The Belgian company Koffie Kàn is currently a medium-sized coffee roasting house, owned and managed by Johan Vermeersch, his wife, Martine Nijsters, and their daughter, Marjolein Vermeersch. The roasting house is situated in the very heart of Wenduine, a family seaside resort on the Belgian coast.

One minor disadvantage of this location is its limited hinterland: half of it is actually the Channel, of course. But, true to the motto that ´there is a good side to everything´, this seemingly uncommercial location has been a stimulus for us to develop a number of well-considered strategies.

• Good neighbourliness goes far…
In response to the environmental concerns which every company has to address, we chose not to move away to an industrial zone, but resolutely decided to stay in the centre of our village. Because we believe that a traditional roasting house belongs in the local community, just like a bakery.

We renovated and extended our shop premises and roasting and packaging facilities, but in such a way that their style, size and layout remained perfectly compatible with the surroundings, integrated in the village centre. In 1994, to prevent our roasting house from becoming a nuisance to our neighbours, we installed a revolutionary odour and smoke filter that suctions off up to 92% of the smell of freshly-roasted coffee (delicious though it may be), as well as the dust and other particles that may be caused by roasting coffee.
Recently, we have had a new coffee-roasting machine, half of the cost of which represents environmental investments: it will eliminate odours with even greater efficiency, in accordance with the most stringent German standards.

Koffie Kàn is committed to the environment, in the broadest sense of the word. This commitment extends much farther than the borders of its local community.

Out of respect for the ’faraway neighbours’ who grow the coffee with the greatest care, Koffie Kàn builds up mid- to long-term relationships with small-scale planters who can be sure that the company will buy their produce as long as they uphold their quality control. Koffie Kàn has sponsored an education project for street children in Colombia, and has now created Pachamama, a coffee blend that finances a project of the Efico Foundation: micro credits for women, the building of a school, ...


• Smart distribution system
Because our company is located in a small village at the seaside, we were forced to look for markets outside the local community from the very start.

Long before direct marketing became all the rage, Koffie Kàn was already developing its extensive communication with its customers all over Belgium. This resulted in a smart mail-order system. Koffie Kàn products are currently sold by about zo’n 1,000 specialist food shops: organic and health food shops, bakeries, dairies and delicatessens in Belgium. Koffie Kàn delivers directly to retailers and is also distributed by wholesalers. By means of direct postal delivery, you can also order your Koffie Kàn products to be delivered to your home: visit the and learn all about our range of delicious coffee blends.