Bewley’s Acquires Grumpy Mule Coffee Brand

Bewley’s, the market leader in fresh coffee foodservice and retail sector in Ireland, has bought the Yorkshire-based coffee roaster to develop both the brand and the business. It also has a strong UK market presence supplying 1,500 outlets and a famous coffee house in Dublin.

This is the second British acquisition for the company in 18 months, after it bought Darlington’s Coffee in 2011.

Ian Balmforth, managing director of Bolling, said, “Bolling and Bewley’s have very similar approaches to the marketplace with a commitment to sourcing the highest quality sustainable coffees from coffee producers while focusing on excellence at every point of customer contact through our customer care teams. Combining the two companies provides a very exciting opportunity for Bolling to grow further given that Bewley’s has already established a presence in London.

“Bewley’s direct sourcing is an example of best-practice in the industry, and they think that we also work on it in the right way. We have talked for a long time about going ‘beyond Fairtrade’ and ‘beyond Rainforest’, and the way Bewley’s works and the way we work joins up a lot of very good dots in good direct-sourcing practice. We all see sustainable, traceable, ethical sourcing as the future of the industry.”

Jim Corbett, managing director for Bewley’s, added, “Bolling has a well deserved reputation as one of the UK’s foremost coffee companies with skilled management, great customers and strong growth prospects. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to work with the Bolling team to open a new chapter in the company’s future. Bolling brings us UK nationwide sales and service capability, a UK roasting facility and considerable further expertise for our customers and the wider UK coffee market. Bewley’s will support Bolling’s further growth with significant ongoing investment in production capability, sales and marketing”.