Fausto coffee founders open new roastery

The team behind a popular Sunderland coffee shop have opened a new speciality coffee bean roastery in the city.

FC Roast - which was founded last year by Peter Riddell, Louise Curtis-Robertson and John Curtis-Robertson - began in the corner of Fausto Coffee at Roker as a way to supply freshly roasted beans to the four Fausto shops across the city. 

Following positive feedback from customers who were enjoying the new beans in Fausto shops and buying bags to brew themselves at home, as well as interest from local businesses, they realised there was enough demand to expand the roasting operation into its own premises.

In February 2023, FC Roast moved into an industrial unit in Southwick, where it now roasts ethically sourced coffee beans from Brazil, Ethiopia, Colombia, Peru and Yemen.

Speaking about the start of FC Roast, co-founder Peter Riddell, said: "Over the years, we have become more and more interested in coffee, looking at the different origins and types of beans available. 

"It's incredibly important to us to ethically source our coffee beans to ensure farmers get a fair deal, and we work with an importer that provides us with updates from the farmers we work with.

"We're a speciality coffee roaster, which means the beans we use have to hit certain scores to meet the speciality trading standard. This means they are slightly more expensive when compared to the coffee beans you often find in supermarkets, but the quality of the cup reflects that. We buy the very best coffee in the very best way."

The Business Investment Team at Sunderland City Council worked with FC Roast to find the right premises to help take the business to the next level.

Peter added: "We knew we wanted to keep the business in Sunderland. The regeneration taking place in the city is amazing, and I think it's a great place to be for growing businesses.

"The team at the council have been incredibly helpful and they knew exactly the type of space we needed after looking at our business plan. And now that we're in the roastery, we're looking to create two full time jobs over the next year and grow the business to be able to supply more local venues and sell wholesale in the city and beyond.

"We're also in the process of setting up an ecommerce website, so we can build our online presence and get to a point where people across the country and even the world are drinking FC Roast."

Patrick Melia, chief executive of Sunderland City Council, said: "We are delighted to have supported FC Roast's expansion as it grows to reach a wider audience of coffee drinkers both across the region and beyond.

"Peter, Louise and John are all local entrepreneurs, and with the success of their Fausto brand, I'm sure this new business venture will be another brilliant success story for Sunderland."