Artisan Coffee Leading the Way for Independents
•February 16, 2026
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Companies Mentioned
Why It Matters
The venture shows how independent coffee brands can diversify into education and wholesale to achieve sustainable growth, challenging the dominance of large chains. It also highlights the importance of operational resilience for family‑run enterprises.
Key Takeaways
- •Artisan opened first shop 2011, filling UK independent gap.
- •Training school launched 2014, now more profitable than shops.
- •Roastery expansion increased wholesale capacity 50%, serving 120 shops.
- •No plans to open more cafés; focus on add‑ons.
- •Founder undertaking 22,000 km coffee road trip to test resilience.
Pulse Analysis
The UK coffee market has long been dominated by multinational chains, yet a noticeable gap for authentic, independent cafés persisted until the early 2010s. Artisan Coffee seized this opportunity, introducing an Australian‑inspired ethos that emphasized coffee craftsmanship, ambience, and community dialogue. By positioning itself as a boutique alternative, the brand tapped into a growing consumer desire for specialty experiences, setting a precedent for other independents seeking to differentiate themselves from cookie‑cutter chain formats.
Beyond retail, Artisan’s strategic pivot into education and roasting reshaped its revenue mix. The 2014 Artisan Training School, developed in partnership with the Specialist Coffee Association, quickly outperformed the five retail locations in profitability, attracting both coffee enthusiasts and aspiring entrepreneurs, including elite clients like The Fat Duck. The subsequent launch of Curious Roo Roasters added a vertical‑integration layer, expanding wholesale capacity by 50% and supplying over 120 independent cafés. This diversification not only mitigated the volatility of foot‑traffic‑driven sales but also positioned Artisan as a trusted supplier in the specialty coffee ecosystem.
Crucially, the Harrisons have chosen restraint over aggressive expansion, opting to deepen existing assets rather than proliferate new storefronts. Their 22,000 km road trip across 25 countries serves as a live stress test of operational resilience, proving that a well‑structured training and roasting platform can sustain the business without day‑to‑day owner involvement. For other independent coffee operators, Artisan’s model underscores the value of building ancillary services—training, wholesale, and brand storytelling—to achieve scalable growth while preserving the boutique identity that differentiates them in a crowded market.
Artisan Coffee leading the way for independents
FOOD AND DRINK NEWS UK
16 February, 2026 | by Glynn Davis
When living in Uganda Edwin Harrison, suggested to his Australian wife Magda that they should come back to England but she refused because she reckoned the coffee in the UK was no good compared with that in Australia. To address this problem they decided to set up their own coffee business in the UK.
There was no long-term grand plan for the business when in 2011 they opened up the first Artisan Coffee outlet in Putney, West London, and they “hit the ground running”, according to Harrison. The timing was good because although the UK was already awash with branded coffee chains, notably Starbucks, Costa and Caffé Nero, there was little in the way of independent operators.
Gap in the market
“We saw a gap back then. It’s changed hugely since. The independents had not started whereas they were strong in Australia so we thought we’d bring those values to the UK. Putney was quite Australian anyway! We wanted to take the bland out of the [coffee shop] experience. It’s about coffee, the art, the look and the chat. It all matters,” he explains.
Compared with the cookie‑cutter openings of the big chains he believed there was a space for the unique aspects of the independents in the market. “We’re in different lanes,” he adds, and against this backdrop the second Artisan Coffee shop was opened. “We had both been in the first shop every day but we didn’t want to be the ‘adorable couple in the coffee shop’. So the second shop enabled one of us to be in each one. We had a competition to see how many cappuccinos we’d each sold in the mornings.”
Moving into training
He suggests the next three shops came along “like kids”. One of these was notable for being part of the Artisan Training School that the couple set up in 2014. It had not been part of a plan but Harrison says: “I’d been fascinated by how people’s eyes would light up when they found out what good coffee was. Customers were asking about it in the shops so we teamed up with the Specialist Coffee Association to deliver its courses.” He also admits to a love for teaching especially with coffee where there is this realisation by many people that it’s science and not just about pressing buttons.
The attendees of the courses are split 50/50 between coffee lovers wanting to know more the drink and people who are looking for a job in the sector or wanting to set up their own coffee outlet. The likes of the Fat Duck restaurant also send their teams down to learn more about coffee. Although the school has a lower turnover than the five shops it is a more profitable enterprise and Harrison identifies success in more ways than just money such as Artisan’s employees can access better training.
Curious about roasting
Following these various openings and things had settled down he felt he was “drifting” and so the next tangential move was executed – with Artisan moving into roasting coffee through the creation of Curious Roo Coffee Roasters. “It was absolutely a challenge and exciting and risky. But we knew we could always sell some of it into our own outlets,” he says.
Curious Roo has brought a number of soft upsides to the overall business such as baristas being able to switch into roasting and the ability to sell the product through both the shops and the school where people are planning to set up their own places and so clearly represent potential customers.
The move last year to a new 5,000 sq m premises in Chiswick brings the school, roastery and a coffee shop all under one roof and has provided the capacity for the wholesale roasting business to increase by 50%. Over the next two years the plan is to boost sales to individuals, coffee shops, businesses and through the white‑label offering. The company currently supplies into 120 independent coffee shops.
Plenty of room for independents
What Harrison does not plan to grow is the number of Artisan Coffee shops: “We’re 100 % independent and do not like the idea of expansion for expansion’s sake. You lose what it is that people go to you for. It’s better to do add‑ons to the business than open more generic shops.”
But he still thinks there are opportunities for others on the high street. Although there has been impressive growth in the number of independents over the last 15 years he suggests a good independent in the right location will do well. “If you are obsessed about coffee it will be better. You just need to invest in training and quality ingredients,” he says.
Harrison has never really worried about competition because he feels the coffee market still has much growth ahead of it in the UK. He cites the case of his mother who drinks three or four cups of tea a day compared with his 24‑year‑old niece who drinks no tea but happily enjoys three coffees each day. This highlights the changing tastes of the different generations and represents an opportunity for independent coffee shops.
The one threat to the sector is taxation: “Having a coffee and talking to people is very healthy when people are on their phones all day. Restaurants, pubs and coffee shops are fundamental to good health but are being taxed to destruction. It’s definitely not competition that you should worry about. That’s never an issue. The problem is the infrastructure we are trying to operate within. It’s so unnecessary.”
Taking coffee to Australia
Having built the Artisan infrastructure – including shops, school and wholesale roastery business – Harrison has decided to test its robustness by leaving it to run itself for six months while he, Magda and their three young children embark on a 22,000 km driving trip from London to Perth in Australia to deliver a bag of coffee to Magda’s mother.
They set off on February 13 and will be driving through 25 countries and the plan – yes, there is an extremely detailed grand plan this time – is to explore the coffee culture in many of the places they pass through. They will be documenting being behind a coffee bar in Italy, exploring Turkish coffee, looking at trends in Uzbekistan, meeting Chinese coffee growers, and then moving into the key coffee regions such as Indonesia and Sumatra, before looking at the coffee shop culture in Australia.
He has no reservations about the fact that the business can operate without him and Magda but wonders what will happen on their return later this year: “Hopefully they will take us back. I’m sure we’ll have a sixth sense of where we’re needed when we are back.”
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