The café chain says customers stay longer and spend more at neighbourhood cafés compared to city centre sites as it seeks to double its 70-store UK footprint over the next three years
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The interior of an Esquires Coffee store in Leicester, UK | Photo credit: Esquires Coffee
Esquires Coffee is seeking to double its UK store network from 70 sites to 140 over the next three years with a focus on suburban and regional growth.
The Cooks Coffee Company-owned coffee chain said its strategy to open outlets in residential areas has proven successful amid sustained remote and hybrid working in the UK.
Esquires Coffee, which is planning to open 10 further stores by April 2025, said it had noted longer dwell times and larger average spend at its suburban coffee shops compared to city centre stores.
“We’ve got the largest pipeline we’ve had to date in the UK, and we see that the brand has really strong potential to reach more communities. We’re not going high street, we’re not going flagship, you’ll never see us on Oxford Street. We don’t particularly want to be in central business districts or city centres. We’re happier in the suburbs where people working from home want to visit a café to work or for a break, or to catch up with friends,” said Aiden Keegan, CEO, Esquires Coffee.
Esquires Coffee achieved 19% year-on-year sales growth in the UK last year to reach £17.5m ($22.3m), with new stores accounting for 12% of total UK sales.
The coffee chain, which sources its coffee from Glasgow-based coffee roaster Matthew Algie, saw UK sales increase 36% year-on-year in the six months ended 30 September 2024 to £10.9m ($13.7m). UK revenues in the seven-week period ended 17 November 2024 were 39% higher than the same period in 2023.
Parent company Cooks Coffee also operates 14 Esquires Coffee stores in Ireland and 26 franchised stores across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Pakistan.