Scots coffee roasters and cafe owners have compared the current lack of Government support for their industry to the dark days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Soaring business rates and energy costs have put ‘massive hurdles’ in the path of coffee producers and baristas up and down the UK, damning them to a day-to-day existence of financial firefighting, despite strong public demand for what they are offering.
These complaints surfaced as a record 2800 roasters prepared to gather for this year’s Glasgow Coffee Festival to compete and exhibit a ‘plethora of delectable roasts’.
Event founder Lisa Lawson, of Dear Green Coffee Roasters, said that despite the UK cafe industry being worth around £6.1 billion, roasters and cafe owners were ‘struggling’ in the absence of Government help.
“Glasgow Coffee Festival 2026 is set to be our biggest and best yet. It will showcase everything that is so well-loved about this incredible industry that’s bursting at the seams with talent.
“But many of our favourite businesses competing at the event are being squeezed from all sides with rising energy, labour, rent, and product costs.
“We’re seeing new café operators exit as soon as their leases allow, with little meaningful support for our sector or its supply chain.
“As a coffee roaster, we feel the impact of a volatile global market and record highs in our raw coffee prices. Independent businesses have become resilient by necessity, but constant firefighting isn’t sustainable.”
Unless more is done by those in power to support the sector, many more businesses will go under, Lawson warned.
“The government could make a real difference through targeted relief, such as business rates reform and energy cost support.
“Cafes are the heart of the community – giving them and their suppliers the breathing room to grow, not just survive, which will have a positive impact on all of those around them.”
Festival exhibitor Robi Lambie, of Cairngorm Coffee Roasters, shared the same sentiments.
“It feels like we are heading towards a COVID like experience for hospitality with the increased pressure from NI hikes, ingredient costs and now wage expectations rising as they always do at this time of year.
“The obvious difference is that the government is under way less pressure to recognise that businesses are really struggling,” said Lambie.
“In Edinburgh the councils biggest form of income seems to be business rates, making small businesses like Cairngorm essential to the success of our city, yet I don’t see the quantifiable benefits that we receive for these rates when we are forced to require additional wastage contracts and thousands of pounds in external seating licenses.
“Supposedly Scotland was set to pay 70% more in business rates than England. It really does feel like one of the toughest climates I’ve experienced, maybe even harder than COVID due to the lack of support.”
Public appetite for locally-roasted artisan coffees will be much in evidence at the Glasgow Coffee Festival, where the UK’s Best Roaster competition will take centre stage for the first time.
Featuring roasters from London to Aberfeldy, the competition will showcase the ‘precision and expertise behind the perfect bean’.
Each finalist is required to roast an identical coffee to their own specifications, while also submitting a sourced coffee of their choice to represent their brand’s style.
A blind, peer-assessed cupping will take place on April 17. The winner will be announced on April 19 – the festival’s final day.
The festival bill will also feature expert-led talks, workshops, and tastings, where punters will be able to enjoy the competition coffees at the Best Roaster UK stand, and be part of the competition by voting for the Public’s Choice live at the fest.
