Banbury factory profits rise ahead of closure and job losses

Dutch coffee-making giants Jacobs Douwe Egberts announced last summer that it would be closing down its Banbury factory fully by the end of 2026.

While coffee production at Ruscote Avenue ended in 2023, the full closure process has been wrapping up, with the company paying redundant staff to volunteer at local charities in north Oxfordshire.

The apprentice team at JDE Banbury

New public accounts for the coffeemaker has shown an operating profit increased by one per cent to £10.1m in 2025 (2024: £10.0m).

Jacobs Douwe Egberts has attributed this to lower distribution costs and administrative expenses.

Operating working capital has moved from -0.03 per cent to 0.17 per cent due to higher sales and changes to supplier payment terms.

The documents say: “The business remains committed to maintaining liquidity and effective cash management.”

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Company director Rajat Chawla said: “The business is subject to a range of risks and uncertainties, including fluctuations in green coffee prices, changes in input costs, foreign exchange volatility, evolving competitive dynamics, technological developments, and demographic shifts in consumer behaviour.

“To mitigate these risks, the company closely monitors coffee prices, input costs, and exchange rates, benchmarking them regularly against external market data.

“Pricing strategies are reviewed and adjusted as necessary in response to material cost movements.”

He said that environmental regulations introduced last year, such as packaging taxes, will result in increased costs for the business in the future.

Banbury’s factory turned into a packaging-only facility back in 2023 when it stopped making coffee.

Jacobs Douwe Egberts’ ultimate parent company was bought by US giant Keurig Dr Pepper in the first half of 2026.

The factory was built by General Foods in the 1960s across 42 acres at a cost of £6m and employed 1,300 people.

In 1966, General Foods moved production of Bird’s Custard from the Custard Factory site in Birmingham to the new factory, along with the majority of its Brummie workers.

Jacobs Douwe Egberts has run the factory since 2015, after the business purchased the coffee side of Mondelez.

The closure serves as another blow for Banbury’s economy, which is also going to be hit by the expected closure of the HelloFresh distribution centre at Chalker Way.

HelloFresh said 271 people work at Banbury, but if the company closes it after a consultation, it’s expected jobs will be lost.

In a statement, the company said its distribution centre in Derby is now better equipped that Banbury.

A spokesman for HelloFresh said: “We have made the difficult decision to propose to close our Banbury site, subject to consultation.”