Esquires Coffee to open six Dublin outlets in 2016
Print5 April 2016
The Esquires chain of franchised coffee stores is planning to open six outlets in Dublin this year at a cost of €1.5 million, in a move that will create more than 70 jobs.
The first of the six stores opened on O’Connell Street in March, in a premises adjacent to the Savoy Cinema, at a cost of €200,000. Founded in Vancouver in 1993, Esquires is now owned by Cooks Global Food Group which is based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Tony McVerry, Esquires’ MD for Ireland, said five further Dublin openings would follow in 2016, including a second on O’Connell Street. In 2015 the group opened three stores in Eyre Square, Galway, Mullingar and Navan.
McVerry believes there is currently “a gap in the Dublin market for high-quality take-out food” and hence the new outlets will “have a particular focus on take-out food”. Although he concedes that the Dublin market is already busy in this sector, with “quite a number of coffee bars and sandwich chains offering this service in the capital”, he says Esquires’ “commitment to offering our customers good healthy, hearty food” has proved successful over the years, noting: “It’s made fresh on the day and that’s the big attraction for customers.” Esquires also only serves 100% Organic Fairtrade coffee that is ethically sourced, which he says, “our customers very much identify with”.
Currently there are nine Esquires Coffee outlets in Ireland, in O’Connell Street, Dublin, Galway, Mullingar, Longford, Navan, Drogheda, Clonmel, Carrick-on-Shannon and in Airside Retail Park in Swords. Nationally, the plan is for Esquires Coffee to expand its Irish chain from the current nine outlets to 15-17 in 2016 and 25 by the end of 2017. They believe independent coffee house operators might be interested in converting their stores to a recognised international brand; they have also been approached by a hotel group to operate a chain of in-house coffee concessions.
McVerry adds: “We believe that the brand has succeeded here due to Esquires’ emphasis on community-based coffee stores, owned by local operators – it’s what distinguishes our stores from corporate chains.”
With 86 stores around the world at present, Esquires says the company’s vision is to become the world’s leading organic and Fairtrade coffee retailer and aims to have 800 stores globally by 2020.
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