News

After an amazing debut season selling coffee, two professional footballers are looking to sign more staff members to their team.

Rangers defender John Souttar and Brechin City’s Euan Spark have been close friends since they played boys football together in Brechin.

They both joined Dundee United’s academy and have had successful careers, with John now a Scotland international and Euan playing for his home-town team.  But they have also had significant success off the pitch after starting Maison Dieu Coffee Roasters in Brechin a year ago.

In the past 12 months they have roasted 3,500kg of coffee, just over 200,000 cups’ worth.

With a strong emphasis on community, it was no surprise to see their newly released roast – Cookston Crescent – reflect this.

Euan said: “We have tried to relate the coffee back to where we are from and Cookston Crescent has a close meaning to the folk at Maison Dieu.

“Like with the cafe’s name, we try to keep everything close to Brechin to keep it on the map.

“It’s a really nice blend and we are hoping lots of people will come down and try it.”

Having quickly built up a strong customer base, the close of 2022 continued in much the same fashion.

Maison Dieu has added Montrose Playhouse to its supply roster and Euan is hopeful of making further inroads into the wholesale market.

“We were really surprised at how well we did the first year with how well it took off,” he said.

“Getting into the independent coffee guide gives us a bit of confidence to take our coffee to different areas, whilst still pushing it here.

“We want to get Maison Dieu coffee into as many places as we can, so more people can taste our blend.”

The addition of a new mobile coffee unit, made from an old horse box, means that Maison Dieu can now hit the road.

This will offer them the opportunity to travel to locations all around Angus and share their own house-roasted coffee.

“We are intending on putting the horse box at local golf courses because they are some of the busiest places in the area through the week,” said Euan.

“At weekends we will be looking to do shows, festivals and other places we can showcase our coffee.

“This addition will lead to one, if not two new full-time staff members, with another couple of part-time spaces – leaving us with a team of six.”

Following the success of Maison Dieu’s Christmas night in December, which attracted more than 500 customers, the plan is for several similar community events throughout 2023.

“Going into the nicer weather and lighter nights, we will look to put on pizzas for local businesses that we sell coffee to,” added Euan.