A new look – same great quality

The Esquires Coffee franchise chain is on the move with a planned rebrand and refurbishment programme and increased focus on acquiring more great locations. After being acquired by New Zealand owned Cooks Global Foods in October last year, Esquires Coffee (UK) is set for rapid expansion throughout the UK, as well as in new and existing global markets.

The brand is already established in Canada, Ireland, The Middle East, New Zealand, Australia and China, where the Beijing-based Master Franchisee has just opened their fourteenth store. Esquires Coffee has ambitious plans for growth, with a conservative goal of operating at least 400 stores across the globe by 2020.

Esquires Coffee currently operates 24 stores in the UK, from Worthing on the South Coast to the historical City of Durham in the North East. Each location serves as a hub for its local community, offering its customers 100 per cent Fairtrade and Organic coffee in a comfortable and modern setting.

Globally, Esquires Coffee is embracing a refreshed store design concept to capture the local environment, while at the same time conforming to the criteria of an international premium branded coffee house. Every UK store will a undergo rebranding and refurbishment over the course of the next 18 months, in order to introduce a new warmer colour palette of orange and brown neutral tones. This is designed to create a cosier, more welcoming environment for customers to enjoy their coffee.

The brand has recently re-welcomed Doug Williamson to its UK headquarters as the new General Manager. Doug is one of the original co-founders of Esquires Coffee, which was established in Canada in 1993. After leaving Esquires Canada in 2002, Doug has achieved success in running his own Marketing Agency in Vancouver, in which he is still a partner. He is extremely passionate about the brand and is excited about elevating the company to the next level in its development as a major player in the UK’s vibrant coffee scene.

As well as the appointment of Doug Williamson, the company has also recently hired Peter Wudy, who will be responsible for Business Development. Peter began his franchising career in the late 1980s and over the last three decades has worked within a number of franchise organisations in different sectors, both nationally and globally. He went on to form a full service franchise consultancy company, Franchise Group Ltd., within which he assisted evolving companies in building their brands using start to finish strategy formats.

Peter also has a history with Esquires Coffee, converting its single store into a whole franchise model, driving the expansion of the chain from a small start up to a thriving Canadian and international operation. Peter’s spell with Esquires Coffee saw him selling the Master Franchise to Stuart Deeks, who today holds the role of Executive Director of Business Development for Esquires Coffee International.

Peter is understandably pleased to back with the Esquires group and looks forward to utilising his expertise and passion for the brand, and to being part of the next chapter of Esquires advancement within the UK market.

Esquires Coffee will also feature a new logo going forward with the tag line ‘Great Coffee Helps™’; the philosophy the brand lives and breathes, through its charity commitments to Fairtrade, Coffee Kids and Project Waterfall. Esquires Coffee donates 10p from every bottle of water sold to Project Waterfall, a charity that helps give access to clean and safe water to communities in rural Africa. Coffee Kids is a charity that works with coffee growing families in South America to help them become more self-sufficient. Esquires Coffee donates a percentage of coffee bean purchases to help this charity and also has collection boxes in every store for those customers who would also like to donate to this incredibly worthy cause.

In addition to its aforementioned efforts, Esquires’ bfa ‘Young Franchisee of the Year’ Steven Prime (Esquires Coffee Coventry) is also cycling from Seattle to Los Angeles this August to raise money for Coffee Kids. The brand also encourages their franchisees to support local charities and organisations. This can be through efforts including sponsoring local sports teams and hosting charity coffee mornings. This helps to cement Esquires Coffee’s status as the brand that cares about the community in which it operates.

Esquires is looking for people who share their vision and are seeking to recruit people who wish to benefit from their tried and tested business model. Franchise owners are given hands on assistance every step of the way. Each franchise owner completes a two-week comprehensive training programme, including one week of in-store operations practice and another week of corporate guidance, which takes place at Esquires head office. Esquires Coffee helps with ensuring the franchise owner secures the right location, with the training and recruitment of their staff, as well as launching and marketing the store throughout.

Investment in your very own Esquires Coffee franchise owner will cost between £150-£265K ,dependent on location and size. Esquires is currently looking for territory licencees, and single and multi-store franchise owners in locations all over the UK. Single sites carry a Franchisee Fee of £19,500 + VAT while multi-store investors can expect to pay a fee of only £12,500 + VAT for subsequent sites.