Cafés Albert

What Cafés Albert does

Cafés Albert is a French specialty coffee roaster founded in 1948 in La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, and operated under the parent Groupe Tougeron (S.A.S., capital €97,600) since 1999. The company operates a dual-brand model: the legacy Cafés Albert serves professional clients (cafés, hotels, restaurants, enterprises, retailers) in Vendée and four bordering departments, while the Maison Albert brand, launched in 2022, addresses direct-to-consumer customers via an e-commerce site (cafes-albert.fr), two physical boutiques (Place Napoléon in La Roche-sur-Yon, opened 2024, and Ylium in Les Sables d'Olonne, opened 2022), and three partner corners with regional specialty retailers.

Core production is traditional drum roasting at a 2,200 m² facility at Parc Éco in La Roche-sur-Yon, with 16–22 minute per-lot curves tailored to each origin and a four-step quality protocol (post-harvest, pre-shipment, post-shipment, pre-roast) supported by weekly internal cupping. Single-origin coffees are sourced through the importer Belco, which provides farm-level traceability; a subset of Grand Cru lots is shipped via the sail-cargo vessels Anemos and Artemis under TOWT's FCCO label, reducing maritime CO₂ emissions by 96%. The catalog spans roughly 20 SKUs across five lines (Collection, Grands Crus, Décaféinés, Café à la Voile, Women Coffee Alliance), plus Jura maintenance accessories and curated or customisable gift boxes.

Monetisation combines three streams: unit-pricing roasted coffee sales to consumers and professionals (€7.00–€11.00 per 250 g), recurring B2B revenue from the placement or rental of espresso (Nuova Simonelli), bean-to-cup (Jura, Gaggia), and vending (Necta) machines bundled with consumables and maintenance, and gift box sales. Distribution is hybrid — D2C e-commerce with Colissimo delivery (free over €49) and click & collect, plus a field sales force (3 CHR reps, 4 enterprise technicians) covering Vendée and Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Deux-Sèvres, and northern Charente-Maritime within a one-hour service radius. The firm became a société à mission in 2024, legally binding it to fair producer remuneration, low-carbon imports, and reduced industrial footprint, and is led operationally by Matthieu Tougeron of the owning group.

Name

Cafés Albert

Legal name

Les Cafés Albert

Website

https://cafes-albert.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1948

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Founded in 1948 in Vendée, France, Cafés Albert (dual brand Maison Albert for consumers) is a specialty coffee roaster serving B2B clients (CHR, enterprises) across western France and D2C customers via e-commerce and two boutiques, with single-origin sourcing via Belco and a société à mission status since 2024.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Coffee Roasting

NAICS

Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (311920), Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515)

SIC

Beverages (2080), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Coffee Shops (Single-Origin, Third-Wave) (THAFADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Independent Neighborhood Cafes (THAFADAC), Retailer & Small-Store Supply (C-Store, Mini-Mart, Independent Retail) (CRAEAEAD)

Keywords

• Specialty coffee roasting
• Single-origin coffee beans
• Professional coffee machines
• Coffee bean distribution
• Artisan coffee roastery

Headquarters

HQ city

La Roche-sur-yon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Vente de cafés torréfiés (B2C & B2B): Cafés en grains et moulus vendus en sachets 250g ou 1kg. Gamme déclinée en Collection (8 cafés), Grands Crus (10), Café à la voile (4), Décaféinés (2), Women Coffee (1), Accessoires Jura (3). Approvisionnement CHR, entreprises et commerces via force commerciale terrain.
2. Location / mise à disposition de machines à café: Machines à percolation (Nuova Simonelli), automatiques (Jura, Gaggia) et distributeurs (Necta) proposées en location ou mise à disposition gratuite sur engagement consommables. Maintenance préventive et curative intégrée.
3. Coffrets cadeaux: Trois coffrets pré-composés (Collection, Grands Crus, Voile) et coffret sur mesure à composer en 4 cafés. Boîte kraft, carte manuscrite, livraison soignée.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Cafés Albert is an artisan coffee roaster founded in 1948 in La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée, France), operating under a dual-brand model. Under the B2C brand Maison Albert, it sells freshly roasted specialty coffees (single-origin and blends), gift boxes, and Jura machine accessories via e-commerce and two retail boutiques. Under the B2B brand Cafés Albert, it supplies CHR (cafés, hotels, restaurants) and businesses with espresso and bean-to-cup machines (Nuova Simonelli, Jura, Gaggia, Necta), consumables, and preventive/corrective maintenance with sub-1-hour response across Vendée.

Product overview

Cafés Albert / Maison Albert operates a dual-brand portfolio: the pro brand Cafés Albert for professional CHR and business clients, and the consumer brand Maison Albert for direct-to-consumer retail. The consumer offering spans five coffee sub-brands (Collection, Grands Crus, Décaféinés, Café à la Voile/FCCO, Women Coffee Alliance) totaling ~20 coffee SKUs, plus Jura maintenance accessories, curated or build-your-own gift boxes (coffrets), an interactive taste quiz, and editorial coffee guidance content. The pro division serves three segments — CHR (cafés/hotels/restaurants with Nuova Simonelli espresso machines), Entreprises & Commerces (offices/retail with Jura/Gaggia/Necta bean-to-cup and vending machines), and Épiceries & Revendeurs (corner display modules for resellers) — all backed by a team of 4 commercial agents and 4 technicians providing installation, maintenance, and sub-1-hour emergency response in Vendée and bordering departments. Both divisions source from the same single-origin coffees via import partner Belco, with a growing fraction transported by cargo sailing vessels (FCCO label).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Café à la voile: Coffee transported by sailing cargo ships under the FCCO (Fresh Coffee Clean Ocean) label, reducing maritime CO₂ emissions by 96%
• Women Coffee Alliance

Products and services

• Collection

Quantifiable outcome

• −96 % de CO₂ sur la phase de transport maritime pour les cafés à la voile
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• BelcocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Importateur de café partenaire voyageant au cœur des plantations pour sélectionner les cafés en direct avec les producteurs. Belco transmet le nom de chaque ferme, son altitude et son procédé — traçabilité complète. Partenariat stratégique pour le sourcing de toutes les origines (Éthiopie, Rwanda, Colombie, Brésil, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Kenya, Indonésie, Pérou, Vietnam, etc.). Assure également l'import maritime à la voile via TOWT pour le label FCCO.
• TOWT (Trans Oceanic Wind Transport)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Armateur des voiliers-cargos Anemos et Artemis. assure le transport maritime décarboné du café de Belco depuis l'Amérique du Sud et l'Afrique vers la France (Le Havre). label FCCO (Fresh Coffee Clean Ocean) : −96 % de CO₂, 13 g CO₂/kg vs 80 g en cargo classique. 5e cargaison (Anemos) arrivée mai 2026 avec 2,4 t destinées à Maison Albert.
• Huhtamaki (L'Île d'Elle, Vendée)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Usine Huhtamaki à L'Île d'Elle (Vendée) qui transforme les gobelets collectés dans les distributeurs et points de vente Cafés Albert en boîtes à œufs. Circuit court et valorisation en filière locale, dans le cadre de la démarche RSE de l'entreprise.
• Agriculteur vendéen (méthanisation)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Agriculteur vendéen partenaire qui récupère le marc de café collecté chez les clients professionnels pour un projet de méthanisation. 37,4 tonnes valorisées en 2024. Le marc riche en azote retourne nourrir les sols.
• Nuova SimonellicoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021Fabricant italien de machines espresso depuis 1936. Références proposées aux clients CHR : Appia Life (1, 2 ou 3 groupes) et Aurelia Wave VOLXT (2 ou 3 groupes E-Milk). Chaudières en cuivre, pression stabilisée, programmation des doses.
• JuracoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021Fabricant suisse de machines automatiques bean-to-cup. Références pour entreprises et bureaux : W4, WE6, W8, X4, X6, GIGA X3c. Gamme automatique café noir et boissons lactées, broyeur intégré, écran tactile, entretien automatique.
• Gaggia MilanocoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021Fabricant italien de machines automatiques bean-to-cup pour les commerces et lieux de passage. Références : G50, G100, G300 — espresso, boissons lactées et chocolat en libre-service, écran tactile.
• Necta (Evoca Group)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021Fabricant de distributeurs automatiques pour open spaces et salles de pause. Références : Barista 500, Barista 600 (espresso et lactées), Gusto 6L & 8 (snacks et boissons fraîches). Écrans tactiles, paiement intégré, accessibilité handicapée.
• Coopérative Dukunde Kawa (Rwanda)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Coopérative féminine rwandaise (≈ 2 000 producteurs, 80 % femmes) dans le district de Gakenke. Productrice du Gakenke Rubyniro, certifié Fairtrade et Agriculture biologique. certification Fairtrade depuis 2005, avec primes réinjectées dans des projets sociaux ( Farmers Saving Account, Mutasa Milk).
• Women Coffee AllianceminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Label sélectionnant des cafés cultivés et récoltés par des coopératives 100 % féminines. Gakenke Rubyniro (Rwanda) est le premier café de cette sélection. Approvisionnement tracé, rémunération juste, mise en lumière du savoir-faire féminin.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Cafés Richard: Established French coffee brand with a wider portfolio spanning roasted coffee, machines, and HoReCa services. Comparable to Maison Albert on the CHR/machine-as-a-service business, but at significantly larger scale and broader product range.
• Carte Noire: Mass-market French coffee brand with nationwide distribution through retail and food service. Overlaps with Maison Albert on coffee sourcing/roasting fundamentals but operates at a far larger, more commoditized scale with different customer economics.

Direct peers

• Brûlerie Caron: French specialty coffee roaster with e-commerce, retail, and B2B CHR supply. Directly comparable to Maison Albert on integrated B2C/B2B specialty coffee model in regional France.
• Belleville Brûlerie: Paris specialty coffee roaster with physical stores, single-origin catalog, and strong B2C brand. Comparable to Maison Albert on small-batch craft roasting and café-retail hybrid specialty positioning.
• Lomi: Paris-based specialty coffee roaster with cafés and e-commerce, focused on direct-trade, freshly roasted single origins. Comparable to Maison Albert on craft roasting, café/retail hybrid, and direct-to-consumer specialty positioning.
• Cafés Lugat: French specialty coffee e-retailer offering a wide range of single-origin and blend coffees with nationwide D2C delivery. Closely comparable to Maison Albert on D2C specialty coffee positioning, origin storytelling, and online quiz-driven product discovery.
• MaxiCoffee: One of France's largest coffee e-tailers with a strong B2B pro channel (CHR, enterprises) and machine-as-a-service offerings. Comparable to Maison Albert across the same multi-channel B2C + B2B + machine-rental model.
• Terres de Café: French specialty coffee roaster operating its own cafés and online store, with strong single-origin terroir positioning. Directly comparable to Maison Albert on third-wave specialty coffee, café-retail, and origin traceability.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CafesAlbert
• Facebookfacebook.com/CafesAlbert
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cafes-albert

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cafés Albert