2022 was a huge year for Flight Coffee. Recovering from COVID and focusing on growing existing and new channels was one of the key priorities for last year. The company invested heavily in new product development (NPD) and this has reframed how they look and feel about coffee, and where they sit in the market from 2023 and beyond.
“We believe in making great coffee simple,” said Nick Clark, Flight Coffee co-founder and Director of Brand and Marketing. “It’s too easy to be overwhelmed by coffee choices, information, and while making great coffee at home isn’t hard, taking those first few steps or making a couple of small changes for tasty results, can be.”
Flight Coffee started in 2009, with its roasting operation in Napier, Hawkes Bay with a team based in Wellington. In 2010 they opened their flagship Memphis Belle Coffee House in the Wellington CBD and in 2012 moved the roasting operations to Wellington up the road from Memphis Belle. “We were a classic Kiwi start up, roasting out of Richard Corney’s (co-founder and Managing Director of Flight Coffee) parents’ garage until we could afford to make the move to the capital,” Clark noted.
Last year, Flight Coffee released a new range of Specialty Instant Coffee (yep, instant!) along with two different Ready to Drink (RTD) canned coffee beverages.
“Curiosity has and will always be a founding value for Flight Coffee, we’re always looking and encouraging ourselves to ask the big WHY and HOW? The instant coffee is the same coffee you’ll see us selling and brewing as what we call ‘whole bean’ or ‘fresh’, it’s roasted the same, ground the same, extracted into an intense concentrate and then freeze dried. It tastes great.” Clark continued to add that he personally drinks it most days as it’s super quick to make so that a few minutes between meetings is now all he needs to make a great cup before the next one.
In January 2022 Flight released a Sparkling Cold Brew in a can. It’s made with their Original Bomber Blend and infused with mandarin and Manuka honey to compliment the tasting notes of the blend. “The Cold Brew and RTD market has blown up overseas and we’ve seen some momentum picking up here in New Zealand. As soon as we were in a position to press go on this product we did, having a canned product that we can ship around NZ, have anyone pop in a fridge and 30 – 60 minutes later be enjoying a perfectly brewed coffee beverage is amazing.” It’s a 240ml can which is best served chilled.
After great success with the launch of the Sparkling Cold Brew the Flight team set their sights on moving towards more of a classic – the Flat White. In December 2022 Flight launched their Oat Milk Flat White and as you’d expect it went off with a bang. With the alternative milk category on the rise Flight chose to stick with oat milk instead of dairy, Clark explained. “We choose Oat milk for a few reasons. One: We like the flavour, two: It’s the best sustainable option long term. Three: It differentiates from some of the big players out there like Boss.”
For 2023 Flight Coffee is focusing on moving into the FMCG space and bringing with them more NPD. “Our purpose is to make great coffee simple for New Zealand, that means taking our coffee to where the people are. We have a partnership with Four Square in the North Island which is a fantastic starting place for us in this space. We are ranging fresh coffee on shelves along with supplying their espresso bars at the front of the stores. From there, we would love to be ranging across the rest of New Zealand.”
Flight also plans to launch their new coffee pods (capsules) this month and they’re excited about having another range they can offer to people that is simple to use and the result is delicious. “The capsule segment is one of the highest growth components of the hot beverage category and we can’t wait to introduce a specialty brand like Flight to that part of the market. We aim to see them selling online, in retail stores, and FMCG across New Zealand.”
For more information email nick@flightcoffee.co.nz
