Do brand partnerships always help coffee roasters grow?

In an increasingly competitive market, coffee roasters are looking for new ways to stand out. For many, product diversification is often the most effective strategy. Launching new products increases sales, reduces risk, and allows companies to take advantage of market opportunities.

We’ve seen many roasters selling more than just whole bean and ground coffee in recent years. Capsules, ready-to-drink coffee, and concentrates have all proven popular, with sales growing in key markets around the world. But as more consumers seek differentiated experiences, roasters have to flex their creative muscle and innovate even further.

Combining coffee with products like liqueurs, ice cream, and chocolate is becoming more common, especially in the specialty segment where quality is a priority. To see success, leveraging the expertise of other like-minded brands is hugely beneficial for roasters expanding into uncharted markets.

Establishing new brand partnerships, however, requires careful consideration and an open mind. Roasters need to work closely with other companies to ensure values and expectations are aligned, with the ultimate goal of creating a unique premium product that reaches a wider range of consumers.

I spoke to Vytautas Kratulis, CEO and founder of Huracán Coffee, Domantas Uzpalis, founder of Chocolate Naive, and Maria Pacas, Commercial Director of Coffee at Café Pacas, to find out how brand partnerships have helped their businesses grow.

You may also like our article on why collaborations show there’s less appetite for competition between roasters.

Brand collaborations aren’t new to the coffee industry

Brand partnerships have long been an effective business strategy in various industries to diversify revenue, including coffee. Many collaborations go beyond “traditional” coffee-related products to create more buzz among a wider range of consumers. 

For example, in 2022, coffee and doughnut chain Dunkin’ teamed up with cosmetics brand e.l.f. to launch a limited-edition makeup collection. The US’ Alfred Coffee recently partnered with shoe brand Sorel to co-design two pairs of sneakers inspired by the roaster’s most popular drinks.

These types of collaborations are also increasingly common in specialty coffee. In 2023, NBA player Jimmy Butler’s BigFace Coffee launched a co-branded range with equipment manufacturer Fellow. Similar to Alfred Coffee, Blue Bottle also partnered with New Balance to create the low-carbon Fresh Foam sneakers.

Developing coffee-focused food & beverage products

Differentiated food and beverage products are often the main focus of coffee partnerships. Roasters can add their beans to chocolate, ice cream, beer, liqueurs, and other goods to offer new experiences with coffee flavour.

Vytautas Kratulis is the CEO and founder of Huracán Coffee – Lithuania’s first specialty coffee shop and roaster. Over the years, the company has partnered with several brands to co-develop new products, helping it scale as a business. Vytautas says they roast with a Loring machine to achieve a diverse range of roast profiles to add coffee to different products, and received an FSSC 22000 certification so they can standardise procedures and collaborate with other brands.

He explains that although the Lithuanian specialty coffee market is still maturing, it has grown significantly over the last two decades. As a former Soviet republic, tea was particularly popular in the country, but coffee consumption grew during the early 1990s after the Baltic state gained its independence.

“Instant coffee dominated the market because it’s prepared like tea,” he says. “Lithuania’s roasting sector emerged in 1996, and my first trip to origin was in 2005 when specialty coffee started to emerge in places like the US.”

At the time, Huracán was one of only four roasters in the country. Vytautas explains that coffee was primarily served in local eateries like pizzerias rather than in dedicated coffee shops. Today, Lithuania is home to around 30 roasters, and specialty coffee shops are common in bigger cities like Vilnius.

Why coffee collaborations work so well

With over 800 identified flavour compounds, coffee is a versatile product, so it’s no surprise that it complements many other food and beverages. Given their similarities, Vytautas says that coffee and chocolate work together particularly well.

“Both undergo fermentation and are superfoods,” he tells me. “The flavours are also very similar, so I think chocolate is a good way to better understand coffee, and vice versa.”

This led Huracán to develop coffee chocolate bars with local business bean-to-bar brand Chocolate Naive. Founder Domantas Uzpalis tells me more about the two products they created.

“One is made with dark-milk chocolate and contains 20% coffee from Papua New Guinea, with chocolate-dominant tasting notes with a strong coffee aftertaste,” he explains. “The other is made using a single origin Mexican coffee from producer Marco Antonio Cordoba and has a white chocolate base so that the coffee flavour is more pronounced.”

The flavours in coffee also lend themselves well to sweeter, more indulgent food and beverages, including desserts, ice cream, and sodas. With quality and convenience becoming even more important consumer purchasing factors, these products offer roasters an opportunity to meet demand for both.

In partnership with a manufacturer in Vilkaviškis (a region in Lithuania with many dairy farmers), Vytautas explains that Huracán co-created an ice cream using a Kenyan coffee infusion. He adds that they sell grab-and-go tubs, helping to diversify product offerings and increase sales.

Vytautas also says that the Kenyan coffee infusion was used in a collaboration with Lithuania’s oldest distillery Pakruojis Manor. He tells me he worked with owner Šarūnas Karalius to experiment with over 20 samples of liqueur and different percentages of cold brew concentrate to settle on an award-winning recipe.

How roasters can leverage the benefits of collaborating

Working with businesses in other industries can be an effective way for coffee brands to scale operations in less conventional ways. For roasters in particular, selling products other than coffee helps capture the attention of a more diverse range of customers – including those new to or unfamiliar with specialty coffee.

“You can’t expect everyone to resonate with your core business offerings all the time,” Vytautas says. As it’s marketed as a superior product, specialty coffee can sometimes exclude those who feel they don’t have the knowledge or expertise to buy it.

“Through product collaborations, you can show consumers that there are many ways to experience specialty coffee, and they will start to view it differently,” he adds.

The craft beer industry serves as a useful example. A growing number of roasters have teamed up with breweries to launch artisanal beers that enable them to tap into a global market valued at over US $210 billion.

“In partnership with Švyturys, Lithuania’s biggest beer producer, we developed a coffee imperial stout,” Vytautas tells me. “These beers are usually dark, which can work well with medium and darker roast profiles, but we decided to create a blonde version which is lighter in colour.”

These types of collaborations help roasters expand their brand reach and attract interest from different demographics. A craft beer enthusiast who doesn’t buy specialty coffee, for example, will likely drink a coffee-flavoured beer, and experiencing the two together could spark an interest to try other coffee drinks in the future – potentially creating a new specialty coffee consumer.

“Co-branded products help businesses to intersect different industries, which allows more people to become familiar with their products,” Domantas explains. Ultimately, this secures new revenue streams and helps to meet ever-changing consumer demand.

Building a successful partnership is key

Collaborating with another brand – especially one outside of the coffee industry – requires creativity, an open mind, and trust if roasters want to grow their businesses sustainably.

Domantas notes that he had known Vytautas for years before deciding to co-develop coffee chocolate bars. “We come from sister industries and share similarly adventurous visions,” he says. “Huracán Coffee pioneered specialty coffee in Lithuania, and Vytautas’ knowledge and experience has contributed to both the local and international specialty coffee communities.”

Establishing broader industry relationships only helps to strengthen a brand’s presence in the market, which helps to make future collaborations more successful. Huracán Coffee has developed relationships with equipment manufacturers like Dalla Corte, and has been a member of the Specialty Coffee Association since 2003 (when they also launched Lithuania’s first Barista Championship) and the Alliance for Coffee Excellence since 2005. Since then, Vytautas has participated in 16 international Cup Of Excellence juries and Huracán has trained ten national barista champions.

It’s equally crucial to ensure that both brands are aligned on their values – especially to maintain quality and sustainability. In some respects, this may require finding a middle ground, so it’s important to be receptive without compromising values and standards.

“You can learn a lot from other brands and leverage their industry experience to benefit your own operations,” Domantas says. “Artisanal chocolate can learn a great deal from specialty coffee.

“We see ourselves as similar to specialty coffee, but focusing on chocolate,” he adds. “The collaboration was an obvious choice, and it will only develop further in the future.”

How can roasters strengthen relationships with producers?

In addition to developing relationships with other brands, collaborations present roasters with opportunities to build partnerships with producers who provide the coffee for these products.

Maria Pacas is the Commercial Director of Coffee at Café Pacas, a multi-generation farm in El Salvador that has been growing coffee for over five decades. The farm is known for its famous Pacas variety, including Bernadina, and zero-defect coffee offerings.

She tells me that Café Pacas has had a unique relationship with Huracán Coffee since 2009, built on their shared Lithuanian heritage. Café Pacas also made the first-ever Salvadoran rum, which the roaster successfully launched as the first rum in Lithuania.

“The Pacas family’s roots can be traced back to 1388 when the Trakai Palace, once a capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was built on an island in Lake Galvé,” she says. “Our Lithuanian roots make sharing our coffee in the country of our ancestors particularly inspiring and fills us with pride.”

She adds that the relationship between roasters and producers is crucial for successful production collaborations.

“Effective communication benefits both parties. When roasters clearly convey their requirements regarding the type of coffee, flavour profile, and price point, it becomes easier for producers to deliver a product that meets those specific needs,” she says. “By cultivating long-term relationships, both roasters and producers can collaborate on projects that benefit both.”

Moreover, if roasters need to source certain coffees for product collaborations, this can secure longer contracts for producers. Maria says this helps to set fairer prices for coffee and allows farmers to make more accurate forecasts, potentially improving profitability in the long term.

Staying ahead of the curve

Successful product diversification hinges on anticipating trends in the broader food and beverage industry, and being able to develop new coffee products in turn.

Experimentation is vital to create innovative, co-developed coffee products that help roasters stand out in saturated markets. Vytautas emphasises the importance of creativity when incorporating coffee into various products, with his next goal is to create a coffee-flavoured gummy candy.

“We’re always thinking about coffee and how we can match different flavours,” he adds. “You need to be open-minded when developing new products.”

He says the pursuit of quality should also extend to other areas of a business, including choosing which food items to stock in a café. Vytautas tells me Huracán Coffee has collaborated with leading food industry players, including Michelin-recommended chefs and Bordeaux wine markers, to experiment with different coffee flavour combinations.

Cross-industry coffee collaborations empower roasters to create exciting, new products that diversify offerings, expand their reach, and strengthen branding. These business partnerships push for further innovation and open up new possibilities in specialty coffee.

At the same time, coffee brands need to stay true to their values when co-developing products. Maintaining and scaling quality should always be a priority, so roasters need to make sure they partner with companies they can build trust with.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how specialty coffee and artisan bread are related.

Photo credits: Huracán Coffee

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Please note: Huracán Coffee is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.

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