Expanded dining and coffee roasted on-site: big things in the making at Factory Espresso

Factory Espresso's newly launched coffee brand, Kite Coffee, is roasted right there on-site, and soon you will be able to see it all in action for yourself.

Renovations are in the works at the popular Kite Street cafe, with plans for a larger kitchen and expanded dining room due to get underway early next year. The centrepiece of the renovations will be Factory Espresso's new commercial coffee roaster, which will be visible to patrons behind glass from the new dining area.

Customers will soon start seeing changes as Factory Espresso rolls out more branding for Kite Coffee, owner Nick Gleeson said, but you can already taste the difference in the quality of the local roast.

“People will wonder ‘what’s Kite Coffee’. Well, it’s us, but now roasted with more precision, control and accountability. We're roasting it, we're cupping it, we're tasting it and adjusting it,” Nick said.

Heading up the roasting operation for Kite Coffee is Jatin Singh, who comes with 25 years of industry experience, previously running a business roasting and supplying about 40–50 cafes.

Selling his Sydney business, Jatin has made the move to Orange, but he is far from a stranger here.

“I grew up here and it made sense to come home I guess and start doing it here,” Jatin said. “Nick and I spoke and the idea just evolved.”

“Jatin and I have known each other for 25 years; he actually introduced me into the hospitality industry,” Nick added.

“It was just a matter of getting him out to Orange and once he was on the ground, we knew we could offer something special.”

Investing in an American-made Loring S15 Roaster, Jatin says it means they have complete control over the end product.

“It has unparalleled control features,” he said. “We can manipulate the roast down to the most minute degree and then it is repeatable. It allows us to tailor different profiles and tailor different outputs to match what the customers want, so we are able to produce what we want in the cafe and, on the wholesale side, we can tailor those things for what other cafes want for their customers, so it's exciting!”

Factory Espresso customers will soon get to see the whole roasting process first-hand, with the renovation plans including a glass view wall between the new dining room and coffee roaster,

“You will see we are bringing green beans in, you'll see we are roasting here; it’s part of what Nick and I saw of the potential of the space,” Jatin said.

If plans are approved, the renovations will get underway in March, but Kite Coffee has already been attracting interest from cafes looking for a local coffee supplier.

It is something Nick and Jatin believe will grow as there are few options for quality coffee, roasted right here in the Central West.

“Part of the concept for the relaunch of Factory was to launch Kite Coffee as a local supplier and be accountable to cafes; we're on the ground as opposed to a phone call to Sydney,” Nick said.

“We've had a great retail response since we've put Kite Coffee on and quite a few wholesale responses as well. We believe that will grow as people understand what we're doing here, so we are confident that we are offering something different and unique to whatever else is out there.”