At this occasion’s London Espresso Competition, there have been noticeably fewer roasters showing at their very own stands. Rather, extra roasters had partnered with apparatus producers to brew and promote espresso at their cubicles. Matcha and practical beverage manufacturers additionally had a far larger presence this occasion in comparison to earlier editions, reflecting broader market trends in the café industry as operators glance to diversify from espresso.
As roasters navigate the era of sustained high coffee prices, it’s sunlit that their priorities are moving. Fewer have the finances or capability to show off at massive business presentations, and then again, are that specialize in smaller regional occasions or web hosting their very own pop-ups to govern money wave higher age nonetheless attractive with the wider business and customers.
I spoke with David Jameson at Danelaw Coffee to determine extra.
You might also like our article on why roasters are thinking twice before scaling.
Espresso occasions are converting
Primary business occasions have lengthy served as a springboard for roasters of all sizes to marketplace themselves and generate extra income. Lately, a rising center of attention on schooling, competitions, and networking has given get up to a extra various space of espresso occasions, particularly in emerging specialty coffee markets.
The London Espresso Competition (LCF) is among the biggest business occasions, web hosting the worldwide Espresso Masters pageant and an array of experiential options, together with Latte Artwork Reside, The Lab, the Roasters Village, and Brew College. The 2025 competition welcomed greater than 22,000 guests and 260 exhibitors to the enduring Truman Brewery venue.
Roasters from throughout the United Kingdom and Europe continuously show off at their very own cubicles. Then again, over the endmost few years, the presence of mid-sized and greater roasters at LCF has noticeably declined. Quite a few smaller UK roasters have been in attendance this occasion, aiming to ascertain extra of a presence within the nationwide marketplace.
“Back in the 2010s, I remember the main floor was full of roasters, big and small, with a real coffee focus,” says David Jameson, the founding father of Danelaw Coffee, an award-winning area of expertise espresso roaster in Holmfirth, UK, and 2025 LCF exhibitor.
“But the trend for the last few years seems to be that fewer roasters are exhibiting, and instead, they make appearances at their machine partners’ stands.”
It is a strategic travel that would assistance roasters extend their succeed in in cheaper tactics. By way of participating with their apparatus providers, lots of whom are more likely to have upper budgets for business presentations, roasters can leverage their emblem energy. Moreover, roasters can align themselves with established apparatus manufacturers, reaffirming their quality-driven branding.
The consequences of prime espresso costs on business occasions
Along with the rising presence of apparatus producers, matcha, functional beverage, syrups, and artisanal meals manufacturers had a extra viewable presence on the 2025 LCF.
“It feels as though there has also been a shift toward coffee-adjacent businesses in the past few years,” David says.
This represents broader café business developments, as operators glance past espresso, particularly age the C worth extra prime, to diversify income streams. Espresso retail outlets can’t forget about the boom in popularity of matcha, mushroom espresso, and highly customised drinks, including them to their choices to enchantment to Gen Z customers who an increasing number of call for experiential drinks.
“Matcha and functional beverage brands want to enter the specialty coffee space, and they have the marketing spend power to do so, whereas coffee brands may not at the moment,” David says.
Top and risky espresso costs have led roasters, specifically, to shift their priorities. Inexperienced espresso prices have greater than doubled over the endmost two years, to bring about tighter money wave. Concurrently, borrowing cash has grow to be dearer, which makes it more difficult to plot for the longer term.
In consequence, many roasters now have a smaller finances to wait massive occasions, particularly as exhibitor and logistics prices have larger over the endmost few years.
Roasters are actually refocusing their consideration as espresso costs keep prime
It’s a specifically difficult age for roasters recently, with coffee prices expected to stay high for the remainder of the year. Additionally, it’s turning into an increasing number of tough to all set assurance costs, as via the age a roaster has the same opinion on a worth with the vendor, the C worth has fluctuated, continuously necessitating renegotiation of words.
As roasters grapple with worth volatility, showing at massive occasions turns into much less of a concern, particularly for medium and larger-sized operations that wish to center of attention on securing capital to safeguard the prices of inexperienced espresso.
“There are definitely some challenging decisions to make at the moment. Where are your spending priorities? Does attending this event still have the same benefit it did ten years ago?” David asks. “In 2025, when your working capital for the same volume of green coffee is now roughly double what it was last year or the year before, there’s a trend of ‘battening down the hatches’.”
A rising collection of roasters are actually wondering the worth of showing at massive business occasions, and rather, wish to commit extra age and finances to stabilising operations and navigating unpredictable marketplace actions.
“There are certainly risks attached to not attending events, though; you may miss a key contact or be seen as being outside the specialty coffee scene,” David says. “A roaster who is there may have an opportunity to talk to your customer, which could tempt them away. But if the cash isn’t there to support the show, then what option is there?”
Smaller structure occasions would possibly trade in a extra viable resolution
In spite of power demanding situations, roasters nonetheless wish to stay related and hold their marketplace presence – and attending business occasions is a key a part of this.
In lieu than focusing totally on massive gala’s and business presentations, shall we see extra roasters pivot in opposition to native and regional, smaller-format occasions. With decrease exhibitor prices and extra intimate settings, those occasions may serve a extra obtainable trail to join with doable purchasers and consumers, providing roasters extra worth.
“If you’re focused on your local market, then the big trade show would be the one to sacrifice; however, if you’re aiming for a larger reach, it may take priority over smaller, in-person local events,” David says. “There’s no substitute for that spark of personal interaction.”
Occasions like Dublin Espresso Competition, COFFeEAST, Iran International Coffee Festival (often referred to as Coffeexiran), and Ljubljana Espresso Competition have skilled explosive expansion in recent times, as roasters leverage those platforms to extend their networks extra strategically.
This occasion’s Glasgow Espresso Competition, for example, noticed a record-breaking 2,000 attendees, signalling a rising hobby in smaller-format espresso occasions. As major trade shows like World of Coffee expand into different regions, the presence of native and nationwide roasters would possibly build up, making those occasions extra localised instead than world.
Sovereign pop-up occasions may additionally proliferate, as roasters glance to have extra keep watch over over their branding and operations. Quite a few eminent area of expertise espresso roasters, together with Meeting Espresso, hosted their very own pop-up occasions at the side of LCF, age additionally co-exhibiting with apparatus manufacturers on the primary competition.
Worth volatility poses diverse demanding situations for espresso roasters, and its affect is open at business occasions. As securing the capital for inexperienced espresso turns into a larger precedence, attending immense gala’s and business presentations would possibly grow to be much less reliable.
Rather, we would possibly see a transition in opposition to native and regional occasions, which inevitably may spice up the recognition of smaller-format gala’s and make allowance roasters to obtain untouched purchasers and consumers in additional strategic tactics.
Loved this? Upcoming learn our article on how smaller roasters can mitigate risk.
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