THE chief executive of a rapidly expanding coffee business has quit suddenly.

Nigel Lambe - a well known figure in the Brighton business community - has been involved with Hove-based Small Batch Coffee Roasters for six years.

He took over as CEO last November buyout and it is now headed up by Luke Johnson, owner of Brighton Pier Company,

Mr Johnson's private equity house Risk Capital Partners LLP bought a majority stake in Small Batch last year.

Mr Lambe remains a shareholder - he owns 16 percent of Small Batch - and insists his departure is totally amicable.

He said: "Most of the businesses I have been involved in have been turnaround situations, and I just felt that it was the right time to move on."

Small Batch Coffee Roasters first launched out of an industrial unit in Brighton and Hove ten years ago.

It now has eight retail outlets across the city and has just opened a new store in Portland Road, Worthing.

Only last month Mr Lambe told The Argus he was looking to slowly expand the business throughout Sussex with about two new shop openings per year.

He said at the time: "Our ethos is product and people. We have 90 staff now on the payroll and Worthing will take us to 100, so it is important we all know each other’s names and grow a real Sussex coffee community.

"We’re actively looking for new sites in great Sussex town locations so it’s a very exciting time for the business, but we’re taking our time and will open only two or maybe three new shops a year, ensuring we grow in small stages too."

He said that he will be focusing efforts on his two other main business interests - Brighton Gin where he is Executive Chairman and he is Non Executive Director at the Sussex Innovation Centre - plus he is involved in a couple of new start-ups.

"I do business the right way," he insists.

Small Batch Coffee Roasters supplies 200 business customers nationwide with freshly roasted coffee daily, including 50 Brighton wholesalers plus the premium London restaurant brands Princi, Hawksmoor and Camino.

The team sources and roasts around 100 tonnes of beans a year from the Goldstone Villas headquarters in Hove and is opening a new roastery in Portslade in 2017 which will also house the Brighton Gin distillery.