NEW YORK — Lavazza North America, part of global Italian coffee company Lavazza Group, has begun the construction of its first roasting and packing plant in the United States. The new plant is slated to open in October 2021 and will serve the US market.
The plant is an expansion of the Lavazza Professional facility in West Chester, PA, which will integrate existing and new capabilities for Lavazza to produce roasted and ground coffee in the United States, adding 1,000 square feet to the 18,000 square foot facility. Strategically the new plant will create the possibility to increase the business, to be more reactive in the U.S. market, and increase customer satisfaction.
"North America continues to be a strategic growth market for Lavazza Group and opening this facility in the United States will sharpen our competitive edge," said Davide Riboni, president & CEO BU Americas for Lavazza. "We will more efficiently service our current customers and offer incentives to attract new ones."
Until now, all Lavazza roasted and ground coffee for the U.S. market was sourced from Italy, positioning the new plant to reduce Lavazza's carbon footprint through reduced shipping, in line with the group's "Roadmap to zero" that aims to completely neutralize the group's carbon footprint by the end of 2030. The West Chester facility is a LEED Gold site, is zero landfill, and the first site in the Lavazza Group to achieve ISO 45001 certification. In the expansion, Lavazza will maintain the same environmental standards and history at the site.
Products from West Chester will fulfill all the quality standards of Lavazza brand, aimed at providing to consumers a product which matches the brand's Italian taste. Lavazza is an Italian company established in 1895 in Turin and it has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations combining desire to bring its authentic coffee experience around the globe preserving the Italian roots.
"This is a very important step for the Lavazza Group and for its future development in the United States, a country that has always been of fundamental importance to us," said Eleuterio Quagliarini, group chief operations officer. "In addition, the investment is made within a production facility that we acquired few years ago, which immediately proved to be the ideal context for developing this new Lavazza reality in the United States, principally thanks to the passion and expertise of the people who work there."
Lavazza Group currently has nine production plants in six Countries (three in Italy, one in France, USA, UK, Canada, India). With a history of over 125 years, Lavazza has built on its Italian heritage and commitment to quality and innovation, establishing itself as an industry pioneer that is loved by coffee drinkers around the world. In recent years, the Lavazza Group has focused on strategic efforts to meet rising customer demand for premium coffee.
Lavazza, founded in Turin in 1895, has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations. The group now operates in more than 140 countries through its subsidiaries and distributors, with 70% of turnover generated abroad Lavazza employs a total of over 4,000 people and in 2020 generated sales of over $2.4 billion. Companies that form part of the Lavazza Group include France's Carte Noire and ESP (acquired in 2016 and 2017 respectively), Denmark's Merrild (2015), North America's Kicking Horse Coffee (2017), Italy's Nims (2017), and the business of Australia's Blue Pod Coffee Co (2018). At the end of 2018, following an acquisition, the Lavazza Professional Business Unit was created, which includes the Office Coffee Service (OCS) and Vending systems Flavia and Klix.
