Marrowbone and Thornbury Partnership Proposal

Partnership proposal deck

Eleven slides from Marrowbone Coffee Roasters, an invented Sheffield roastery, to Thornbury Bakeries, an invented forty one site chain. It opens on the partner problem rather than on the proposer, puts three partnership models on the table instead of one, states both investments in pounds, and asks for two shops for twelve weeks rather than for an eighteen month signature.

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PROPOSAL

SHEFFIELD · 14 OCTOBER 2026 · THORNBURY BOARD

The Coffee In

Every Thornbury

A supply and co brand partnership between Marrowbone Coffee Roasters and Thornbury Bakeries.

Ida Marrowbone

Founder, Marrowbone Coffee Roasters

ROASTED · NOT RESOLD

Slide 1 · cover · Names both parties and the specific ask, so the deck is a proposal rather than an introduction.

WHY NOW

Thornbury sells 2.1 million transactions a year and only 19 of every 100 of them include a coffee. Every competitor on the same high street is above 30.

The bakery shift

Bakery chains that moved to a named roaster between 2022 and 2025 report attach rates in the high twenties within four quarters.

Your contract

The current bulk supply agreement ends in March 2027, which is the last easy moment to change without a break fee.

Our capacity

We have just commissioned a second roaster. From January we can supply 41 sites, and from July we could supply ninety.

02

Slide 2 · intro · Opens on the partner situation rather than on us, which is the difference between a proposal and a pitch.

Who We Are

The six numbers a buyer usually asks for before they will take a supply proposal seriously.

9

Years

Roasting in Sheffield since 2017, same site, same two founders.

84t

Roasted a year

Rising to 190 tonnes once the second roaster runs a full shift.

62

Wholesale accounts

Including two multi site groups, the largest with 22 outlets.

14

People

Four in production, three in training, seven in sales and delivery.

99.2%

On time delivery

Across 4,100 wholesale drops in the year to June 2026.

0

Accounts lost

No wholesale account has left us for a price reason since 2021.

03

Slide 3 · metrics · Establishes that the smaller party can actually supply the larger one, which is the first objection.

The Gap

Five places where Thornbury coffee sits behind the category, measured from your published figures and ours.

Dimension
Thornbury today
Category leaders
Coffee attach rate
19 percent
31 average, 38 best
Coffee gross margin
61 percent
66 to 70 percent
Barista training
None in induction
Certified, refreshed yearly
Take home bags
Not sold at all
2 to 4 percent of revenue
Named roaster
Bulk supply contract
Named on the cup
Thornbury figures from your 2025 annual report and our own visits to six of your shops in September 2026.

04

Slide 4 · comparison · Names the gap in the partner business, dimension by dimension, before proposing anything.

Where The Two Businesses Actually Meet

Two customer bases that share a morning and almost nothing else, which is what makes this worth doing.

Thornbury

Marrowbone

1

Forty one sites on high streets and retail parks across Yorkshire and the north Midlands.

2

Two point one million transactions a year, weighted heavily to before nine in the morning.

3

A bread and pastry brand that customers already trust and can name unprompted.

4

No coffee expertise, no roasting, and no wish to acquire either of them.

1

A roastery, a green buyer, and direct relationships with four farms in Colombia and Rwanda.

2

Sixty two wholesale accounts, none of which is a bakery chain, so there is no channel conflict.

3

A training room and three trainers who certify about 200 baristas a year.

4

No retail sites of our own, and no plan to open any inside your trading area.

05

Slide 5 · comparison · Shows the overlap honestly, including the parts of each business the other should not touch.

Three Ways We Could Do This

We would take any of the three. The middle one is the one we would recommend, and the reason is on the card.

Supply only

SIMPLEST

We roast, you buy, nothing else changes

INCLUDED

Weekly delivery to all 41 sites

Fixed price for eighteen months

Equipment service contract

NOT INCLUDED

No training and no barista certification

No co branding and no retail bag

BEST FOR

Thornbury wants a better bean without changing anything a customer would notice.

Attach rate unlikely to move on its own

Co brand

BALANCED

Shared name on the cup, the bag and the training

INCLUDED

Everything in supply only

Barista training for all 41 sites

Co branded retail bag at 60 / 40

TRADE OFFS

Eighteen month exclusivity on coffee

Joint sign off on any menu change

BEST FOR

Moving attach rate and margin together, which neither party can do alone.

Our recommendation, and the one costed here

Joint venture

DEEPEST

A separate coffee company owned by both parties

INCLUDED

Everything in co brand

Shared profit on all coffee revenue

Right to open standalone coffee sites

TRADE OFFS

A new legal entity and a board seat each

Six months of lawyers before anything ships

BEST FOR

A ten year view where coffee becomes a business rather than an attachment.

Only worth it if the co brand year works

06

Slide 6 · comparison · Puts three models on the table rather than one, which is what turns a proposal into a negotiation.

What Each Side Brings

The contributions are deliberately unequal, and both boards should see that written down before signing.

Marrowbone brings

The coffee

Roasting, green buying and a fixed price held for eighteen months.

The training

Certification for two baristas per site, then annual refreshers.

Thornbury brings

The customers

Two point one million transactions a year across forty one sites.

The counter

Space, staff time and the machine estate, refitted at your cost.

Neither has

A retail line

Neither of us sells a take home bag today. That is the new revenue.

A coffee brand

Thornbury means bread. Marrowbone is unknown outside the trade.

Built together

The blend

One house blend, developed jointly, named after both businesses.

The standard

A published cup standard both sides can audit and both can enforce.

07

Slide 7 · framework · States the asymmetry plainly, so neither side later claims it was carrying the other.

What It Costs

Three hundred thousand pounds across eighteen months, split sixty forty against who benefits.

£300,000

Marrowbone funds £180,000 of this and Thornbury £120,000. Our share is spent before a single extra cup is sold, which is the point: we are taking the first risk. The equipment stays yours at the end of the term whatever happens to the partnership, and the training certificates belong to the individual baristas rather than to either company.

38%22%14%16%10%
Machines and grinders
Barista training
Brand and packaging
Counter refit
Launch marketing

08

Slide 8 · investment · Says what each party spends and on what, which is the slide a board actually reads.

How We Judge It

Five numbers, measured from Thornbury till data, reviewed jointly at month nine and month eighteen.

Coffee attach rate

From 19 percent today. Category average is 31, and we are not promising that in year one.

27%

Coffee gross margin

From 61 percent. The lift comes from the retail bag and from less waste, not from a price rise.

66%

Retail bag revenue

A line that does not exist today. Split 60 to Marrowbone, 40 to Thornbury.

£210K

Milk and bean waste

From 5.8 percent. Training is the whole mechanism here, and it is measurable per site.

3.0%

Sites certified

Two trained baristas per site. A site that is not certified does not get the co branded cup.

41

09

Slide 9 · metrics · Fixes five measurable targets and the review date, so the partnership can be judged rather than felt.

THE ASK

One Quarter, Two Sites

Oct to Dec 2026

October

FIT OUT

Wk 1: Heads of terms signed, no exclusivity yet
Wk 2: Sheffield Devonshire and Chesterfield chosen
14: Machines and grinders installed overnight
21: Six baristas trained at the roastery
28: House blend cupping with your food team

November

TRADE

Wk 1: Both sites live on the joint blend
Wk 2: Co branded cup and menu board in place
11: First weekly till review, both sides present
18: Retail bag on sale at the two sites only
25: Mid month adjustment to grind and menu

December

DECIDE

Wk 1: Full month of clean trading data
9: Attach rate and margin compared to 39 other sites
16: Joint review, both boards, half a day
18: Thornbury decides to extend or to stop
19: If it stops, machines stay and nothing is owed

10

Slide 10 · calendar · A pilot quarter with dates on it, so the ask is a decision about October rather than about eighteen months.

Two Sites, Twelve Weeks

We are not asking you to sign eighteen months today. We are asking for two shops and a review date in December.

Proposal

ida@marrowbonecoffee.example

Direct

Ida Marrowbone, 0114 496 2210

Decision sought by

31 October 2026

11

Slide 11 · closing · Closes on the single decision being asked for and who to ring, rather than on a summary.

The structure

What each slide is doing, so you can reuse the order even with different content.

Slide 1cover
Names both parties and the specific ask, so the deck is a proposal rather than an introduction.
Slide 2intro
Opens on the partner situation rather than on us, which is the difference between a proposal and a pitch.
Slide 3metrics
Establishes that the smaller party can actually supply the larger one, which is the first objection.
Slide 4comparison
Names the gap in the partner business, dimension by dimension, before proposing anything.
Slide 5comparison
Shows the overlap honestly, including the parts of each business the other should not touch.
Slide 6comparison
Puts three models on the table rather than one, which is what turns a proposal into a negotiation.
Slide 7framework
States the asymmetry plainly, so neither side later claims it was carrying the other.
Slide 8investment
Says what each party spends and on what, which is the slide a board actually reads.
Slide 9metrics
Fixes five measurable targets and the review date, so the partnership can be judged rather than felt.
Slide 10calendar
A pilot quarter with dates on it, so the ask is a decision about October rather than about eighteen months.
Slide 11closing
Closes on the single decision being asked for and who to ring, rather than on a summary.

What makes this deck work

Three models, not one offer

Supply only, co brand and joint venture, each with its trade offs written on the card and the middle one marked as the recommendation. Presenting one shape turns the meeting into accept or decline; presenting three turns it into a negotiation.

The overlap slide names the boundaries

Four attributes each side brings, and on both lists an item that says what the partner should not touch. Alliances that fail usually fail on the thing neither party thought needed writing down.

The ask is twelve weeks, not eighteen months

Two named shops, a dated joint review in December, and machines that stay with the buyer if the pilot stops. Making the first commitment cheap and reversible is what gets an alliance past a board that has been burned before.

Questions people ask

What should a partnership proposal include?

Why you are here, who you are, the opportunity, the overlap between the two businesses, the proposed model, what each side contributes, the mutual benefit, success metrics, scope and timeline, commercials and a specific next step.

How long should a partnership proposal deck be?

Ten to fourteen slides. This example is eleven. Longer decks tend to be a scope document wearing a presentation, and the scope belongs in the agreement rather than in the meeting that decides whether to write one.

How do you make a partnership attractive to a much larger company?

Lead with their number, not yours. This deck opens on the buyer coffee attach rate rather than on the roastery, and asks for a two site pilot with no exclusivity. Partner sourced revenue is also widely under attributed, so make the measurement explicit from the start.

What is the difference between a partnership proposal and a sponsorship proposal?

A sponsorship proposal sells exposure for money and is usually one directional. A partnership proposal sets out reciprocal contributions, shared metrics and a term, which is why this example spends a slide on what each side brings and another on how it is judged.

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