Expansion with new café openings across the UK and Ireland

Cooks Coffee Company (NZX:CCC) the international coffee focused café chain, is pleased to announce a significant expansion in the number of cafés operating under the Company’s Esquires and Triple Two brands, representing expected growth of almost 10% in store numbers before the end of the year.

The Company’s Esquires chain, which had 50 UK cafés at the end of September 2022, has recently opened a new outlet in Islington, London, with a further three openings in towns in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, England, planned before the end of 2022. A further five store openings are currently scheduled in the UK in Q1 2023. In Ireland, Esquires will shortly have a new café operating in a Dublin suburb and a further opening is planned in County Carlow in Q1 2023, to add to the existing 15 Esquires cafés in Ireland.

The Company’s Triple Two brand is also focused on a significant number of expansion opportunities, having already doubled the number of Triple Two cafés in the last twelve months to 20, before these planned new launches. This month will see the launch of the first of Triple Two’s “Triple Two Go” vans, providing a mobile coffee outlet in the Manchester, UK, area. Additionally, five new stores are currently planned to be opened in London and the south of England before the end of 2022.

With these additional café openings Cooks Coffee’s total store count is expected to rise from 111 cafés across the UK, Ireland and the Middle East as at the end of September 2022 to over 120 by the end of 2022. Significant further expansion is anticipated, with the Company having a very healthy pipeline of additional opportunities in negotiation which are expected to see further stores opening in the first half of 2023.

As announced on 15 August 2022, Cooks Coffee is planning to dual list on the Aquis Growth Market in London in Q4 2022.

Keith Jackson, Executive Chairman of Cooks Coffee Company, said: “We are delighted with the recent performance of both our Esquires and Triple Two cafés as we continue to build a business of ethical coffee brands with community spirit. Building on our position as the fourth largest coffee focussed café chain in the UK (behind Starbucks, Costa and Caffé Nero), and the largest solely franchisor focused café chain in the UK and Ireland, we see considerable opportunities for further growth.

“The Cooks Coffee franchise model promotes individual entrepreneurship and local community engagement, which appears to be resonating both with people who want to partner with us to open new sites and existing franchisees looking to grow their businesses through innovative new offerings. Having emerged from the pandemic in a healthy position I believe Cooks Coffee is now poised for significant growth that will deliver value for our shareholders. I look forward to providing further updates in due course as we progress our planned dual listing on the Aquis Growth Market in London and continue to grow the business.”

Enquiries:

Cooks Coffee Company Limited
Keith Jackson (Executive Chairman)
+64 21 702 509 (New Zealand)
+44 (0) 20 3814 5627 (UK)
[email protected]

IFC Advisory Limited(Financial PR & IR)
Tim Metcalfe
Graham Herring
Florence Chandler
[email protected]
+44 (0) 20 3934 6630

VSA Capital Limited (Aquis Corporate Adviser & Broker)
Andrew Raca, Pascal Wiese (Corporate Finance)
Peter Mattsson (Corporate Broking)
+44 (0) 20 3005 5000


About Cooks Coffee

Cooks Coffee is an international coffee focused café chain building a family of brands serving coffee, a full range of complimentary beverages and an extensive range of food, all sharing a passionate philosophy to provide their communities with excellent products and service based on integrity, sustainability, innovation and appealing environments.

The Group operates under two brands: Esquires Coffee was founded nearly 30 years ago and Cooks Coffee acquired the global rights (excluding Australia and New Zealand), focusing on operations in the UK and Ireland in 2013. Triple Two Coffee was acquired in June 2020 and has an offering that is complementary to Esquires. Triple Two was founded in 2016 and it is currently one of the fastest growing coffee focused cafe brands in the UK.

With Esquires and Triple Two, Cooks Coffee has 111 outlets across the UK, Ireland and its international markets as at the end of September 2022.

To find out more, visit www.cookscoffeecompany.com

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