Lavazza, the Italian coffee company with a facility in West Chester, has begun construction of its first roasting and packing plant in the U.S.

The new plant, which is an expansion of Lavazza’s West Chester site, is slated to open in October and will serve the U.S. market. It will integrate existing and new capabilities for Lavazza to produce roasted and ground coffee in the U.S.

Strategically, the new plant will create the possibility to increase the business, to be more reactive in the U.S. market, and increase customer satisfaction.

“North America continues to be a strategic growth market for Lavazza Group, and opening this facility in the United States will sharpen our competitive edge,” said Lavazza executive Davide Riboni. “We will more efficiently service our current customers and offer incentives to attract new ones.”

Until now, all of Lavazza’s roasted and ground coffee for the U.S. market was sourced from Italy. Thus, the new plant puts Lavazza in a position to reduce its carbon footprint through reduced shipping, which is in line with its “Roadmap to Zero” that aims to completely neutralize its carbon footprint by the end of 2030.

The West Chester facility is a LEED Gold site, is zero landfill, and the first site in the Lavazza Group to achieve ISO 45001 certification. In the expansion, Lavazza will maintain the same environmental standards and history at the site.

“This is a very important step for the Lavazza Group and for its future development in the United States, a country that has always been of fundamental importance to us,” said Eleuterio Quagliarini, Lavazza’s Chief Operations Officer. “The investment is made within a production facility that we acquired few years ago, which immediately proved to be the ideal context for developing this new Lavazza reality in the United States, principally thanks to the passion and expertise of the people who work there.”