10 February 2022
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
The Cork company will have its range of coffee products ij Aldi’s award premium “Specially Selected” range
Aldi Ireland has agreed a new 2-year deal with Cork-based Velo Coffee Roasters to supply all of its 149 Irish stores with its popular ground coffee. As part of this new contract, Velo Coffee’s award-winning Velo Tandem Coffee will be rebranded under Aldi’s premium Specially Selected range as Velo Specially Selected.
Velo Coffee Roasters has seen strong growth in recent years, and will sell almost 500,000 bags of coffee across Aldi’s 149 stores over the next two years. In addition to the move to the Specially Selected range, customers will be able to find the same great tasting coffee in new fully recyclable packaging.
Velo Coffee Roasters began working with Aldi in 2018 as part of Grow with Aldi, an initiative developed in partnership with Bord Bia designed to help small and medium producers develop their brand, with the opportunity to become a core range listing in all Aldi stores nationally. Since partaking in the programme, the company has gone from strength to strength, with its coffee products a fan favourite in Aldi stores.
Based in Mayfield, County Cork, Velo Coffee Roasters employs 14 staff members. Aldi’s business represents about a third of the company’s output and between 2018 and 2021, its sales in Aldi’s 149 stores rose by an amazing 135%.
As a direct result of Aldi’s business, Velo Coffee Roasters has been able to invest significantly in future-proofing its supply capacity, which saw the company move to a new warehouse in January 2021, five times the size of its original facility. As well as this, the company invested in a brand-new state-of-the-art coffee roaster worth €310,000 which will double its bean-roasting capacity.
Rob Horgan, owner of Velo Coffee Roasters, said:
“We are thrilled to see Velo Tandem moving to Aldi’s Specially Selected range and are immensely proud to have gone from an unknown coffee company in 2018 to now, only a short time later, seeing such strong sales and being included in Aldi’s Specially Selected range in stores nationwide. Working with Aldi long-term has given us the security to expand and invest in our business and we look forward to working with Aldi for many years to come.”