Cafès Novell faces 2024 with good prospects and a novelty: it has launched its first specialty coffee, with which it aspires to continue positioning itself within high-end restoration. The family business from Vilafranca del Penedès has made this commitment to this product of an even higher category after a 2023 in which it invoiced 37 million euros, 16% more than in 2022.
Expectations are also optimistic for 2024: the company foresees growth of between 6 and 8%. This new range will also play a role in the projected increase in turnover. Cafès Novell, which serves more than 3,000 hospitality venues every week, already supplies its new specialty coffee to more than 50 venues, distributed between Catalonia and Madrid. These are the first of a more ambitious goal: the company wants to close 2024 with more than 150 establishments serving its The Roastery range.
"It is a coffee designed for demanding customers in high-end restaurants and quality coffee shops," highlighted Ramon Novell, general director of the company and member of the second generation of the family saga of the company. Novell explained it between delicate and precise sips of coffee in a tasting as a first contact with its new range, led by the company's specialist Jaume Freixedes. As ambassador, chef Oriol Castro participated, whose three-Michelin-star restaurant Disfrutar already serves coffee from this new Novell range, made up of two products: Bespoke Blend and Single Origin. "We have the philosophy of looking for local and proximity companies," emphasized Castro, who runs Disfrutar together with Mateu Casañas and Eduard Xatruch. The chef claimed that quality products should lead the complete experience of his restaurants, without forgetting the final note that coffee provides.
To be part of the specialty coffee universe, the product must come from a privileged cultivation and must have the best processing and storage practicesFreixedes guided the attendees through a ritual of multiple and precise steps that are part of the process known as Brazilian cupping. Three covered cups to keep aromas and fragrances captive. Citrus, floral, toasted bread, dried fruit, and jasmine notes, which are enhanced when the coffee is stirred; when the spoon breaks the cup once water is added to the ground coffee. These are the ingredients that make up the Bespoke Blend range, with beans from Colombia and Ethiopia. The Single Origin offers differentiated coffees due to their characteristics and origin stories, and has been designed with the aim of including different products that are offered to customers with a certain rotation.
This new range complements the company's premium and quality offering, which has 225 employees. Founded in 1958, it now embarks on this exclusive universe of specialty coffee. To be part of it, the product must come from a privileged cultivation both by climate and location, and must have the best processing and storage practices. Thus, this category encompasses the entire value chain, and must obtain a rating of at least 80 points through the international Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) system. In the last five years, the specialty coffee market has grown considerably in Spain. It currently totals close to 500 establishments, with customers mainly in Catalonia and Madrid.
"Our obsession is customer service," guaranteed Ramon Novell, in a business that places 75% of its activity in hospitality and has recently opened up to the hotel sector. 17% of its sales are concentrated in services to companies and vending, while 8% falls within the retail sector, where Novell argues that the company "has a niche and very good expectations." The remaining 3% of its business corresponds to the activity it carries out beyond the border, where it is present in 24 countries.
75% of Cafès Novell's activity is located in hospitality, while 17% falls into services for companies, and 8% in retailA differentiating element that Cafès Novell offers to its clients in the restaurant sector is the accompaniment and training it provides to its professionals, to ensure that the product is meticulously prepared so that it reaches the consumer in optimal conditions. All its products have in common Novell's commitment to sustainability: of the two million kilos of coffee beans roasted in 2023, 80% was certified or came from organic farming. Thus, responsibility towards its customers and with the environment are distinctive features that position the brand on the coffee map, to which it now adds this new range that will open its way to the most demanding kitchens of high-end restaurants.