Birmingham-based Royal Cup Inc. has announced a $30 million expansion of its facilities on 16 acres adjacent to its present operations. They expect to add 40 employees.
So far, the expansion is still in the planning stages, with no timeline for groundbreaking, says Vice President Bill Smith, but it’s a logical move as the company has experienced consistent growth with an expectation for more.
“The coffee and tea industry has been a wonderful industry for us to be in, particularly of late, with a lot of energy and growth, ” says Smith. “Consumers are very educated, asking for specialty coffees and teas.”
Royal Cup’s customer base is in food service, working with restaurants, hospitality from white tablecloth to quick service, convenience stores, office beverage service, and a commercial division, as well as consumer sales via website.
The recent coffee house vogue has been a boon to Royal Cup. “Coffee houses are educating consumers on a daily basis, ” says Smith. “They come back to the office or speak to the chef at a restaurant and inquire about different coffees.” That request gets back to the providers at Royal Cup, and “we can work much more closely with our customers to help them serve a great cup of coffee.”
Vice President for Operations Kevin Boughner says Royal Cup brings in about 40 different green coffees from all the world’s growing regions. Last year, it brought in 49 million pounds used to make 75 different blends and 450 different products. In addition, the firm handled about 6 million pounds of tea, an amount it hopes to triple over the next 10 years.
Founded in 1896 as Batterton Coffee Co., the firm has been known as Royal Cup since 1950.
Text by Nedra Bloom
