Ethical coffee roaster and equipment supplier Matthew Algie has appointed Thomas Heinen as its new Managing Director, bringing more than 25 years of leadership experience across the coffee, foodservice, and hospitality equipment industries.
Heinen, who has held senior roles at WMF Group (a supplier of premium coffee machines for homes and businesses), ITW Cooking Europe, and MEC2 GmbH, joins Glasgow-headquartered Matthew Algie at a pivotal time for the business, following the successful integration with German coffee group Tchibo.
The move brought together the companies’ coffee roasting, equipment supply, and technical service capabilities in the UK under a single, customer-focused operation.
German national Heinen, who is married to a Scot and has moved to Glasgow, says he was particularly attracted to his new UK and ROI group MD role as it fuses his coffee machine and service experience with something new for him — coffee roasting.
The appointment of Heinen, who brings a track record of delivering profitable growth, strengthening service infrastructure, and aligning operational processes with customer needs, signals Matthew Algie’s ambition to not only consolidate its position as a leading supplier to the hospitality and foodservice sectors, but also to expand its share of the rapidly growing coffee-to-go market.
He said: “I’ve long admired the Matthew Algie brand – it’s clear to me there are a lot of great people with strong expertise and a real passion for what they do and it’s rare to find the combination of roasting and coffee machines with service all in one place.
“One of my key focuses is bringing together the cultures of Matthew Algie and Tchibo. Both are proud companies with long histories and a lot of talent. My goal is to create a new, shared culture that takes the best from both.
“We have great foundations — a strong brand, excellent coffee, market-leading machines, and a passionate team. It’s an exciting time to be at Matthew Algie.”
Heinen, who drinks four to five cups of black coffee a day, highlighted the growing importance of coffee-to-go – an automated solution that consistently produces high-quality coffee at the touch of a button – particularly in the UK and Ireland, where he believes the convenience coffee market is much more advanced than in mainland Europe.
He said: “I’ve spent time in the field, and it’s clear that the coffee-to-go market in the UK and Ireland is much more developed than in Germany.
“Especially since the pandemic, people don’t ever settle for poor coffee, and are happy to pay for a premium product. We see a huge appetite for good quality coffee everywhere – petrol stations, workplaces, hospitals. That demand for convenience and good quality coffee on the go is only going to grow. There’s still a lag in perception and we hope that over the next few years we’ll have convinced everyone that they can get a great coffee, wherever they are.”
Enhancing customer service will be a key focus under Heinen’s leadership, with ten new engineers set to join the company’s technical support network across the UK and Ireland.
Heinen added: “We offer a complete package — from sourcing to roasting to serving the perfect cup. You can source the best beans in the world, but if the machine isn’t set up properly or the operator hasn’t had the right training, the result will always fall short. That’s why we’re not just investing in more engineers, bringing more specialist knowledge and improved service response times, but also in training, development, and ongoing support.”
Heinen is impressed by the wide range of customers supplied by Matthew Algie, with retail giant Marks & Spencer– a long-standing partner of the firm – is a strong example of how the company’s expertise spans sourcing, roasting, and equipment servicing.
He continued: “We’re incredibly proud of our client base, supplying household names across the UK and Ireland – from coffee chains like Esquires to hotel groups such as Hilton to supermarkets including M&S. Their expectations around quality, consistency, and traceability are extremely high, and the fact we’ve been able to meet those standards year after year says a lot about the depth of knowledge and experience within the Matthew Algie team.”
Heinen’s arrival comes as Matthew Algie continues to invest in its Glasgow roastery, where a recent eco-friendly transformation has reduced gas consumption by 30%, while also repurposing coffee chaff — a natural by-product of roasting — into biofuel.
Heinen said: “Matthew Algie has been a pioneer in ethical coffee sourcing for decades. We were among the first, if not the first, in the UK and Ireland to offer triple certification — Fairtrade, Organic and Rainforest Alliance — and we want to keep that edge in the market.
“We’re making sure we communicate with customers to protect those standards, and to avoid any temptation to cut corners on quality or ethically just to offset rising prices. We have highly discerning customers who expect the perfect cup every time, and we won’t compromise on that – even in challenging times.
“Our customers increasingly want to know not just where their coffee comes from, but how it’s produced, and they expect us to help them meet their own sustainability goals. We’ll continue to lead the way in providing that transparency while ensuring the coffee they serve is both ethically sourced and consistently exceptional.”
