Cooks Coffee Company CEO Aiden Keegan has said the group is committed to its ambitious expansion plans with a “really strong” pipeline of stores lined up in the year ahead.
The franchise café chain, which owns the Esquires Coffee brand, posted a surge in total UK and Ireland franchisee store sales today (29 May), up 33% for the year to 31 March 2025. EBITDA soared to £620.1k, rising from 148.8k in the year to 2024.
The group, which has a focus on community-driven locations like market towns and suburban hubs, currently has 93 stores in the UK and Ireland, with six of these having been opened in the first eight weeks of the year.
However, it plans to have 300 stores by 2034, a target which it is “well on track toward”, according to Keegan.
He told The Grocer: “The pipeline is really strong. I’m quite comfortable that we will open at least 20 more this year and potentially more.”
In the UK specifically, store sales rose by 38% at £24.6m compared to the industry average of 9%.
Keegan said a lot of this growth is down to the sites that Cooks Coffee targets.
“We’re not going for the glamour or the flagship stores. As a 100% franchise business, every store needs to make money so when we look at a site, we need to ensure that if you’re giving us money, that we can give that back to you.”
He added that making its menus more extensive has allowed the coffee chain’s customers “greater flexibility” and is driving its average transaction value.
Keegan said that Cooks Coffee’s growth is also opening the doors to new opportunities. “We have people coming to us now. A lot of grocers are getting out of their own café space, so if they have property adjacent, they also recognise that it’s a good bolt-on for both parties.”
”Our success is starting to give us the yield on that side of things in terms of relationships.”
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