Caivano · Italy
Caffè Borbone
Caffè Borbone roasts in Caivano, Naples, Campania.
Since 1997 · Massimo Renda
Overview
Caffè Borbone was founded in 1997 in Caivano, just outside Naples, by Massimo Renda — who launched it as L'Aromatika srl on the bet that automatic espresso vending machines would create a new mass-market for branded single-serve coffee. The name references the Bourbon dynasty under whom coffee culture took hold in 18th-century Naples. By 2017 the company was Italy's third-largest single-serve player after Lavazza and Nespresso with €94M revenue and 40% YoY growth; in May 2018 Italmobiliare (the Pesenti family holding) invested €140M for a 60% controlling stake, with Renda retaining 40% and the executive presidency. Revenue tripled in the six years after the deal, reaching €243M for the first nine months of 2024 alone.
Known for
- Italy's third-largest single-serve coffee producer after Lavazza and Nespresso, leading the compatible-pod and capsule segment
- First Italian company to put compostable pods on the market (Amici della Natura)
- Italmobiliare acquired 60% in May 2018 for €140M; founder Massimo Renda retained 40% and the executive presidency
- 50,000 m² Caivano industrial site processing 50 tonnes of coffee per day at peak; ~950 million single-serve units annually at the 2017 baseline
- Tripled production and turnover in the six years following the 2018 investment, hitting €243M for nine months of 2024
Why it matters
The most successful Italian coffee story of the past 25 years — Borbone scaled from a small Caivano family roastery to a billion-pod producer and Italian top-three player almost entirely on the bet that single-serve compatibles, not espresso bars, would shape the home coffee market.
Production
- roaster machine
- IMF roasters with custom-integrated software; IMA packaging machinery
- roastery location
- Caivano (NA), 50,000 m² industrial site
- annual volume tonnes
- 3200
Recognitions
- Italmobiliare strategic acquisition (May 2018, €140M for 60%)
- First Italian producer of compostable pods (Amici della Natura line)