The Midlands is famous for many things, but coffee is not necessarily one of them. Here Tom Fleming spoke to a man on a mission to change all that.
When Adrian Maxwell was growing up, his favourite toys were old coffee machines.
While his friends played with spacehoppers and Action Man, Maxwell spent his spare time stripping down and reassembling vintage espresso makers. Thirty-five years later, the former Rolls-Royce engineer is making a name for himself as MD of Witton-based Fracino, the UK’s only manufacturer of espresso and cappuccino machines.
“Even now, I am never happier than when I am surrounded by valves, thermostats and spanners”, smiles the boss. “When I joined Fracino in 1985, it was operating out of a garden workshop in Balsall Common. But I knew that I had found my calling.”
Fracino has come a long way since then. These days the company employs 23 people at sizeable premises on the Wyrley Trading Estate, and sells nearly 2,000 machines a year. The business was founded by Adrian Maxwell’s father Frank in 1963. An accomplished design engineer, Maxwell Senior went on holiday to Italy and brought back an espresso machine as a souvenir. Now 73, he is Fracino’s chairman and still comes into the factory every day.
Before joining his father, Maxwell spent nearly seven years as a production engineer at Rolls-Royce’s Coventry plant, but felt that he was “stuck” in his role there, with few opportunities for progression. He leapt at the opportunity to help build the Maxwells’ family firm, and has contributed his finely-honed engineering expertise to developing a range of 55 products.
After two decades as the company’s technical director, Maxwell was appointed managing director in 2007. His tenure has already been marked by a string of successes. Fracino’s annual turnover has climbed to a record £2.6million, and the company’s exports have soared. New inquiries are coming in from Pakistan, Germany, France, Poland and South Korea.
The results have been spectacular. Accolades include recognition as an Inner City 100 fastest-growing company and a Millennium Product Award for its coffee roaster, known as the Roastilino. UK customers include the Living Room, Peach Pub Company and Pathfinder pub chains.
On the day we meet, Fracino is celebrating its latest achievement: its gleaming Cybercino machine, launched amid great fanfare and a stream of advance orders earlier this year, has just won first prize in the Caterer & Hotelkeeper Equipment and Supplies Excellence Awards 2009.
“We have had so much interest in the Cybercino that we can’t ship the machines out fast enough,” says Maxwell. “It is getting a lot of attention because it boasts state-of-the-art technology, but looks like a traditional, ‘retro’ style espresso machine. Bar owners and high-end hoteliers love it because it looks great and dispenses delicious coffee at the touch of a button.”
The machine retails for an eye-watering £7,000, but Maxwell says that Fracino customers prize quality above price.
“We install our smaller machines in people’s homes – Ainsley Harriott
has one of our Heavenly models – and the Fracino brand has a good deal of cachet within the catering sector. Our customers tend to be both passionate and knowledgeable about coffee and coffee-makers. They simply aren’t in the market for plastic pieces of flim-flam that are likely to break after a year or two. They want robust, top-of-the-range machines. The Cybercino, for example, weighs in at 86kg (190lb) and is built to last.”
He oversees a four-strong “innovation” team, which takes every new Fracino product from concept, prototyping and testing through to component supply and assembly. Key customers are also involved in the prototyping process, to ensure that the final products meet their needs.
Going into the company’s reception area is like stepping into a little part of Italy. A Fracino machine on a marble-topped bar dispenses drinks to visitors, who lounge on soft leather sofas and sip from demi-tasse cups. Classic Italian coffee machines from the 1950s, owned by Frank Maxwell and lovingly restored by the Fracino team, are on prominent display. The aroma of rich, ground coffee is everywhere. A top coffee retailer is leading an all-day seminar for baristas in Fracino’s training room.
Next door, Maxwell’s office, painted in coffee colours and filled with a large oak desk, looks out on to the noisy, bustling factory floor. There, employees in black shirts embroidered with the gold Fracino logo are hard at work.
Some are running coffee machines through various tests, filling the air with steam; some are welding. Others are working at the factory’s three production lines, which Maxwell has modelled on the lines at Rolls-Royce. Fracino is a rare find: a UK manufacturer that is thriving. The UK manufacturing sector continues to decline – an erosion that has been accelerated by current trading conditions – but Fracino is going from strength to strength.
“Our experience and expertise keep our customers coming back”, Maxwell explained. “We have a 50 per cent market share in the UK and people know our name, so we’re a force to be reckoned with.
“Our reputation is founded upon the quality of our engineering. We have assembled a team of crack engineers, we make everything ourselves, our machines are as reliable as they are handsome and we know our products inside-out. If a customer has a problem or a technical question, they call us at the factory. We can provide them with the answers and results they need, fast.
“Having everything on-site here in Witton gives us a significant advantage over our rivals on the continent. Our customers don’t have to wait days or weeks for parts to arrive from Italy or China. When they need replacement parts we have them here, ready and waiting.
“We add value to our customers’ experiences in other ways, too. We pride ourselves on our after-sales care. We go out of our way to welcome suppliers and customers when they call in, we enjoy sharing our technical expertise with them and we always go the extra mile to ensure that they are happy.”
The credit crunch has led to speculation that coffee shop sales of expensive lattes and cappuccinos are set to fall dramatically, but Maxwell is unconvinced.
“Fortunately for us, there are a lot of people who love good coffee and I suspect they will not give it up without a fight. When coffee-lovers make cutbacks, they are more likely to trim their budgets for going out to pubs and restaurants.
“Here at Fracino we have noticed that payments are coming in more slowly, but right now our sales of machines are going up, not down. These are extraordinary times and we are going to work hard to maintain our profitability, but I believe that we are well-prepared for any bumps ahead.”
Maxwell intends to launch another new machine, yet to be named, this year. Fracino is also in talks with a leading coffee chain about creating a bespoke model to be installed in the chain’s outlets around the UK. An energetic marketing drive is gathering pace; the company’s website, www.fracino.com, has recently been redesigned and is already attracting record numbers of hits.
When he isn’t surrounded by coffee machines, the MD can be found at his home in Balsall Common, relaxing with his wife Marion and their children: Rebecca, 18, Katrina, 16 and David, 15. He also spends his spare time at Nuneaton Swimming Club, coaching younger swimmers and officiating at galas.
All of his children are accomplished swimmers and Adrian Maxwell suspects that his son may take after him in other ways too.
“David is still young, but he comes into the factory whenever he can, and he recently expressed an interest in an engineering career. I’m not surprised; coffee seems to run in the Maxwells’ blood!”
