Witham’s Coffee: steeped in experience

Lance Witham on celebrating 30 years in the industry, the key to longevity, and how Witham’s empowers independent cafés.

Coffee is in Lance Witham’s DNA.  Born on his family’s coffee farm in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands, his childhood was spent climbing tea chests and coffee sacks, and exploring coffee plantations.

After moving to Australia in 1983 and working with his dad in the industry, Lance completed a stint on coffee farms in Far North Queensland before returning to work for a boutique roaster in Sydney, where he learned how to roast and retail coffee. Eighteen months later, Witham’s Coffee was born, opening its doors on 24 February 1995 with the first sale, ironically, a hot chocolate.

The roaster, now established in Hornsby, Sydney, is entrenched in its local community. Alongside the roastery is an espresso bar and showroom where customers can watch the roasting process while enjoying a coffee in the adjacent café.

With close ties to local businesses, Witham’s has grown to become a trusted ally for small businesses and start-up cafés, offering adaptability and flexibility to help them thrive.

“We’ve been in the trenches ourselves – starting with a tiny café with a roaster in the corner,” says Lance.

“I worked seven days a week for 12 years, so I know what it’s like to have customers staring you down from the other side of the coffee machine.”

This industry experience and understanding means Lance and team often go the extra mile for their clients, such as on one occasion, roasting on a Sunday and driving down to Bowral to make sure their coffee arrived on time.

“It’s not just about the product, although it’s important to us to offer outstanding, consistent coffee at a great price. But what really sets us apart is that we only roast to order,” he says.

“When you place an order with us, it goes into the production schedule for that day. The cut-off time is around 10.30am, and we roast and pack the coffee that morning. We then deliver it either that afternoon or the following morning – always within 24 hours. This means our café customers have fresh coffee that’s always within a three- to 10-day window.”

Even though he admits this can be a logistical challenge, the team manages to get the coffee to most places – including Tasmania and Queensland – within a couple of days.

“That’s our point of difference: freshly roasted, consistently delivered coffee, straight to our customers’ doors,” says Lance.

With the economic downturn and industry shifts, Lance says he’s noticed many café owners who used to order larger quantities are now opting for smaller amounts more frequently. He believes they’re cutting down their stock to ensure they don’t over-order. In response, Witham’s has adapted.

“We pride ourselves on being a one-stop shop for all the products a café needs, but it’s our willingness to work with the buying patterns of smaller independent cafés that really makes the difference. We don’t impose minimum order quantities or focus solely on the large players. For years, our bread and butter has been working with start-up cafés, helping them grow and develop their businesses,” says Lance.

With a call-sheet system, the company aims to relieve some of the pressure off its wholesale customers by calling at a regular, set time to take an order.

“Some of our customers know exactly when Kym [Customer Relationship Manager] will call, and when they pick up the phone, they say, ‘Hi, Kym, how’s it going?’,” he says.

Lance believes beverage consistency is crucial for cafés to stand out, which is why Witham’s provides in-depth barista training to ensure quality and differentiation.

He explains that while at an establishment one weekend, he ordered the same coffee during breakfast on both mornings but received two completely different beverages.

“It really highlights how much room there is for improvement in terms of consistency. There’s a need for managers and owners to focus on creating a consistent standard,” says Lance.

“I’ve always said when you give 10 chefs the same ingredients you’ll end up with 10 different meals, and one of them will probably be sublime. The challenge then is figuring out what made that one meal stand out. Alternatively, if you give them a clear recipe, you might get a more consistent outcome across all 10.”

The key, especially in coffee, is providing a system and training that focuses on achieving consistency. Lance says some of the best baristas he’s worked with didn’t drink coffee when they started, because it’s all about following the process and understanding the ratios to creating great coffee.

This focus on process and consistency has been a cornerstone of Witham’s success, even in challenging times. Throughout the years, Witham’s has gotten creative when riding the waves of economic downturn.

For example, diversification played a key role for Witham’s during the global financial crash. Lance says a friend of his had a business selling frozen meals, mainly to aged care facilities, and Witham’s ended up becoming a courier service for him.

“You have to be flexible and open-minded in tough times, which is how we’re navigating the current cost-of-living crisis,” says Lance. “We’ve seen these challenges before and we’ve survived. Now, we’re looking forward to the next 30 years.” 

For more information, visit withams.com.au