Funding to support international expansion of Southampton-founded coffee firm

Mozzo Coffee brews and roasts its own speciality coffee, which it supplies to a range of businesses, including major hotel brands, multinationals and contract catering firms.

The business, founded in Southampton in 2005, established its Community2Community (C2C) Fund in 2015, with a fixed investment from all coffee sold contributing to the fund. To date, the C2C Fund has worked to improve equality and value chain alignment around the world with more than £100,000 in funding, all generated by its coffee sales.

In 2019, Mozzo committed to supporting Rebuild Women’s Hope – a female-led co-operative of coffee farmers in the DR Congo – by pledging to build the area’s first maternity clinic. The C2C fund is now seeking to support a new project in Nicaragua, while it also continues to plan its wider international expansion.

In 2016, Mozzo partnered with CitizenM hotels, supplying coffee for its locations in the UK, before expanding into its operations in France in 2019. Now, the business is currently partnering with and supporting CitizenM as it rolls out a growing number of new hotels across America.

Recently, Mozzo has also started to sell its range of unique roasts directly to consumers through its new online operation, which it also plans to establish in the US with a view to rolling-out across Europe. To support this expansion, Mozzo expects to create about 20 jobs over the next 12-24 months.

Grant Lang, founder of Mozzo Coffee, said: "When I started Mozzo, using my student loans to buy a Tuk Tuk and convert it into a self-sufficient coffee cart, I knew I wanted to use coffee as a way to make an impact. Initially, this was through art and supporting the Southampton community with local charity contributions from coffee sales.

"Coffee is about bringing people together – whether that’s catch-up in a café or supporting those that grow the coffee. Through this, we’re aiming to help narrow the socio-economic gaps are present around the world’s coffee community."

Michelle Brown, relationship manager at Lloyds Bank, added: "More and more, businesses are using their position to contribute to cause bigger than themselves. Mozzo Coffee is a shining example of what a business can do when armed with ambition and belief that it has more to offer than just its product."

Image: Idjwi Clinic, which officially opened in December 2020

Source: Insider Media Limited