take off the way it has. We learnt to roast coffee as a hobby for our own personal use, simply because we love it so much, but it quickly evolved into something much more. We purchased some raw coffee beans online during the lockdown and started off experimenting with them. We didn’t have any equipment so we just used the frying pan and air fryer! After lots of studying and preparation, we eventually purchased a small coffee roaster which was only for roasting small quantities of coffee. After realising that this was something we not only really enjoyed but were also good at, we asked the people of Burtonwood if they like to taste our coffee and we were overwhelmed by the response. We received so much interest and support that Burtonwood Coffee Company was born.

How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect your business?

Lockdown was so hard for many people but we have to look for the positives in different situations. Without it, we might never have made the time to experiment with roasting.

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What makes your business different to others in the same area/field? What sets your business apart from your competitors?

Our care and sense of community spirit. We truly love where we live and we try to give back to our community. Throughout 2022, we have donated more than £700 worth of products and sponsorships to our community. We love to talk to people about their love and interest in coffee, offering advice with a personal service. Many of our customers have become good friends.

Toni in the dedicated space for roasting coffee

Why do loyal customers return to your business?

Our amazing coffee and friendly service. Nothing is ever too much trouble and we will always go out of our way to help our customers.

What’s next? What do the next few months hold for you and your business?

With Christmas just around the corner, we’re looking forward to finishing the year on a high. We have plenty of events booked in, serving hot drinks and our bags of fresh roasted coffee. We’ll be having a well-deserved break between Christmas and the New Year and starting 2023 with a bang. We’re currently in talks with multiple Warrington-based businesses that are looking for fresh roasted coffee to serve to their customers, along with a new look for our product packaging. It’s an exciting time for Burtonwood Coffee Company.

If you would like to appear in our Trader of the Week feature, email heidi.summerfield@newsquest.co.uk