Peoples Coffee acquired by local roaster – BeanScene

Wellington’s Peoples Coffee has closed the doors to its Mansfield Street roastery after being acquired by Eastbourne’s Karamu Coffee, with its roasting operations set to relocate to Karamu’s Gracefield site.

The acquisition of Peoples comes less than three years after the brand opened a crowdfunding campaign in the hopes of securing NZ$1.5 million to improve its roasting capacity, eventually raising around NZ$300,000.

Peoples, which was founded in 2004 by Matt Lamason, has focused on sourcing organic, FairTrade coffee. It was B Corp certified in 2017.

Founder of Karamu Coffee Mike Pullin says the brand will operate with the same value set as it has for more than two decades.

“We’re proud to carry forward the Peoples Coffee legacy,” says Mike. “This is more than just a business – it’s about preserving the values we all care deeply about: quality, sustainability, and community.”

A Karamu Coffee company statement says it is already searching for a new location to open a flagship Peoples café, and the commencement of this new chapter for the brand is “the coming together of two like-minded, locally owned roasters united by a shared passion for quality, organic, and ethically-sourced coffee”.