John Farrer & Co, the UK’s oldest coffee roaster is setting itself up for another 200 years in its home town of Kendal with a program of investment at its Shap Road site.
The company headed up by General Manger Dave Walsh, has since October 2018, created two new full-time jobs and has also invested £10,000 in the Shap Road site to reconfigure their coffee development, warehousing and packaging areas and to purchase additional specialist equipment.
The creation of a bespoke coffee development, warehousing and packaging facility, has already enabled a more effective production process, and this will be followed by additional investment at the Kendal site later in 2019, which will further enhance the production facilities at the site.
Farrer’s also now has a fully equipped training facility, which boasts eight works stations equipped with the latest coffee machines and grinders from world leading Italian manufacturer Sanremo.
This bespoke facility allows the Farrer’s team of two industry accredited trainers to deliver a range of Beverage Standards Association (BSA) training packages for those entering the industry or for those who are more experienced and want to hone their skills; as well as a range of home barista courses for those who want to get the best from their coffee.
Alongside this the industry training body the BSA now use the Shap Road training facility to run their own personal development courses for outside trainers. Their Lead External Verifier Jon Skinner, described Farrer’s training suite as ‘’one of the best training facilities in the UK.’’
Dave Walsh, General Manager, of John Farrer & Co, said: ‘’the future is looking bright for Farrer’s in our 200th anniversary year. We are proud of our long association with Kendal, our roots are firmly planted in the town and as a result, in recent months, we have set about creating a more streamlined production facility at our Shap Road site. Alongside this investment we have recently recruited two new team members to meet the increased demand for our products from across the north of England. As we look ahead our ambition is to create a vibrant and progressive company, fit for the next 200 years. We are justifiably proud of our small part in the food and drink heritage of the Lake District, Cumbria, but we are also looking to the future, we have real ambition and want to put Farrer’s and Kendal firmly on the map.’’
