As a rapidly growing family business, we at Giesen Coffee Roasters are constantly meeting new coffee businesses worldwide. This is an exciting journey, along which we encounter numerous inspiring initiatives. One such initiative is Bergen Kaffebrenneri Møhlenpris, a small-scale roasting business located in the city of Bergen in Norway.
Bergen Kaffebrenneri positions itself as both a coffee roastery and a coffee bar, both of which they more or less introduced in Norway. Business owner Carl Johannessen explains: ‘the coffee market, and every aspect of experience that surrounds it, has only been developing in Norway during the past 15 years’.
Carl himself started the business seven years ago, purely as a hobby which rooted from a love of coffee and a curious attitude towards roasting it. ‘I did not anticipate that it would go so well, I started out roasting for family and friends, and now we are a legitimate business’.
As the coffee business is becoming more popular in Norway, one would think Bergen Kaffebrenneri would need a strategy to deal with its increasing competition. Carl has a different vision: ‘It is a lot like the beer market; it started out as a few small-scale brewers, who created not just a market for their product but made it an experience. This is why people were willing to pay more for it, and this created the market as it is developing now’. The increase in quality of both the product and the experience creates room for new initiatives to enter the market.
Carl states that he does not intend to make his business more ‘trendy’; he values staying true to the traditional image of coffee. ‘We see coffee as a down-to-earth product. We do not consider fancy additions a means to innovate. We like to differentiate ourselves by offering the client as much experience as possible. We do this by allowing them to taste, smell and witness the entire coffee roasting spectrum, not just extremely light roasts for example.
After doing some research on a coffee roaster to purchase, Bergen Kaffebrenneri came into contact with Giesen Coffee Roasters. ‘We first met with Marc Weber, global manager of sales at Giesen, during a coffee show in Italy, after which we decided to purchase the W30’.
Carl explains that purchasing the Giesen coffee roaster has lead to an increase of productivity and a decrease of energy use, both of which have enriched Bergen Kaffebrenneri’s own roasting experience. Despite some problems surrounding the installation of the W30, Carl reflects positively upon working with Giesen Coffee Roasters. ‘We’re very happy!’ Carl concludes.
More information
If you would like to know more about Bergen Kaffebrenneri, you can check out their website, and view some nice pictures:
http://kaffebrenneri.de.gpu.no/
You can also check out their Facebook page:
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