Italy’s Cafè Barbera eyes UK franchise expansion

Cafè Barbera opened its first UK outlet in July 2022 in Cobham, Surrey |Photo credit: Cafè Barbera

Italian coffee chain Cafè Barbera is seeking to open 30 stores across the UK over the next 10 years as it commences operations with a new franchise partner in the country. 
 

Naples-based Cafè Barbera opened its first UK outlet in July 2022 in Cobham, Surrey, and currently has two sites in development in Bicester and Barnes, according to its website. 

The coffee chain’s UK sites are now being managed by a new franchisee after Sania Group, which opened the Cobham Cafè Barbera store, entered administration in April 2023. 

Speaking to Propel, Managing Director Elio Barbera said the new, unnamed, franchisee will develop five outlets in Surrey. Barbera expects 30 Cafè Barbera outlets to be open across the UK by 2033, he added. 

The new stores will comprise both Cafè Barbera’s standard format outlets alongside its new Caffè Barbera mini concept, which, at 270sq ft, will enable the coffee chain to scale its presence in shopping centres, commercial buildings, universities, offices areas and transport hubs.  

“The existing Cafè Barbera Cobham and the upcoming Cafè Barbera Barnes, which is expected to open in September, are managed by a new operator who will develop five outlets in the Surrey area. We expect to open 30 outlets all over the UK in the next five to ten years and are looking for mainly area developers, so groups interested in expanding more than one unit in a specific region [or] city of the UK,” Barbera told Propel. 
 

Cafè Barbera operates 40 outlets across 16 countries, with the UAE currently its largest market with nine stores, followed by Ghana and Iraq with five Cafè Barbera outlets each. The coffee chain also has outlets in Egypt, Sudan, Morocco and Jordan. 
 

With its first store in Palestine set to open in July 2023, Cafè Barbera is also planning to launch in the Philippines, Malaysia, Greece, Georgia and Bangladesh.