10 Years of KIN+ILK

We are incredibly excited to be celebrating 10 years of KIN+ILK. This is a monumental achievement for us - especially in the current hospitality landscape - and we’re really proud to have made it to 10 years. Soooo, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at some highlights from each year.

2016

We opened our first KIN+ILK doors in 2016 at our Capital Quarter location. Initially, we opened as a café bar, serving up specialty coffee (of course). We served locally made beers and delicious salads and were incredibly excited to be entering the Cardiff coffee scene.

Later in 2016, we opened our second location - our foodie hub… PONTCANNA! When people think about KIN+ILK, they often talk about our Pontcanna location: open on weekends and the perfect community hub.

2017

In 2017, we launched our KIN Keep Cups in support of Keep Wales Tidy. For every cup sold, £1 was donated to the amazing work Keep Wales Tidy did (and still does!). We also started selling one dish that’s still with us now - Turkish Eggs!!!

2018

2018 was a big year for us, as it marked our first-ever origin trip to El Salvador. This gave us the chance to choose our coffee and kicked off a wonderful direct trade relationship with our incredible  producer, Fernando Lima. Since then, we’ve been on many origin trips to visit Fernando, the farm, and the community who work there.

Towards the end of 2018, we opened an exciting pop-up on the top level of St David’s 2 (where Zara is now!) in collaboration with Clifton Coffee (our amazing roaster). It showed us there was real demand for our directly traded coffee and locally made products.

2019

In 2019, we continued our St David’s pop-up and began looking for a permanent location in the area. That year, we also worked with the amazing John & Jane on our branding, which really helped reflect our ethos more clearly.

Towards the end of 2019, we opened our third location at The Maltings, meaning all Maltings residents now had a KIN+ILK on site! Today, The Maltings is home to our central kitchen, where all our grab & go is made fresh before heading out via the KINmobile - and it’s also where our head office lives.

2020

We all remember 2020…

Everything closed. It was a huge hit for us (and hospitality in general), and the future felt incredibly uncertain.

Luckily, we were able to keep Pontcanna open as takeaway only, and as one of the only coffee shops open at the time, we were very busy. Huge thanks to the amazing team who worked through that absolute madness.

Towards the end of 2020, we opened St David’s, and across the year we opened and closed sites 11 times. Another big moment at the end of 2020 was the opening of our Brunel House location.

2021

In 2021, as Covid started to calm down a little, all locations were back up and running. It was amazing to see hospitality feeling vibrant again, and we can’t thank our team enough for getting us through that period. We adjusted to constantly changing rules and were finally able to start selling guest coffees again!

2022

2022 was another exciting year. We were lucky enough to send a few of our baristas to get SCA certified, which was incredible. We also introduced the Chicken Caesar Wrap… why is that important? Well, it started as a special grab & go item in support of the National Autistic Society,  and it’s since become our top-selling grab & go item.

This was also the year we launched our online blog, giving us a space to share news, updates, and stories… like the one you’re reading right now.

2023

In 2023, we reunited with Fernando on another origin trip to El Salvador, which was absolutely amazing. A big milestone that year was partnering with Embargo. You might think, “okay, an online loyalty app?” - but it gave us a direct way to connect with customers, share rewards, freebies, and exciting offers.

2023 was also a big year for events. It finally felt like we were out of Covid and ready to celebrate. We hosted our first Queer Art Exhibition (one of three!), held an amazing event with Clifton to celebrate our Corozo crop and our move from honey to washed processing, and collaborated with Cardiff Hospitality Week. This included a latte art competition and a sign language pop-up to learn key signs for hospitality.

2024

2024 brought another origin trip,  this time with our Head of Coffee, Tom, who had an incredible time visiting Fernando and El Corozo. We hosted a friendly competition with Rhostio and Boss & Brew on Good Friday, and summer 2024 was when matcha really took off. We released a series of delicious matcha drinks and, as an ode to El Salvador, a dark chocolate horchata. A portion of every drink sold went to support the incredible work City Hospice does.

We also redesigned our online Finca El Corozo bags, took part in an exciting pop-up with Lone Design Club at their Co.Lab space in St David’s, and then… the biggest thing of 2024:

GEISHA ARRIVED!!!

This was the first time we’d ever released a coffee that wasn’t our bourbon El Corozo. The Geisha varietal is notoriously difficult to grow, making it one of the most sought-after coffees in the world. Our El Corozo Geisha is grown at 1900 metres above sea level - one of the highest farms in El Salvador,  and washed to highlight its delicate flavours. Tasting notes include chamomile, milk chocolate, crème caramel, and lemon balm. We even got to design the bottle for this really, really, really special coffee. More on Geisha later this year…

2025

2025 - last year only! This one was all about community. We launched the KIN Community, an exclusive mailing list where we share content, discounts, games, and more. Alongside this, we started our first-ever book club (KIN Community Book Club!).

We also collaborated with Clothing Culture, who designed an AMAZING collection inspired by our shared ethos - naturally, we celebrated with a launch event. Towards the end of 2025, we collaborated with Sephora, hosted a supper club, released exciting new drinks (hello chilli & mango matcha ), and welcomed the new year with plenty of team drinks.

As we look back on 10 years of KIN+ILK, we’re incredibly proud of our team and completely blown away by our communities - from our regulars and first-time visitors to our online supporters and our community in El Salvador.

Here’s to another 10 years of KIN+ILK

Diolch yn fawr