NC’s Dilworth Coffee Unveils Brand Refresh, New Store Prototype

The new Dilworth coffee packaging design. All images courtesy of Dilworth Coffee/Stockton Graham.

A year after it was acquired by the Raleigh, N.C.-based full-service roastery and equipment supplier Stockton Graham & Co., the Dilworth Coffee brand has undergone its first major refresh since 2005.

Stockton Graham acquired the roasting and distribution assets of the longtime Charlotte-based Dilworth Coffee — founded by Don and Aylene Keen 28 years ago — in 2010, completing the brand acquisition last year. With the brand refresh, Stockton Graham is phasing out coffees under its own brand name and offering wholesale clients coffees under the Dilworth brand.

“After extensive market research and customer feedback, we have decided to consolidate our specialty coffee under our single strongest brand: Dilworth Coffee,” the company announced last month. “This will allow us to streamline our business and improve our customer experience.”

In addition to a new logo, updated coffee packaging, an expanded list of wholesale specialty coffees, a new website and an expanded e-commerce platform, the company has also introduced a new prototype Dilworth Coffee store, the first of which has been unveiled at 201 N. Tryon Street in Charlotte’s Fifth Third Center. The shop is one of four Charlotte-area stores licensing the Dilworth name, while offering a renewed focus on coffee craft through espresso drinks and manual brews.

“Dilworth Coffee’s aggressive coffee-forward strategy is supported through careful adherence to the Specialty Coffee Association’s brewing standards and our own revitalized training programs,” the company said in a recent announcement of the rebranding. “These programs are based on the new global coffee standards authored by the Specialty Coffee Association’s Brewing Pathway Committee, chaired by Dilworth Coffee’s Brady Butler.”