From a cyclist's café to becoming the first specialty coffee roaster on the Costa Brava

GironaIt all started with a small café opened in the midst of the pandemic in Platja d'Aro for cycling enthusiasts. The first meeting point for professional and amateur athletes on the Costa Brava. And in just five years, it has taken the leap to open a new location in Catalonia's great cycling mecca and also become the first specialty coffee roaster on the Girona coast. This, added to the big step forward in 2026: opening a new warehouse and reaching customers' homes with online sales (ecommerceMaglia Coffee & Co offers subscriptions to whole bean coffee. With a small team of 14 people (20 in peak season), it has just surpassed one million euros in revenue. At the helm of the project is Marc Guinó, the son of a family of restaurateurs from Maçanet de la Selva, who grew up surrounded by the sounds of coffee machines and cups in the family business. "I've always been a big coffee lover, and tasting specialty coffee was the spark that ignited my idea," he explains about the inspiration behind La Maglia. "I saw specialty coffee shops and cyclists growing in Girona, but there wasn't that kind of offering on the Costa Brava, so we created it." That's how Guinó opened his first shop on Juli Garreta street in Platja d'Aro, opposite Plaça del Mil·lenari, taking advantage of the fact that he lived in S'Agaró, and as a cyclist, he named it after the pink jersey worn by the leaders of the Giro d'Italia.

The cycling café boom had already taken hold in Girona's Barri Vell (Old Quarter) with the opening in 2015 of La Fábrica, the first specialty café, founded by retired Canadian cyclist Chris Meier and his wife Amber, driven by a large dose of marketing capitalizing on the growth of the influencers on Instagram. So Maglia followed the same pattern and became the first on the Costa Brava. "Why not combine it with a healthy food menu, not just coffee?" Guinó points out regarding Platja d'Aro's differentiating factor. The pandemic could have ruined their business, but instead, it pushed them towards a new differentiating factor: becoming the first coffee roasters on the Girona coast. They had more and more takeaway orders, and in 2023 the opportunity arose to open another location in a shop that was closing next to theirs.

The great cycling temple of Girona

At the same time, another great opportunity arose: to land in Girona, just as Guinó had always dreamed. And to do so in style. Last spring, he opened in Girona's most romantic corner, the former Odeon theater, transformed into a cycling haven by the Velódromo brand. "Miquel Tràfach, one of the partners, came knocking on our door explaining the project," recalls Guinó. "At first, he was surprised because it was a big undertaking, but when we saw it in writing, we understood each other immediately." Maglia has thus become Girona's premier cycling café, in partnership with the city's premium shop. It's also the space open on Sundays, when Velódromo is closed.

"We don't want just tourists to come and see us, and that's happening," explains the CEO of La Maglia. "We're seeing more and more locals coming to visit us regularly, and that's why we're doing more collaborations with local groups." It is a large space, a former 19th-century theater and ballroom, with two tiers of seating and pleasant tables where you can enjoy a good coffee and also products from local businesses such as La Puntual bakery. Can Pericus delicatessen in BanyolesMartina Sweet Cakes or Rispa, a craft beer from Girona. Throughout this growth process, Guinó is obsessed with maintaining quality. "One of the biggest mistakes is lowering it," he warns.

Now La Maglia's big leap is to start selling the product directly online after acquiring a warehouse of more than 300 m²² In Calonge, they will soon begin their own coffee production for online sales. Currently, their specialty coffee, roasted on the Costa Brava, is already available in their shops, but they want to go further. This new warehouse, slated for 2027, will also become another coffee shop. The goal is to control the entire process to offer the best coffee, from the arrival of the green coffee beans to the customer's cup. These are 100% Arabica specialty coffees that score no lower than 85 points from the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association).

Regarding whether the specialty coffee boom has peaked in cities like Girona or Barcelona, ​​Guinó believes that "it's just beginning here, and there's a lot of room for growth, as some countries are much more advanced." "We come from many years of commercial coffee, and there's a lot of work to be done," he adds. In their case, their goal is to buy directly from local producers in the short to medium term, although they already collaborate with Marzocco coffee machines, manufactured in Florence.