Coffee outlet spills beans on price rise

The owner of Aberdeen coffee roaster MacBeans has been forced to “regrettably” increase customer prices as he battles with rising costs.

It’s the first time Brian Milne has had to put prices up since taking over in November 2022.

But he said he had reached a point where he could no longer continue to hold prices at their current levels.

He said the coffee bean market has recently gone “bonkers” with increases of between 25% and 35%.

The cost of coffee and tea, shipping, utilities and staff wages have all increased, forcing him to pass on some costs to the customer.

His modest 3% increase in the price of his coffee has received support from his loyal customers.

But before it came into force he posted on social media in a effort to give customers the chance to stock up.

Mr Milne said: “I was worried about putting our prices up because I don’t want to put any of our customers off.

“I wanted to let people know beforehand to give them the chance to come in ahead of it.

“It was really humbling to hear the comments from people. They really appreciate our product and service.

“They understand they are getting a good product and if you work hard I don’t think anyone objects to paying a fair price.”

The cost of coffee blends as well as a handful of single origin coffees have risen by 50p per 250g.

Its coffee subscriptions have also been adjusted to reflect this and recent increases to Royal Mail postage.

Additionally, the price of loose leaf teas have increased by 10p per 100g across the board.

Mr Milne, who took over MacBeans from previous owner Ian Cukrowski in November 2022, revealed it enjoyed its second busiest day of online sales after the price increase.

However, he’s well aware of the challenges facing businesses across the city.

He said: “There’s no doubt it’s tough just now.

“You can see from the amount of people who are closing their doors, moving on or reassessing what its core business is.

“All our other prices have gone up but our coffee blend and tea prices have been flat since September 2022 so that’s nearly two years through all of the economic turmoil the country has gone through, I think that’s been pretty good.

“The coffee market went bonkers and prices up by about 35% but it’s settled back down to about 25%. We put coffee up by 3%.”

Brian, who employs seven people, is confident for the future of the shop.

He said: “We have definitely seen a shift from the shop to online and we are lucky we have that option.

“The online sales has huge potential for growth.

“The shop does have a future.”

PRESSURE: Brian Milne said the coffee bean market has recently gone ‘bonkers’.