Cooks Coffee Company’s sales and profits soared over the past year as it continued to expand across the UK.
The franchise café chain, which owns the Esquires Coffee brand, posted a 43% rise in group revenue to £3.0m for the year to 31 March 2025, with EBITDA of £584k, up from £148k in 2024.
In the UK, store sales jumped by 35% to £24.5m, compared with the industry average of a 9% rise.
The company said its focus on market towns, housing developments, retail parks and suburban locations had been an “important contributor” to its growth, alongside its focus on “organic coffee products and an enhanced food offering”.
Esquires Coffee UK store numbers increased to 71 over the period, from 60 the year before. Sales for the first 11 weeks of the new financial year are up 30% ahead of the same period last year, with like-for-like sales up 3.4%.
Meanwhile, total franchisee store sales in the UK and Ireland rose by 36% to £35.1m over the 52-week period.
At the end of the financial year, there were 89 group sites in the UK and Ireland, up 19% from 75 as of 1 April 2024. The company aims to have 300 stores by 2034, a target that CEO Aiden Keegan told The Grocer last month it was “well on track toward”.
In looking at the current financial year, Keegan said it had “begun strongly”, having opened an additional seven stores in the UK in the first 11 weeks of the year.
"The expansion strategy, combined with strong like-for-like sales growth, demonstrates the company’s resilience and ability to attract and retain customers in both established and new locations, as well as Esquires Organic Coffee Company’s strong market position and the effectiveness of its customer engagement strategies,” he said.
Last month, Keegan told The Grocer Cooks Coffee had a “really strong” pipeline of stores lined up in the year ahead.
“I’m quite comfortable that we will open at least 20 more this year and potentially more,” he said.
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