Expansion plans for the coffee company which defied slump

Cooper's Coffee, set up 21 years ago, held its turnover at 2.3m despite Britain suffering the longest and deepest post-war recession. Now David Cooper, the Huddersfield firm's founder, wants to grow the business by 20 per cent.

Mr Cooper, who was once sacked from his job as an Italian food and drinks salesman, has been boosted by contract wins in Merseyside and along the M62 corridor.

Last year, the firm downgraded its expectations for growth but still introduced a series of schemes to survive the recession.

It earned 250,000 of new coffee sales and launched nine fairtrade teas as well as offering partnership agreements.

The deals, which include loyalty benefits, print design services and free merchandise, have generated 1m so far, Mr Cooper said. They have also helped the firm hold on to a majority of its clients. Bad debt provision has stayed below 10,000.

"When you are in a premium market, you have to differentiate your products. You can buy anything cheaper if you shop around. Coffee shops want to save money," Mr Cooper said.

"In a recession these types of business clients are not operating at the same level."

Cooper's – which creates the recipes for its own coffees, distributes the beans, tea and hot chocolate, acts as the sole British agent for Dalla Corte machines and then provides the training for people who buy them – recently won two new contracts.

New business worth 195,000 in Merseyside has seen six venues, all part of National Museums Liverpool, sign up for a range of espresso machines and grinders from Cooper's premium Dalla Corte brand.

Last month, it won a 50,000 contract to supply event catering firm EMC with its coffee. Cooper's Coffee will make an EMC brand of Arabica filter coffee for functions and in corporate boxes.

It will supply five of the group's stadiums, including Galpharm in Huddersfield, KC Stadium in Hull and Coral Windows Stadium in Bradford.

Another contract will see Cooper's supply "coffee boutique" Centro Coffee & Juice Bar, which has branches in Liverpool, Ashton-under-Lyne and Altrincham, with coffee, espresso machines, an intelligent grinder and teas, syrups, frapps and Italian Panettone cake.

Cooper's, which is "15 to 20 per cent" more expensive than other coffees, already sells to West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds restaurant Anthony's and the National Coal Mining Museum, near Wakefield,

Mr Cooper said: "Everybody thinks we are mad to go for 20 per cent. For the first time we have a strategic plan to grow the business."

The firm, however, has several lines which could allow it to expand, as well as a client base of 600. It has also been helped by the relative prosperity of its clients, with only one per cent of them seeing their businesses fail, Mr Cooper said.

Three-quarters of Cooper's business comes from the area between Derbyshire and Newcastle and along the M62 corridor, with the rest scattered around the country.

Although Cooper's appointed a business development manager in August – and hopes to bring in another one this year – Mr Cooper took the unusual step of taking control of sales last year because of under-performance. The decision paid off as, after working 80 hours a week, Mr Cooper recorded 16 per cent growth between February and May.

"I needed to prove that we didn't need this expensive sales team and that there was a products at this price. But, eventually, I ran out of steam."

Birth of a successful company

Cooper's Coffee was founded in a back bedroom by David Cooper, in Garforth, near Leeds, 21 years ago.

Mr Cooper had trained and worked as a chef for four years before becoming a salesman of Italian food, wines and coffees to cafs in Yorkshire and the North-East in the late 1980s. When this ended, however, he branched out on his own, making coffee blends to sell to contacts in the catering trade.

The fledgling entrepreneur rented three garages, at 15 a week, and carried out running his business from there.