The Vandyke Brothers Specialty Coffee business started its life back in the Northern Beaches of Sydney in 2010. In fact many of the industry relationships we have in the UK now can be traced back to those times.

Operations in the UK began in 2015 with Slaughterhouse Coffee. The aim was to show that doing specialty coffee well, even in an unlikely location, would attract coffee lovers and people would travel for it. That proved to be true and that café still operates successfully.

We started roasting shortly afterwards and have now moved our production roastery to a purpose built facility in Fife in 2024 allowing us to expand.
In our opinion, key to a successful hospitality business is good specialty coffee. Doing specialty coffee well is what customers now demand. You will often hear us mention the phrase “it’s all about the coffee”; great taste, consistency and professionalism are at the heart of what we do.

We roast to show respect to the farmer and grower who have spent their time and effort growing and caring about their product. Their location, methods and practices contribute hugely to coffee quality and flavour. We simply want to preserve their good work.

We are proud to now say we have won multiple awards for our coffee. We have deep and established industry relationships. Most important of all is our ability to source exceptional specialty coffee.

We're proud to put our name on the bag.

 

WHO'S INVOLVED

Tony Vandyke

Founder, Equity Owner and Managing Director at Vandyke Bros.

Tony first entered specialty coffee over a decade ago, shortly afterwards establishing the award winning Vandyke Brothers Specialty Coffee roastery and wholesale operation. He has forged extensive relationships in the specialty coffee industry in the UK and Australia. Tony has SCA advanced qualifications and still loves exploring all elements of the specialty coffee world and developing our roasting operations and customers.

Tony was previously in corporate finance and strategy roles with extensive experience in multiple industry sectors and geographies. He has run small to very large acquisition, divestment and joint venture processes, often complex and many concurrently.

  

Damian Blackburn

Equity Owner and Advisor to Vandyke Bros.

We are delighted to have Damian as a key element in Vandyke Bros. Damian is a founding partner and Director in Dark Woods Coffee, with expertise in roasting, coffee sourcing and ethical initiatives. His role at Dark Woods has had a direct impact in making them one of the most recognised and awarded, specialty coffee roasters in the UK.

 

Damian has spent 20 years honing his skills as a roaster and buyer of speciality coffee. Previously the coffee buyer and head of quality and retail for Bolling Coffee, for whom he developed and looked after the award winning Grumpy Mule brand, Damian has travelled extensively to origin, and has been a judge for both Cup of Excellence and Best of Panama competitions. The long term relationships he has forged both at origin, and in UK green coffee sourcing, give us a strong position in specialty coffee.

 

Maggie Vandyke

It should be no surprise that Maggie, Tony's daughter, has been intimately involved in the business since the very start. She is a coffee lover and an excellent barista. She provides continuing creative input. She is involved regularly with tasting, packaging, logistics and customers. She is one of those people that gets it done.