What consumer trends are you seeing in your business?

Over the last three to four years, the Irish market has shifted. Consumers today are a lot more discerning in their tastes and want to know where their food comes from. They want to know the origins of the product and have transparency of the supply chain. Products still have to be high quality. It’s a demanding audience.

Are people eating out of home more as the economy strengthens?

The improved economy is very evident in our business. Coffee sales dipped slightly during the recession but not significantly. There was more of a decline in spending on the indulgent treat with your coffee during the recession. However, the biggest dip in spending that we saw was around the coffee-making machinery. Customers that we supply with Java coffee just didn’t have the capital to invest in new machines.

How much coffee do you serve every year?

We serve about 53m cups of coffee per year working with 1,200 B2B customers. We have contracts with Aer Lingus and British Airways but also with Irish Rail. We’ve also been operating in the tea space since 2005. Ireland has traditionally been a black tea market but in more recent years there has been a big shift towards higher consumption of green, herbal and fusion teas. This is especially true of our female customers.

Are Irish consumers taking milk with their coffee?

We estimate that 50% to 60% of our coffee drinkers take milk with their coffee. The cappuccino and latte are still the big sellers here in Ireland and they require a lot of milk. (An 8oz coffee beverage requires up to 200ml of milk). The high quality of Irish milk lends itself to the milk frothing technique used by baristas.

Have you seen a rise in demand for alternative milks?

We have seen greater awareness for milk alternatives such as almond or soya milk. At the moment, oat milk is in trend. Consumers asking for alternative milk options are a small category. For us, it’s important to stock these alternatives so you can offer all options to consumers.

Why do you think milk alternatives are more popular?

People are asking more questions about where their food comes from and what it means for their health. A new report or article claiming something is healthy can lead to a sudden interest from some consumers on that product.

How do you maintain your brand in a competitive marketplace?

We’ve invested €0.5m into the brand in the last 12 months and drive to play in the premium section of the coffee market. We import all our coffee beans from around the world and do the roasting here in Dublin. We also have direct relationships with our coffee farmers in Rwanda and have developed programmes so we can deliver a fair return for the farmer.

In short

Title: Managing director

Company: Java Republic

Employees: 75

Servings of coffee per annum: 53m