What Perth Means To Me: Lorna Bruce, The Bean Shop
In 2003, Lorna Bruce and her husband, John opened the doors to The Bean Shop, providing Perth city with its first independent coffee roastery and retail outlet. 22 years on and their business has expanded to include a successful online shop - shipping UK wide, a wholesale arm, a white label business-to-business service, and the recently established, Watergate Roastery in the heart of the city centre.
As well as choosing Perth as the home for their business, Lorna and John live in the area, raising their family here and enjoying the great outdoors, café culture, and all that Perth has to offer.
Q: The business has evolved and grown significantly in the past 22 years. What have been your most important milestones?
Lorna: “The first major addition to The Bean Shop was the online shop. We were early adopters, launching in 2004, with help from Business Gateway, with a very basic, off the shelf, BT webshop. We’d wrap coffee in brown paper and send it from the Post office in Bridge End.
“At which point I was on maternity leave and working on our new Shopify website. We relaunched the site fully in 2014 and it has worked well for us; having stayed with Shopify for our latest upgrade.
“By the time we launched the new website, our Shore Road roasting unit was already too small and we began actively looking for larger premises. We took a leap of faith in 2019 when we acquired the old McEwen’s building on Watergate, and by 2021 we had moved fully into the new roastery, increasing our capacity with 2 large roasters and a roastery assistant.”
Q: What has been the key to your success?
“I don’t believe there is a magic formula except for being consistent. For the last 22 years we have got up in the morning and roasted coffee and opened up the shop. We take great pleasure in providing our local community with fresh coffee and further afield with our online sales.
“We also take time to look at things from a customer perspective. For example, we actively encourage people to buy little and often, to ensure the coffee is as fresh as possible, and so our basic postage is kept at £3.
“I think people would be surprised to learn that we operate more like a bakery than a factory. We roast what we need that day, package it up for the shop, our wholesale customers and our online orders, and do the same again tomorrow. It almost seems too simple to say, but it really has been staying true to our original plan.”
Q: Was Perth your first choice for your business?
“We met in Aberdeen where I was working for MacBeans Coffee Shop. When we decided to set up our own business we had looked from Inverness to Edinburgh. I knew Perth as my parents are from here, and it just ticked all of the boxes for us. The catchment area is big, it has a central location, and property is reasonably priced.
“I think all of those things remain true today too; and in some ways they matter even more. We sell wholesale and white label all over the UK, supplying retail, large offices, cafes and restaurants. Our central location has helped us logistically, from deliveries to inviting wholesale customers to visit, we couldn’t be better placed.”
Q: What are you most proud of after 22 years in business in Perth, and what will come next?
“When we opened on that first day we didn’t know where it would lead us. Now, we are a close knit team of eleven supplying customers with a little slice of affordable luxury. We’ve also built up a very loyal base of lovely customers who seem to appreciate what we do and why we do it.
“When you come to work and are surrounded by great people, it makes the job a joy. Everyone is supportive of what we do and why we do it, and we feel valued as a business because of that.
"We are currently expanding operations at our Watergate Roastery which will enhance the service we provide as well as offering our customers new ways to enjoy the Bean Shop product. Watch this space!
“Most importantly though, we plan to focus even more on the things that make us a sustainable company. We’re already mindful of the environment, we pay the real living wage, we buy from small producers and we think about both people and the planet in everything we do. We are part of the community here in Perth, and we are proud to serve everyone within it.”
