Koffee Kup bursting at seams:
Strong growth raises need for more room
- By Leslie Wright --- Burlington Free Press Staff Writer
Family-owned Koffee Kup Bakery Inc. is looking to expand. The doughnut and bread bakery with deep roots in Burlington is weighing options.
In the past decade, annual sales have gone from $7 million to $50 million, and the company keeps growing. General Manager Andy Matthews joined the company in 1995 and has seen business triple since then.
"We're struggling with a couple of areas. One is having the ability to expand. It's difficult whether it's parking or whether it's just physical size," Matthews said.
Koffee Kup was founded in 1940 by Rosaire Roberge, father of president Ron Roberge. The bakery has been on Riverside Avenue in Burlington since 1964. In that time, what started as a six-person shop in a metal building has morphed into a 38,000-square-foot operation in several cobbled-together buildings with 130 employees.
"We're growing in leaps and bounds, and it's just a matter of time before we have to move out of that location," Ron Roberge said.
Koffee Kup makes doughnuts and bread products sold in Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York. The company also distributes for several other brands including Massachusetts-based Joseph's Middle East Bakery and Brattleboro-based Vermont Bread Co.
The bakery runs two shifts a day on two lines making 40,000 dozen doughnuts and 50,000 packaged bread products a week. Roberge's wife, two sons and daughter work in the business.
There's not enough space for the company offices, maintenance or parking, at this point, Matthews said. The company needs to make a change within the year, he said.
Expansion plans call for adding two lines to the operation, which would create about 20 jobs.
The former Bouyea-Fassetts plant off Shelburne Road in South Burlington is one possibility for a new location. George Weston Bakeries Inc. closed the bun-manufacturing plant in January.
Bouyea-Fassetts was originally a family-owned bakery with a history in Burlington that dated back nearly a century.
Rosaire Roberge worked for Fassetts Bakery in Burlington's Old North End in the 1930s before starting Koffee Kup in 1940.
George Weston spokesman Lou Minella confirmed that the 50,000-square-foot bakery is for sale. Minella would not reveal a sale price, saying that will be negotiated.
The plant was built in 1979 and is modern and designed for baking, Roberge said.
Another option would be to build a plant in another location. That would involve an adequate sewage system, which rules out some locations, Roberge said.
Finally there could be ways to expand on the current site, but the site presents challenges, Matthews said.
Moving out of state is not an option, Roberge said. "We're going to keep this in the family, and we're going to keep it in Vermont," he said.
Koffee Kup's stock in trade is getting fresh-baked goods to the market less than a day after they are baked, and in some cases, the same day, and that means staying centrally located.
Vermont's central location works well for distribution in both New York and New Hampshire, Matthews said. Most commercial bakeries deliver three days after baking, he said.
Koffee Kup's expansion could require the biggest capital outlay in the company's history, potentially from $3 million to $6 million, Roberge said.
"It's a huge undertaking at 59 years old," he said.
Contact Leslie Wright at 660-1841 or lwright@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
