Horn takes the lead on operations, maintenance and quality functions at Swiss Water, and will seek to implement ‘data-driven quality improvement methodologies’ across the Canadian coffee business
Owen Horn, Vice President of Operations at Swiss Water | Photo credit: Swiss Water
Canadian decaffeinated coffee company Swiss Water has appointed Owen Horn as its new Vice President of Operations, effective immediately.
In a press release, Swiss Water said Horn will lead its operations, maintenance and quality functions, with a focus on implementing ‘data-driven quality improvement methodologies’ across the business and its green coffee handling sister company, Seaforth Supply Chain Solutions.
Horne joins Swiss Water from Chemtrade Electrochem, where he held several leadership roles in engineering, operations and maintenance management. He succeeds long-serving Swiss Water executive Barry Close as Vice President of Operations, with Close remaining at the company in the role of Strategic Process Advisor.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Owen to our team. Bringing his experience, talent, and engineering expertise to our new, state-of-the-art facility is an inspiring way to start 2024,” said Frank Dennis, CEO, Swiss Water.
Founded in British Colombia in 1988, Swiss Water uses a chemical-free process to remove 99.9% of caffeine from green coffee. The business sells its decaffeinated coffee to specialty roasters, retailers and importers and currently distributes its products across more than 60 countries globally. Swiss Water counts Café Grumpy, Blue Spruce Coffee Co., Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co., Linea, Ninth Street Espresso and Talking Crow Coffee Roasters among its US roaster partners.
In the third quarter of 2023, Swiss Water commenced production at its second commercial decaffeination site in British Colombia. The company posted sales of $166.3m for the 12 months ending 31 December 2023.