Germany’s Tchibo Acquires UK Roasting Company Matthew Algie

Nick Snow from Tchibo with Gary Nicol from Matthew Algie. Photograph by Martin Shields.

One of the largest volume coffee roasting and retailing companies in the world, Germany’s Tchibo has acquired Glasgow, Scotland-based roasting company Matthew Algie, with the goal of expanding Tchibo’s reach into the UK market.

The 150-year-old UK company, which currently employs 220 people, will remain as a standalone brand and entity, with Tchibo providing a “platform for further expansion and innovation, building on its impressive growth in recent years,” the privately held German company said in an announcement this morning. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We have always worked hard to deliver consistently high quality products and that won’t change going forward,” said Matthew Algie CEO Gary Nicol. “The investment of Tchibo also speaks volumes for the results achieved by our skilled and committed workforce.”

Tchibo has had a presence in the UK coffee market for the past 25 years, with more than 150 existing employees there primarily focused on the hospitality coffee segment, with hotels and offices. The deal is expected to result in the growth of Matthew Algie’s sister brand, Espresso Warehouse, which sells a range of wholesale food items, and brewing and café accessories to clients in the retail coffee sector.

Additionally, Tchibo said it has no plans to disrupt Matthew Algie’s green coffee sourcing practices, which the company boasts as being always ethical in nature, either through long-term direct-trading with producer partners or through triple-certification (Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and organic).

“Matthew Algie stands out in the UK coffee trade for its unrivalled ‘farm-to-cup’ approach to ethical sourcing, its technical excellence with dedication to staff and customer training, and the opportunity to grow the Espresso Warehouse concept internationally,” said Nick Snow, managing director of Tchibo Coffee Services. “We are very keen to maintain Matthew Algie’s independence while providing it with the opportunity to drive innovation in the UK coffee service market. We will learn a lot from each other while both continuing to grow.”