A Neilston coffee business is in the running to pick up two awards at a glittering ceremony in Glasgow this week.
Coffee Roasters Scotland is a finalist in the Best Industry Specific Supplier and Best Scottish Product categories of the People’s Choice Business Awards, with voting expected to close in the next few days.
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The winners will be announced at the event, which recognises and rewards hard-working Scottish firms, at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel on Thursday, June 20.
The coffee business is operated by Raymond Kerr and Marc Jones as part of a joint partnership. Raymond works full time for the business and is helped by his partner Jenn Bryers, who is involved in the roasting and order making
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Raymond told the Barrhead News: “It’s an honour being shortlisted as a finalist and to me it shows how far we’ve come in such a short space of time.
“We are in the mix with some really amazing and big Scottish companies.”
Bluey is now based at Fereneze Plant Nursery in Barrhead (Image: Newsquest)
Indeed, things have come a long way since we first spoke to entrepreneur Raymond back in February 2022 about grinding out a living through Rambeans, the coffee roasting business which he set up in 2020 and operated out of his parents’ kitchen in Neilston.
What started as a hobby during the first lockdown to boost his knowledge of the popular brew and to roast beans for personal consumption has increasingly become a successful career move for the dad-of-three.
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In April 2022, realising that the business needing freshening up, he asked his friend Marc from Barrhead to get involved to bring in a different skill set and extra pair of hands.
From this Coffee Roasters Scotland was born and moved into an outbuilding at his parents’ house before outgrowing this quickly and moving into a new dedicated roastery in Neilston’s historic Crofthead Mill in May 2023.
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Around this time they purchased “Bluey”, their 1974 Commer coffee van, and in October publicly announced their trader's licence had been granted, which allowed them to begin operating from the Tesco car park in Barrhead.
In April they began parking the van at Fereneze Plant Nursery in Barrhead instead and this is where they now offer their range of speciality, ethical and local coffee from Thursday to Sunday every week.
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Along with this, the business sends coffee all over the United Kingdom and as far afield as the USA and the trio enjoy seeing their product used and stocked in cafes and shops and other places.
As a testament to this success, the upcoming People’s Choice Business Awards is not the only event to recognise them in 2024.
Read more: Coffee roasting business provides Raymond with recipe for success
The firm was also nominated for the independent business of the year gong at the All About Barrhead Awards which took place earlier this year.
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The organisers of that particular event praised them for their dedication to quality, community and sustainability, and highlighted their contribution to community initiatives like installing defibrillators.
“The business has grown exponentially,” added Raymond.
“We are very thankful to our local community and nationwide followers for their continued support.
“I would also like to give a personal thanks to the team at Fereneze Plant Nursery for giving us a home for Bluey.”
To cast your vote click HERE.
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