Karl Purdy is credited with kickstarting Ireland's specialty coffee movement when he opened his first coffee shop in Belfast in 1997, and after relocating to Dublin in 2000, he founded Coffee Angel in 2004, famously starting by selling coffee from a three wheeled cart in Howth. The business has since grown to nine locations, with eight across Dublin and one in Monaghan town, all self financed from turnover rather than outside investment, including four new outlets opened in 2024 alone. Purdy serves as a World of Coffee Ambassador for Dublin, a role that reflects his standing as one of the country's most influential figures in specialty coffee over nearly three decades. During the pandemic, Coffee Angel built an online business delivering bags of beans and coffee grinders directly to customers, which at its peak accounted for around half of the company's turnover. The operation reported revenue of approximately 3.6 million euros in 2023 with projected growth to nearly 5 million in 2024, demonstrating that a business built from a cart on a pier can scale without sacrificing the craft that started it.