Background & Opportunity
In 2007, Cafés Di-Costanzo was a small, locally oriented French roaster at a strategic crossroads. Émilie and Étienne Gavanier took over the business when it had only 2 employees. Its activity centered on roasting and selling coffee to professional customers, while an existing base of local individual consumers provided additional relationships. The new owners did not arrive with roasting experience, so they had to learn the operating craft while deciding how the company could grow. The competitive context made that decision important. Large brands such as Lavazza and Cafés Richard possessed advantages in purchasing, production, distribution, recognition, and price competition. A small regional roaster could not simply copy their model and expect to win. Competing mainly on price would expose Cafés Di-Costanzo to a contest in which larger rivals controlled more resources. The company needed a basis of competition that used proximity, responsiveness, product knowledge, and customer relationships rather than attempting to imitate national scale. The owners chose specialty positioning combined with high-contact service. This meant more than selling a costly bag of coffee. The company developed a broader offer for cafés, hotels, restaurants, and offices. It supplied coffee, but also provided machines, installation, maintenance, and continuing support. For a professional customer, reliable equipment and technical assistance affect daily operations. Coffee quality and service capability therefore became connected parts of one commercial promise. This integrated proposition helped reduce a purely price-based comparison. Customers could still compare bean prices, but they also evaluated whether a supplier could install equipment, keep it working, resolve problems, and provide continuity. A regional company could use proximity and responsiveness as practical advantages. The strategy did not eliminate competition, but it changed the purchasing question from “Who sells the cheapest coffee?” to “Which partner can provide the quality and support this establishment requires?” Product quality formed the second part of the differentiation. Cafés Di-Costanzo emphasized high-quality Arabica, origin traceability, specialty coffees, and seasonal coffees. Seasonal products created variety while the professional offer still needed reliability and consistency. Émilie Gavanier obtained Arabica Q Grader qualification, strengthening the company’s ability to assess coffee and communicate about quality. In 2021, the company received an award related to France’s best Italian espresso blend. These facts provided quality evidence for the specialty position without implying that awards alone caused growth. The initial commercial priority remained CHR: cafés, hotels, and restaurants. This focus had an operational logic because professional customers could use the complete coffee-and-equipment offer. Installation, maintenance, and ongoing contact created repeated interactions, allowing the company to understand usage and resolve problems. Concentrating on regional professional accounts also helped build density and reputation before the business pursued wider consumer access. The strategy had constraints. CHR customers often prefer a stable recipe and predictable performance, which can limit how quickly a roaster introduces seasonal or unusual coffees. The company also remained exposed to regional demand and professional-customer concentration. Its response was not to ignore those limitations, but to introduce specialty products while protecting reliability. The service model helped bridge the tension: Cafés Di-Costanzo could offer differentiation while remaining accountable for equipment and daily operation. Over approximately 15 years, the CHR customer base grew about five times, reaching approximately 1,000 customers. This is the clearest evidence that the proposition resonated beyond the original local base. Organizational capacity grew as well. Employee numbers increased from 2 to 20 between approximately 2007 and 2022. That expansion supported roasting, packaging, logistics, customer care, technical assistance, and management. The business was becoming a platform rather than remaining a very small owner-operated workshop. Physical development followed. In 2017, the company moved to a new site in L’Isle-Jourdain and opened its first store. The move expanded operating capacity and gave the brand a direct consumer location. The company later added stores in Toulouse, Tarbes, and Pau. These locations made the specialty proposition more visible and gave individual consumers a way to discover the coffees outside professional accounts. The stores did not replace CHR. They broadened access points while the professional channel remained the commercial foundation. This distinction matters because a small company can weaken itself by abandoning the activity that funds its capabilities while chasing a new channel. Cafés Di-Costanzo instead added consumer contact around the service model that had already supported professional growth. E-commerce was the next major channel decision. Around 2018, the company began building an online offer for individual consumers. The verified evidence records approximately one year of preparation and construction costs of about €10,000. La Dépêche reported that online sales for individuals were operating in September 2018, while an industry account refers to the website in 2019. The difference may reflect project preparation, initial operation, and formal website timing. The consistent strategic point is entry into direct digital sales around 2018–2019. The online move addressed dependence on regional professional relationships. E-commerce allowed the company to reach consumers beyond the immediate geography of its stores and to present specialty coffees, origin information, seasonal products, and the brand story directly. However, it also created risks. Online competition was intense, prices were easy to compare, and customers expected reliable delivery and communication. Early online activity faced profitability pressure. A website alone could not create a profitable channel; product presentation, packaging, fulfillment, service, and marketing also required attention. The company therefore developed a multi-channel model. It sourced, roasted, packaged, and sold beans; served professional accounts with coffee and machines; installed and maintained equipment; operated stores; and used e-commerce and later subscriptions to reach individual buyers. These channels had different roles, but they could reinforce one identity: specialty coffee supported by knowledge, service, and customer relationships. The competitive structure explains why the combination mattered. Rivals included large brands with stronger scale. Buyers included CHR operators and individual consumers. Suppliers included specialty green-coffee importers, producers, and coffee-machine providers. Alternatives included other roasters, blends, capsules, and different equipment-service arrangements. New entrants could launch small roasting brands or online stores. Cafés Di-Costanzo could not remove these forces, but accumulated capabilities made its full proposition harder to reproduce quickly. A new entrant might roast attractive coffee, but it would not automatically possess approximately 1,000 CHR relationships, installation experience, maintenance processes, physical stores, digital operations, and an established quality narrative. A large brand might offer scale, but not necessarily the same regional proximity or integrated attention. The advantage was therefore a system of reinforcing activities rather than one isolated product claim. Sustainability added an operating dimension. By approximately 2022–2023, the company used reusable delivery boxes and saved about 2.5 tonnes of cardboard annually. It also used green gas for roasting, recycled coffee bags, and composted coffee grounds. These practices connected the grain-to-cup story with visible operational choices. The verified evidence does not establish the financial return of each initiative, so the strongest conclusion is operational and reputational rather than a claimed profit effect. The 2023 results show the cumulative outcome. Revenue was approximately €3.7 million, with 60% from hotels, cafés, and restaurants. CHR therefore remained the core engine even after stores and e-commerce were introduced. Diversification meant adding consumer access around a proven professional model, not abandoning the original focus. The sequence clarifies the causal chain. Growth did not come from e-commerce alone. The foundational decision began in 2007 with specialty positioning, service differentiation, and CHR focus. Equipment support, maintenance, quality capability, and regional presence helped build customer relationships and scale. E-commerce became a second-stage decision that diversified access and customer structure. The case consequently illustrates strategic coherence: a small company used a differentiated operating system to avoid direct price competition, then expanded channels carefully around that core.
Original Problem / Model
The first strategic task was to understand what the inherited company already possessed. In 2007, the business had only 2 employees, but it had an existing CHR and local consumer base. Émilie and Étienne Gavanier treated those relationships as assets rather than starting from zero. They also recognized the limits of their position: large brands had greater scale and price power. The decision was therefore to preserve the brand while changing the basis of competition. Instead of imitating mass-market suppliers, the company would develop a specialty coffee and service proposition suited to professional customers. This approach reduced strategic dispersion. The company could concentrate learning, sales effort, and operational investment on CHR accounts. Those customers needed not only beans but also machines, installation, maintenance, and support. The resulting offer connected product quality with practical operating reliability. It created a reason for customers to value the company as a partner rather than compare it only as a commodity supplier. The early logic of the transformation was thus focus first, differentiate clearly, and build capability around real customer needs.
Turning Point
Specialty positioning gave Cafés Di-Costanzo a language and product basis for differentiation. The company emphasized high-quality Arabica, origin traceability, specialty coffees, and seasonal coffees. Émilie Gavanier’s Arabica Q Grader qualification strengthened internal quality expertise, while the 2021 award related to France’s best Italian espresso blend provided external recognition. These elements supported the commercial claim that the company offered more than a standard blend. They did not remove competition, but they helped the business justify a premium approach and explain why quality mattered to CHR and individual customers.
Core Decision
Service made the specialty proposition operational. Cafés Di-Costanzo supplied coffee while also providing machines, installation, maintenance, and continuing support. This addressed daily customer needs and increased contact after the initial sale. A competitor could imitate a blend more easily than an established combination of product knowledge, technical assistance, regional relationships, and responsive follow-up. The service layer therefore helped protect the company from direct price comparison.
Execution / Model / Acquisition Changes
The company’s first expansion engine was CHR. It prioritized cafés, hotels, restaurants, and other professional customers because the integrated coffee-and-equipment offer was especially relevant to them. Over roughly 15 years, the CHR customer base grew approximately 5 times to about 1,000. Employee numbers increased from 2 to 20, showing that the model required and supported a larger organization. The company moved to L’Isle-Jourdain in 2017 and opened its first store, later adding stores in Toulouse, Tarbes, and Pau. These changes expanded capacity and visibility while keeping the professional channel central. The strategy also created discipline. Rather than trying to become a national mass-market brand immediately, the company developed regional density and capability. Each professional relationship could involve coffee, machines, installation, maintenance, and follow-up. This made growth more operationally demanding, but it also created a deeper customer connection. The outcome suggests that specialty positioning was most effective when supported by a complete service system.
Measurable Results
E-commerce represented the second stage of growth. Around 2018, the company began building an online offer for individual consumers, with approximately one year of preparation and construction costs of about €10,000. La Dépêche reported online activity in September 2018, while another account refers to the website in 2019; the distinction may reflect different project milestones. The purpose was consistent: reach consumers beyond the regional CHR base and diversify customer access. The move brought risks. Online competition was intense, and the early e-commerce activity faced profitability pressure. Customers could compare prices and delivery terms immediately. The company therefore needed to make digital selling reinforce, rather than dilute, its specialty identity. Stores, e-commerce, and later subscriptions extended direct consumer access, while CHR remained the core commercial foundation. By 2023, 60% of approximately €3.7 million revenue still came from hotels, cafés, and restaurants.
Lessons
Sustainability reinforced the operating identity without replacing the commercial strategy. By approximately 2022–2023, Cafés Di-Costanzo used reusable delivery boxes and saved about 2.5 tonnes of cardboard annually. It also used green gas for roasting, recycled coffee bags, and composted coffee grounds. These practices connected the company’s quality story with visible operational choices. The broader result was a coherent regional platform. The company combined specialty Arabica, quality expertise, CHR service, stores, e-commerce, and sustainability measures. Growth came from aligning these activities rather than relying on one channel or one promotional claim. Its experience shows that a small roaster can diversify successfully when new channels build on a credible core.