5THWAVE - The Business of Coffee and Hospitality

In today’s episode we speak with Emma Loisel, Co-founder and Chair of Volcano Coffee Works.Founded in the early 2000s, Volcano is a B Corp-certified specialty coffee roaster based in London. The company has grown from a single mobile coffee cart into a multi-channel coffee business, working with operators to deliver quality coffee and support their wider business goals.In this conversation, Emma explores how specialty roasters must move beyond supplying coffee to being true commercial partners. We also discuss what it takes to scale a specialty coffee business, and how AI can help teams identify opportunities, improve business practices and spend more time building customer relationships.Credits music: "I Wish You Love" By Mimi Rose in association with The Coffee Music Project and SEB Collective. Tune into the 5THWAVE Playlist on Spotify for more music from the showSign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.comSubscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear

In today’s episode, we speak with Giusi Bonini, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Andrew Barrow, UK Managing Director at Evoca Group.Tracing its heritage back to the 1920s, Evoca Group is a leading manufacturer of professional coffee machines. With a longstanding commitment to environmental management, the company is working to embed sustainability into product design, business operations and smart decision-making.In this conversation, we hear why sustainability needs to be treated as a business-wide system rather than a standalone initiative. We also discuss the importance of total cost of ownership, and why environmental responsibility can co-exist with, and even contribute to, long term commercial performance.Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.comSubscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear

In today’s episode Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood returns to 5THWAVE!Maxwell is the founder of Colonna Coffee, a UK-based specialty coffee brand and roastery. He’s also an author, three-time UK Barista Champion, Project Waterfall board director and an influential voice in the global coffee industry.In this conversation, we explore how the specialty coffee market is evolving and why some traditional approaches are finding renewed relevance. We also discuss what independent coffee businesses can learn from larger commercial operations, how industry perceptions are shifting, and what the next era of specialty coffee might look like.Credits music: "Rise" by Catherine Taylor Dawson in association with The Coffee Music Project and SEB Collective. Tune into the 5THWAVE Playlist on Spotify for more music from the showSign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.comSubscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear

Single-use packaging remains one of the biggest sustainability challenges facing the coffee industry. An estimated 300 to 500 billion single-use coffee cups are produced globally each year, alongside the millions of roaster bags, takeaway food containers and other packaging used across the coffee supply chain.So in this episode, we explore some of the latest reusable packaging solutions emerging across the industry, and what it takes to make reuse work in practice.How do you create a reusable takeaway system that scales across multiple sites? How do you get consumers to participate when convenience and habit rule? And how do you make reuse work commercially and operationally behind the scenes?We speak with David McLagan, Founder, Ecoffee Cup, Ramon Schalch, CEO, ViCafe, and Dejan Mitrovic and Clare Brass, Founders, Moree.Credits music: "Bigger Things" by Carolina Diego in association with The Coffee Music Project and SEB Collective. Tune into the 5THWAVE Playlist on Spotify for more music from the showSign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.comSubscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear

In today's episode, we catch up with David Flynn, President and Co-founder of the iconic Belleville Brûlerie in Paris.Founded in 2013, Belleville is a leading name in France's specialty coffee scene,  known for its exceptional coffees and distinctive bleu de travail worker's jackets – a celebration of French craftsmanship and artisan tradition.In this conversation, David shares why France is becoming an increasingly interesting market for specialty coffee, and how the country's deep-rooted appreciation for food, flavour and gastronomy is helping to shape its coffee culture.David also unpacks his decision to move away from coffee shops to focus on roasting and sourcing, and how he's embracing lean management to make the business more efficient while empowering his team to drive continuous improvement.Credits music: "Trip The Light" by BlueBelle in association with The Coffee Music Project and SEB Collective. Tune into the 5THWAVE Playlist on Spotify for more music from the showSign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.comSubscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear