Why You'll Find Flight in the Supermarket

A note from our Co-founder, Nick Clark.

Back in the day, being "in the know" was kinda cool.

There was a time when finding great coffee felt a bit like being part of a secret club. You had to know the right café, the right roaster or the right website. If you stumbled across a great cup or bag of coffee, you'd probably tell your mates about it.

I remember being about 17 and driving around the CBD to meet my dad for a coffee. It was never the same place twice. There was always a new spot, the quirky one, or somewhere another barista had told him he had to check out. Looking back, I probably didn't realise it at the time, but that's where my curiosity for specialty coffee really started.

It was a different world. Before social media, before everyone had a recommendation in their pocket. You discovered great places by word of mouth, by getting a little lost, or because someone you trusted pointed you in the right direction.

Fast forward a couple of decades and the world's changed pretty dramatically. We expect everything to be easier. Movies are on demand. Groceries get delivered. You can order dinner, a taxi and probably a new couch without getting off the couch.

Convenience has become the norm. That got us thinking.

Is great coffee actually accessible? Is Flight accessible?

Turns out… not as much as we thought.

If you wanted to visit one of our café partners or order online, easy as. But if you lived somewhere we weren't stocked, which, to be fair, is a good chunk of New Zealand, you probably weren't going to go out of your way for it. And honestly, I get it.

If I'm after a few beers on a Friday afternoon, I'm probably heading to the supermarket. I love breweries, but I'm not driving across town to visit one every time the fridge is empty. The same goes for coffee. While I do plenty of shopping online, sometimes you just want it now.

So we asked ourselves a pretty simple question.
If that's where people already are, why shouldn't great coffee be there too?

Whether you're picking up milk, grabbing dinner after work, doing the weekly shop or, if you're like me, grabbing a packet of Cheds you definitely didn't come in for… supermarkets are one of the few places almost every Kiwi has visited.

And supermarkets have changed too.

They're no longer just somewhere you buy toilet paper and baked beans. They're where people discover local brands, artisan products and genuinely great food. Coffee deserves to be part of that conversation too.

We've spent the last 15 years working alongside some of New Zealand's best cafés, and they remain at the heart of everything we do. Nothing about that changes, and I honestly don't think it ever will. They continue to inspire every coffee we roast and they're a huge part of what makes New Zealand's coffee culture so special.

FIND YOUR NEAREST FLIGHT STOCKIST

But the reality is, most New Zealanders don't visit a specialty café every day. A huge number of people, however, walk through a supermarket every week, whether that's physically or digitally.

We've always believed coffee has the power to make someone's day a little better. It's where conversations start, ideas come to life, families gather and friendships grow. If coffee can do all that, why would we want that experience to exist only inside specialty cafés?

Going into FMCG wasn't about becoming less specialty. It was about making specialty coffee more accessible. We still source coffee the same way. We still obsess over roasting, quality control and freshness. We still care deeply about every bag that leaves our roastery. The only thing that's changed is where you can buy it.

Great Coffee Made Simple

Our strategy has been guided by one simple idea: Great Coffee Made Simple.

Not simpler coffee. Simply making genuinely great coffee easier to enjoy. Because accessibility isn't lowering the standard, it's raising the standard for everyone.

"Because accessibility isn't lowering the standard, it's raising the standard for everyone."

That means removing barriers, making brewing less intimidating and creating products that fit into people's everyday lives. Would we love everyone to buy directly from us forever? Of course, but that's not how people shop anymore, and that's okay. Our job isn't to force people into one channel. It's to make sure that whenever someone chooses Flight, wherever they choose Flight, they're getting a bloody yum cup of coffee.

Some people will discover us through one of our amazing café partners. Others might first spot us while walking down the supermarket aisle. Honestly, we're happy either way.

Because once someone experiences genuinely great coffee, where they found it matters a whole lot less than how it made them feel.

If we're serious about improving coffee culture in New Zealand, we can't expect everyone to come to us. Sometimes we have to go to them.

This isn't about moving away from specialty coffee. It's about taking specialty coffee to more people. Because we believe everyone deserves access to great coffee, wherever they choose to shop. If someone discovers Flight while nipping out to grab a cheeky box of Cheds instead of behind an espresso machine, we're okay with that. Actually, I'm into it. I'd even call it progress.