BKI Foods posts record revenue as own-label coffee drives growth

BKI Foods lifted annual revenue to DKK 940.7 million in 2024, a record that came as retail coffee got more volatile and shelf competition tightened. The Danish roaster said growth in its own-label ranges, plus brand refreshes across BKI, Black Coffee Roasters and Christgau, kept momentum moving in a harder market.

The numbers show how that strategy worked. BKI reported a 10% increase in volume last year, with the strongest lift coming from private-label exports to Norway and Sweden and a relaunch of one of its brands. Revenue rose from DKK 832.6 million in 2023 to DKK 940.7 million in 2024, leaving the company close to the DKK 1 billion threshold.

Based in Aarhus and Højbjerg, BKI says it has been family-owned since Svend Mathiesen founded it in 1960 as an importer of Brazilian coffee. It roasts about 12,000 tons of coffee a year and sells into retail, foodservice, e-commerce, wholesale, export and private-label channels. Its packaged portfolio also includes Mountain, and it owns Copenhagen specialty roaster and café operator Kontra Coffee.

The board has also been reshaped. On 3 April 2025, BKI named former Danish Crown chief Jais Valeur as chairman, succeeding Karl Mathiesen, while Henrik Aagaard remained in charge of day-to-day management. The company has tied that commercial push to a sustainability programme called Kaffe med omtanke, which runs toward 2040 and is meant to anchor its sourcing and climate work over the long term.

For supermarket coffee, BKI’s year reads like a practical playbook rather than a victory lap. Own-label strength kept the volumes moving, branded lines were refreshed instead of left to age on shelf, and cross-border private-label exports helped spread risk beyond one market. In a category where raw bean swings and retail pressure can erase easy gains, BKI found room to grow by managing the mix with unusual discipline.