Second Cup Coffee Company, the Canadian chain, is planning to open 500 UK sites in the next 10 years.
The retailer, which will open its third site in Birmingham in the next few months, is to open in Cardiff and Putney High Street, London, by the end of the year. A site in Harrow will open in January.
It is currently in talks with Birmingham Airport, Manchester Airport and London Underground with a view to further site roll-out.
The company, which is the largest speciality coffee retailer in Canada, with 345 sites, will expand across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by using a range of area developers. It has already signed up seven area developers who each pay a £50,000 fee for the rights. Second Cup will operate the roll-out via 35 regions across the UK.
European franchise director Jon Cullen said: “We work with an area developer who will open a minimum of five stores over a period of five years.”
Second Cup is looking for a range of sites from kiosks at around 200sq ft to anything up to 2,000sq ft, including multiple levels. Cullen admitted that it was a “challenge” to find the right sites and locations with affordable rents. But he predicted this would get easier as the roll-out continued and the brand became more well-known.
He told British Baker that Second Cup was a “different” offer than other coffee chains as it sells a wide variety of products and a has large food range. It has a broad range of patisseries, teas, 10 different coffees and a smoothie and yoghurt range, in addition to the usual offers such as paninis.
He said feedback on the first two stores in Manchester and London’s Portobello Road had been “really good and really positive”.
“Manchester is on budget while London’s Portobello Road is trading above budget,” he said.
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