Café Launay, the historical coffee roasting company located in Le Passage-d’Agen, Aquitaine, France, is growing thanks to the ambitious project of José Mateo, the company’s director, who has given IMA Petroncini the task of commissioning a coffee roasting and processing plant. The new facility is nearly 2,000 square feet and will be exclusively used for Organic coffee production.
Café Launay is the factory of the future.
The new facility, the result of an investment of almost €4 million, covers an area of 2.000 m² and includes a state-of-the-art production unit – entirely dedicated to the roasting of organic coffee – which is being built next to the existing one, where coffee has traditionally been roasting since 1814.
Supported by IMA Petroncini’s project management team, which oversaw the entire engineering project for the new roasting plant, the architectural layout study, and the technical adaptations for commissioning the new facility, the company has finally launched the new production of organic and eco-responsible coffee, with results that have been appreciated by over 3.000 French customers, with a 25% increase in annual sales.
Café Launay chooses the technology and reliability of the IMA Petroncini brand
Café Launay’s new facilities are based on the latest technology and feature several innovations focused on advanced performance and high-quality coffee.
A TTA180 roaster has been installed in the new production plant and was the ideal choice for the company, which is looking for gourmet coffees and traditional roasting profiles. This model has been designed to meet specific production requirements and, thanks to its advanced technology, allows the perfect control of the roasting process, optimising the thermal efficiency and quality of the roasting air.
OPERA30, the TTA roasting control, allows the coffee technologist to choose the preferred roasting method, by time or temperature, customising up to 30 roasting steps, giving the customer the guarantee to have a consistent quality product.
“The Petroncini IMA solution guarantees the highest standards of quality, technology, and safety, as well as total reproducibility of roasting results and predefined parameters. The roasting technology meets our grain quality requirements very well. The monitoring system with its volume statistics is very interesting to use”, says Josè Mateo, owner of the Café Launay roasting company.
Green coffee reception, storage and weighing systems developed according to Hygienic Design specifications
In addition to the TTA 180 roaster, a complete processing plant from the reception of the green beans to the storage of the roasted coffee has been installed according to Hygienic Design specifications, guaranteeing maximum preservation of product quality, and avoiding any contamination.
At the same time, the engineering solution provided by Petroncini for the handling of green and roasted coffee from the silo to the destinations was particularly successful from several points of view. Optimisation of space and production requirements were very important factors right from the start of the engineering studies, and the energy-efficient solutions applied to the storage and dosing process of the roasted coffee were the cornerstones of the entire project.
“The development team always responded to our most demanding requests, even when it came to last-minute changes” explains José Mateo.
Quality control assurance
The issue of quality control is very important to the roasting company, which aim to guarantee high quality standards in compliance with organic coffee protocols. IMA Petroncini technologies can guarantee high process efficiency and at the same time product traceability, avoiding contamination between different products and obtaining a perfectly dust-free production environment.
“This is fundamental to comply with a strict specification for organic coffee: from the storage of the raw material, through the roasting phase, the storage section and the subsequent packaging of the coffee, which can be destined both for the shop for direct sale and for bars, restaurants and vending machines for instant consumption, with the guarantee of a coffee of consistent organic quality.”
Café Launay’s Eco Responsible Project
For several years now, Café Launay has been working directly with the coffee plantation cooperatives, cutting out intermediaries throughout the supply chain and becoming the sole link between its customers and the cooperatives in Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, and Peru, thus guaranteeing the quality of the organic product selected.
“The coffee processing systems designed and developed by IMA Petroncini, capable of maximising the energy efficiency of the entire plant, fit perfectly with Café Launay’s idea of a sustainable production chain from A to Z, combined with the use of renewable energy. The new facility now also has a system of photovoltaic panels connected to the production area, which will allow the plant to be almost self-sufficient in electricity consumption. Café Launay retains the spirit of traditional slow and progressive roasting while modernising with state-of-the-art roasting technology” concludes José Mateo.
