It takes a community to create a small business. When we set out to build The Coffee Can, this was the important reminder we held at the core of all decisions we made. Was there a way to surround ourselves by a fantastic fellow small business at each step of the way? If there was, we were going to find it.
This has grown into one of the biggest things we pride ourselves in as a business. Several years and multiple coffee shop openings later, we’ve come to build a business which is supported by incredible suppliers who are in the same small business boat as ourselves. No one needs reminding that its sometimes a tough boat to be in, but it does also come with spectacular highs – these are made all the better when you’ve been working with your fellow small business crew to get there.
It’s about time we shout about the incredible small businesses which help us deliver The Coffee Can to our regulars day in day out, so please do take some time to look through the businesses which make us what we are!
Black Barn Butchers
The team over at Black Burn Butchers very quickly became perfect neighbours and the kind of alliance we dream of when we moved into Secrett’s Farm Shop back in 2023. What started off as trips over to their counter to deliver six Hot Chocolates on a winter’s day has turned into very early morning deliveries of the bulk of our breakfast menu at our Secrett’s Coffee Shop.
When we first opened our doors, we were sourcing our sausage rolls from elsewhere, but then one day… Gareth joined the team. Gareth is the STAR of our coffee shop kitchen, and his weekly specials constantly blow us away (whilst keeping us fed at lunch time, cheers Gaz). Fairly early on in his time with us, Gareth asked why we weren’t making the sausage rolls ourselves, and without skipping a beat headed over to Black Barn Butchers to get the sausage meat to show us all how he’d make them. Instantly, we were hooked – they were absolutely delicious.
So nowadays we depend on Black Barn Butchers more so than ever. Our sausage rolls come with us to all van events, and we sell them over at our Bourne Pavilion takeout counter to… it’s safe to say Gareth is kept busy meeting demand! But we couldn’t bake them in house without the butchers to hand, constantly working to our spontaneous requests for top-ups of sausage meat, or fillings for our brunch menu.
Chapel Farm
We want to be able to offer our customers food that is good for them and good for our environment – miles travelled by our suppliers are something we really do consider when we assess the sustainability of our business. So, when it comes to brunch, we wanted to make sure we were offering free range eggs which are laid by happy chickens, and not being transported across the country to reach us.
Chapel Farm is based in Normandy (just outside of Guildford) and supplies free range eggs to our Secrett’s cafe. With over 45 years in the business, the team there knows how to keep those chickens happy! They have been fantastic to us in the setting up of the Secrett’s cafe because we really weren’t sure how many eggs we’d be needing at first.
That’s the serious pro about working alongside small businesses – they understand that we don’t always know exactly what stock is going to be needed, and they are more than happy to work with irregular ordering schedules!
Cupsmith
Alright we’re going to say it right now to finally dull all those rumours – Cupsmith hot chocolate flakes are the reason our hot chocolate is so infamous.
Although Cupsmith now feels like a huge name in the coffee industry (and rightly so, you’ll see their roasted coffee in all the big-name supermarkets), they actually started out in our hometown of Farnham. We sampled their hot chocolates regularly at the local cafes before we set up The Coffee Can, and we just knew that a piece of their ‘first sip bliss’ in our coffee shop offerings.
George and Emma have built a superb business, built upon a shared focus on creating delicious pockets of joy in the everyday through hot drinks. Sounds familiar right? It’s something we try to elicit with every drink we serve across the board.
Dylan’s Ice Cream
Back in the day, we’d look forward to our van events in the summer in the Farnham area because chances were that Ben, owner of Dylan’s Ice Cream would be a neighbour of ours. A fellow mobile business, the ice cream cart had queues for miles in the sunshine. The homemade ice cream was some of the best we’d ever had (and we weren’t just thinking that because it was a hot sunny day spent next to the gas-powered coffee machine!
So again, when Secrett’s approached us to take over their café, it was a no brainer that we wanted to finally have an ice cream cabinet FULL of Dylan’s Ice Cream.
Dylan’s Ice Cream is based down in Haslemere, with a second outlet in Petersfield now. Both are open seven days a week if you want to try some of the phenomenal flavour ice cream the team makes beyond our go-to staples!
Hello Bakehouse
Ellie at Hello Bakehouse needs no introduction for anyone who has stepped up to a Coffee Can counter. She is an absolute baking whizz, and provides all the cakes for our Bourne Pavilion Café, Secrett’s Farm Shop café, and all van events.
For years now Ellie has produced some of the best seasonal cakes from her at-home kitchen. Any request, she can somehow magically make work (no matter how last minute we seem to be!).
All this is even more phenomenal given the fact that this year Ellie had her first daughter! We genuinely cannot even begin to imagine the back and forth baking schedule she now works on, but we are extremely thankful that she’s already back to baking.
Jessica’s Jellies
Sometimes the little ones don’t quite need an entire cake to themselves, but you’ve got to admit that there is something special about having an uninterrupted coffee in the morning that doesn’t get left to go cold.
We wanted to offer some sort of sweets for the younger visitors to our coffee counters, but didn’t want to just head off to C*stco to bulk buy chocolate bars when all other areas of our business have been so local.
Meet Jessica: our wonderful sweet maker who creates our small pick and mix pouches which go down an absolute storm every time we head out with them. A fellow local face at the markets we pop up at, Jessica is your go-to for any time you might need party favours, corporate gift bag additions, or quite frankly just a treat for yourself.
Lichen studios
Sometimes your business neighbour is also quite literally your neighbour at home, and that’s the case with Caitlin from Lichen Studios who does all the Coffee Can signage. With a background in illustration, we asked Caitlin if she’d be interested in creating some coffee-themed artwork to have around our cafes too, so quite honestly when it comes to the Coffee Can visuals, Caitlin does it all.
The observant folk amongst you all will see that each area of our business has a slight variation in logo, which we think really helps create small Coffee Can community hubs in different contexts. Caitlin helped us create that brand image fantastically – it is always great when your neighbour shares the same vision as you!
Nowadays, Caitlin runs Lichen Studios whilst also working full-time in a different industry, but she’s always about for chats about wedding stationery and other signage should you ever be in need. She also makes a mean flat white, and can sometimes be found pulling an ‘SOS PLEASE HELP’ shift at one of our coffee shops when the rota doesn’t quite work out.
Maz the Candle Maker
This entire list is ordered alphabetically, so what are the chances that our two literal neighbours come one after the other…
Meet Maz, our fantastic neighbour who happens to be an absolute dab hand at making candles. Born out of the obvious pun of Coffee CAN-dles, our signature coffee scent has quickly become a sought-after desk addition after our friend Maz began to make them.
Why wouldn’t you want to bring that sweet caffeine scent into your home? Of course some of you have the scent of coffee beans from your actual at-home coffee bars, but that doesn’t mean that the only way to achieve that freshly brewed scent is buy forking out for a whole coffee set up.
River Coffee
River Coffee needs no introduction. Our relationship with Will and the team at his roastery go way back. A great tasting coffee comes down to the roaster who has taken the green coffee and brought out the fantastic flavour notes we know and love through their roasting process – as much as you can complement ‘The Coffee Can coffee’, it’s the work undertaken by the roastery team which is really to thank.
River Coffee is based over in Alresford – you might have seen that we had a team training evening over there a few months ago, which you can read all about here.
We use the Flow blend as our house coffee, and that is the coffee you have all come to know and love across our mobile coffee vans and coffee shops. We wanted to find a house blend which worked well across an entire drinks menu. As great as it would be to offer different origins for espresso, that just isn’t a practical option in a mobile coffee van! So, we worked with River to ensure that americanos and flat whites would all taste delicious with one house blend recipe being used for them.
SØDT bakery
A slice of Denmark arrives in Petworth – Sodt bakery is all about the hygge feeling that baked goods bring to a morning, and that’s exactly what we want to offer the customers who drop by our coffee shops for a pastry. That cosy feeling, a hot drink in hand; name a better combo.
Their pastries are available at both of our coffee shops, and at Secrett’s we use their bread for our brunch and lunch menus too. We really want to play our part to minimise food waste in the hospitality (something that is a difficult balance to achieve in our sector), so one of the ways we do this is by working with a smaller local bakery who can adjust their baking schedule according to our demand with ease.
Quacksnacks
We are animal people through and through. When we moved into Secrett’s, we were told that there was a devoted crowd of regulars who come to feed the ducks at the ponds, and immediately we were hatching ways to help ensure those ducks were getting some good food.
A lot of people know but nowadays, feeding ducks crumbs of bread isn’t the best way to go around looking after our webbed feet friends. We found the small team at Quacksnacks and immediately knew we had to stock their duck feed. Pre-portioned and plastic free, the duck feed is formulated with vitamins and minerals to benefit the ducklings.
Look out for their portions of feed at our till counter, grab a hot chocolate for the road and head out to the ponds. It’s a great little afternoon activity, and you can feel smug that you’ve given those ducks the best feed in the biz!
West Horsley Dairy
Philip and Catherine started West Horsley Dairy back in 1992, from their home in the Surrey village. They wanted to provide the best quality service and product that they possibly could, whilst ensuring that the animals in the farm were treated well.
Although years later their business has grown to a team of over 100, their ethos very much remains the same, so we’re very happy to shout about our choice in dairy supplier.