When should a coffee roastery hire its first employee?

When packing, dispatch and admin stop the founder from roasting and selling. Time your week first; the numbers usually point to a part-time packer.

Do roastery staff need food hygiene training?

Food handlers must be supervised and trained in food hygiene in a way that matches their work. Many businesses use an accredited Level 2 course.

Staffing a roastery: the first hires and how to schedule them

The first hire is rarely a roaster. It is usually someone to pack, dispatch and clean so the founder can roast and sell. How to plan the roles, the hours and the legal basics.

6 min read Updated 9 October 2026

In a small roastery the founder roasts, sells, packs, delivers and does the books. Growth usually stalls on packing and dispatch time, not roasting time. Hiring in the right order frees the founder for the work only they can do.

A typical order of hires

Packing and dispatch, part-time. Weighing, sealing, labelling, boxing, couriers, cleaning. Easy to train, immediately frees hours.
Production assistant who can roast to profile. Once profiles are recorded and repeatable, a trained assistant can run production batches while you develop and sell. See roast profiling for consistency.
Wholesale account manager or sales lead. Cafe visits, training baristas, chasing reorders.
Head roaster or production manager. When you need someone to own quality and the schedule. See hiring a head roaster.

Plan hours from kilos

Time your own week: minutes per batch roasted, minutes per bag packed by size, minutes per order dispatched. Multiply by forecast volume and you have hours per role per week. This keeps hiring tied to sales rather than to how tired you feel.

Legal basics when you employ

Before the first shift

Register as an employer with HMRC before the first payday and run payroll through PAYE
Check the right to work in the UK before employment starts
Employers' liability insurance of at least £5 million
A written statement of employment particulars from day one
Workplace pension auto-enrolment where the employee is eligible
Pay at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for their age
Health and safety: risk assessments, and if you have five or more employees, written down

Training a roastery needs

Food hygiene appropriate to the role, and your own food safety plan
Roaster safety: never leaving a hot roaster unattended, chaff and fire procedures, extinguisher use
Manual handling for 60 kg to 70 kg green coffee sacks; use a sack truck and team lifts
Dust and fume awareness: the Health and Safety Executive has warned that diacetyl vapour, a by-product of roasting and grinding, can cause serious lung disease, so extraction and good practice matter. See extraction and ventilation.

Scheduling around roast days

Roast early in the week for wholesale deliveries, leave cooling and degassing time, then pack and dispatch. A predictable rhythm (roast, rest, pack, ship) lets part-time staff plan their week and keeps freshness consistent. See batch scheduling.

Where Roastnet helps

Questions roasters ask

When should a coffee roastery hire its first employee?: When packing, dispatch and admin stop the founder from roasting and selling. Time your week first; the numbers usually point to a part-time packer.
Do roastery staff need food hygiene training?: Food handlers must be supervised and trained in food hygiene in a way that matches their work. Many businesses use an accredited Level 2 course.

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.