Coffee has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.
With my Italian heritage, I spent a lot of my childhood around my Nonno and Nonna in what we call bars, which in Italy simply means a coffee shop. Watching coffee being made, watching people come and go, seeing how much of Italian life revolved around that little cup. It stayed with me.
I never really knew where I was going in life. I worked in restaurants, and whenever a coffee order came through on the checks I would somehow always find myself making it. I loved the process. The sound, the movement, the precision. And I started trying to add a little art to it too.
Eventually I joined one of the UK's biggest coffee retailers, where I learned more about coffee, developed my latte art, got faster and sharper, and learned how to deal with people at speed, especially on the drive-thru.
The first door that closed
Then came what felt like the next step. I was poached by a new coffee shop opening in Huddersfield town centre and became assistant manager. For the first time I was stepping into the business side of coffee, and the shop became a success.
Five weeks in, I was told I was costing the business too much money and given the choice to take a pay cut or leave. So I left, with no idea what was coming next.
Sometimes the door that closes is the one that pushes you towards the right one.
While helping set that shop up, I had met the supplier who provided the equipment and ingredients. During one of our meetings the owner quietly told me: “If you ever need a job, give me a call.”
So I picked up the phone and asked whether he had any work. His response: “I'll collect you from Brighouse train station. You start at 9am tomorrow.”
Eight years of learning
I joined as Head Barista and Trainer. I had my own van. I trained people, I travelled, I learned. Over the next eight years I became a lot more than someone who could make a good coffee. Software, stock, importing, costings, margins, sales, technical support, operations, customers. Everything.
I put absolutely everything I had into that business. I genuinely thought I would spend the rest of my working life there.
Then came 2020, and everything changed. After eight years, the offer that eventually came back to me halved my wage and was no longer the job I had spent those years building. I politely declined, and after a long and unsettling few months I handed in my notice.
My notice period ended on my birthday: 16th August 2020. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do.
17th August 2020
No investors. No business plan backed by years of education. No safety net. Just a thought that would not go away:
I love what I do. I'm good at what I do. So why don't I just take a chance on myself?
The very next day, Castroni Coffee was born.
Six years on, we supply over 40 cafés across the North of England, and a wholesale family who keep putting their trust in us. Somewhere along the way life gave me something bigger than a business, too. I became a dad, and suddenly everything had a reason.
What it taught me
I have been knocked down a lot. I have been underestimated and rejected, lost jobs and lost people, and had moments where I genuinely did not know what came next. But I have never stayed down.
I did not have anyone pushing me to start this business, so I became the person who pushed myself. I did not have someone telling me I could do it, so I learned to believe in myself. I did not have the perfect start, but maybe I never needed one. Every setback and every time I had to start again brought me here.
Your beginning doesn't have to determine your ending.
This is my story. And after everything, it's only just getting started.
Emiliano
Founder, Castroni Coffee
