Private label coffee: roasting for someone else's brand
Roasting under another brand fills spare capacity with predictable volume. It also raises questions about who owns the recipe, who is responsible for the label and what happens if the client leaves.
7 min read Updated 9 October 2026
Private label (also called white label) means roasting and packing coffee that a client sells under its own brand: a cafe chain, a deli, a hotel group, an online brand. For the roaster it is volume without the marketing cost. For the client it is a coffee range without a roastery.
Models
| Model | What you supply |
|---|---|
| Stock coffee, client's label | One of your existing coffees, packed in the client's bag or with their label |
| Bespoke blend | A recipe developed for the client, roasted to their specification |
| Fully managed | Green sourcing, roasting, packing, labels and fulfilment to their customers |
| Toll roasting | Roasting the client's own green coffee for a fee. See contract roasting. |
Who is responsible for the label
Under UK food information law, the business under whose name the food is marketed is responsible for the food information on it, and its name and UK address appear on the label. In practice that is usually your client. Agree in writing who drafts the label, who checks it against the rules and who carries the cost of a reprint. Your lot code or batch reference should still appear so you can trace any batch. See coffee labelling.
The agreement
Put in writing
- Product specification: green components or flexibility, roast degree, grind, bag size
- Minimum order quantity per run and per year
- Price per kg and how it changes with green prices
- Packaging: who supplies printed bags and who holds stock
- Who owns the recipe and any brand assets
- Exclusivity, if any, and in which market
- Quality approval, retained samples and complaints
- Payment terms and credit limit
- Notice period and what happens to unused packaging
Pricing
Price from your cost per kg plus a margin that reflects the work: development, approvals, packaging handling and smaller runs. Bespoke blends and frequent small runs deserve a higher price than stock coffee in volume. See B2B pricing tiers.
Where Roastnet helps
Questions roasters ask
- What is the minimum order for private label coffee?
- It is set by the roaster. Many set a minimum per run to make changeovers and packaging handling worthwhile, and a minimum annual volume for bespoke blends.
- Whose name goes on a private label coffee?
- Usually the brand owner's name and UK address, as the business marketing the food. Agree label responsibility in the contract.
Official sources
Rules change. These sources were checked on 9 October 2026; always confirm the current position with the body that publishes them before you act.
Read next
Contract roasting: roasting for others, or having others roast for you
Contract roasting fills a roaster's spare hours, and lets a brand sell coffee without a roastery. How the arrangement works from both sides, and what to agree before the first batch.
B2B coffee pricing tiers that protect your margin
Volume discounts are fair: bigger accounts cost less to serve per kilo. But tiers built on guesswork give away margin. Build each band from your cost to serve.
Coffee labelling in the UK: what must be on the bag
A bag of plain roasted coffee needs fewer mandatory items than most foods, but the ones it needs are strictly defined. The list, the font sizes, the weight rules and the exemptions.
Run the roastery from one place
Green stock, roast plans, wholesale orders and the green coffee market in one platform, with a free roast-logging app for your machine.