Coffee Holding Co. Acquires Longtime NY Private-Label Roaster Empire

Coffee Holding Company and Empire Coffee Company logos.

Staten Island, New York-based Coffee Holding Company last week acquired all the assets of long-running private-label roaster Empire Coffee Company for $800,000. 

Made through a newly created Coffee Holding Co. subsidiary called Second Empire, the acquisition includes all of Empire’s existing inventory, equipment, accounts, customer list and intellectual property. 

Negotiated between Coffee Holding Co. and a former lender to Empire, the deal was made through Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. 

A longtime green coffee supplier to Empire, Texas-based Serengeti Trading Co., filed a lawsuit against Empire in July of this year, alleging breach of contract and seeking damages of at least $600,000 for unpaid invoices. According to documents filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (White Plains), that case is pending a settlement agreement before a magistrate judge. 

Roasted coffee. DCN file photo.

Empire Coffee Company has been roasting coffee for private-label clients since its founding by Robert Richter, the great grandson of one of New York’s earliest commercial coffee roasters, Leo Richter, in 1984. The company moved into its approximately 60,000-square-foot production headquarters in Port Chester, New York, in 1994, then more recently expanded into new channels under the leadership of Robert Richter’s son, Jason Richter. 

“Unfortunately, Empire never fully recovered from the COVID-19 shutdowns and the changes in consumer buying patterns that accompanied these shutdowns,” Coffee Holding Co. President and CEO Andrew Gordon said in a press release outlining the acquisition. “The fact that we were able to complete a transaction allowing us to operate a first-class turnkey manufacturing facility where we are currently servicing some of our customers is a big win for us.”

According to Coffee Holding Company, Second Empire will operate the former Empire’s Port Chester roastery and business, which is just over an hour’s drive north from CHC’s headquarters in Staten Island.

CHC’s last major acquisition came in 2018 with the ownership of Wisconsin-based Steep N Brew. 

In CHC’s announcement, Gordon said that the ownership and operations of the Empire entities “will result in both manufacturing and other cost savings almost immediately, as well as giving us the flexibility in the near term to explore greater future savings in our other existing facilities.”

Coffee Holding Company is publicly traded, with the NASDAQ listing JVA.

[Editor’s note: This story has been updated since its original publication. The original version stated that Coffee Holding Company initiated a merger and share agreement with commodities and logistics holding company Delta Corp Holdings in 2022. While the plan for a merger and share agreement was announced in 2022, the plan was terminated earlier this year by CHC’s board of directors.]

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