Born in Marseille in the spring of 2021
Sunshine Corp SAS was founded on 14 April 2021 in the Joliette district of Marseille. It was created just as the world reopened after Covid: during the lockdowns, thousands of French people rediscovered coffee at home, cut off from their neighbourhood café or their usual roaster. Many developed a taste for better quality without always knowing where to find it or how to choose it.
Maison Soleil was born from that insight: a monthly subscription delivering exceptional coffee to your door, along with everything you need to gradually become an enlightened enthusiast.
The name blends two intentions. Maison for artisan roots and the daily moment of comfort. Soleil for the memory of coffee’s origins, almost all located along the sun-drenched tropical belt, and for the warmth we want to pass on.
The head office is in Marseille, a nod to France’s first historic port for coffee imports and roasting, open to trade flows from West and Central Africa.
The three founders
Léa Dumont — President and co-founder
Aged 34 when Maison Soleil was founded, Léa is a graduate of EM Lyon. She spent seven years in fashion e-commerce, where she ran the CRM and subscription business of a French online retailer. In 2020, she decided to leave her job to devote herself to a project combining responsible consumption, customer relationships and a physical product.
At Maison Soleil, Léa leads platform strategy, the subscription model and the use of customer data. She is the guardian of the sign-up experience, customer loyalty and the clarity of the offer.
Thomas Reinach — Head of Roasting and co-founder
Thomas was 41 when the company was founded. Trained as a roaster in Trieste, Italy, he went on to become a certified Q Grader, the Specialty Coffee Association’s tasting standard. Before joining Léa on the Sunshine Corp project, he ran the roasting workshop of an artisan Parisian roastery for six years.
Thomas is responsible for selecting green lots, defining roast profiles and quality control. He is the one who signs off every origin before it joins the catalogue or the subscription.
Camille Vasseur — Head of Sourcing & Producer Relations
Camille joined Sunshine Corp in January 2022, when the direct sourcing programme in French-speaking Africa took formal shape. She then became an associate co-founder. Aged 38, she previously spent six years as a raw materials buyer for a trading house based in Antwerp, with repeated assignments in Abidjan, Douala and Antananarivo. She speaks fluent French and English, along with some basic Dyula.
Camille manages the direct relationship with our five partner cooperatives. It is thanks to her network and her exacting standards that the first contract, with the Soleil du Cavally cooperative in Côte d’Ivoire, was signed as early as April 2021 — the very month the company was founded.
A trajectory rooted in the real world
From day one, Maison Soleil chose to secure its supply through multi-year direct trade contracts rather than relying on the spot market. That choice, driven by Camille and endorsed by Léa and Thomas, proved decisive during the green coffee crises of 2023 and 2024.
In 2022, the brand launched its B2B programme and built its presence in specialist and organic shops. In 2023, it diversified with cold brew. In 2024, it entered the capsule market through its only growing segment: compostable capsules. In 2025, it capitalised on its regulatory head start with the Direct Trade Africa campaign.
Today, Maison Soleil pursues its mission: making specialty coffee understandable and accessible by subscription, while paying producers fairly at origin.
From highland sun to your cup.