Coffee Republic
Encyclopedia
Coffee Republic is a British coffee
bar and deli
franchise
chain founded in 1995.
Coffee Republic is founded by brother and sister team Bobby and Sahar Hashemi, opening its first site in London's
South Molton Street.
Coffee Republic Ltd. is founded in Greece by Kostas Dalakouras and partners and still operates in Horeca market all over Greece, providing gourmet coffee products and services. The company is Coffee Republic S.a. now and owns the national trademark for Greece.
Coffee Republic finds its feet and opens a further 7 stores in London and opens its first stores in Newcastle and Manchester.
The group enters the Alternative Investment Market
(AIM) by reversing into Arion Properties. The group grows to 24 branches after opening 17 new sites between March and November and has by now expanded beyond the capital to York, Birkenhead, Newcastle and Manchester.
July: Coffee Republic switches from AIM to the full list. At this point, it has 61 coffee bars and cafés and announces plans to open 80 more by 2002.
March: Hashemi steps down as chief executive, but continues as a non-executive director. He returns as executive chairman in the summer of 2002.
December: Coffee Republic buys the GoodBean coffee bar chain, gaining 12 outlets in south-east England and seven further sites under construction. The acquisition takes the group to 108 outlets.
In July, the group announces plans to halt its expansion programme, sell underperforming bars and launch a strategic business review as annual losses grow. A number of takeover talks ensue with easyGroup, Benjys and Caffè Nero but all offers are rejected. Coffee Republic sells 13 sites to Starbucks
and returns to an AIM listing.
August: Coffee Republic unveils a survival plan to convert itself into a New York-style deli-bar chain called Coffee Republic Deli and whittle its numbers down to a core of 50 outlets. It pilots the concept at Baker Street and Exchange Street in London.
June: Coffee Republic sells eight outlets in Cardiff
and southern England to Caffè Nero
.
November: The group signs its first franchise deal and ends the year with four franchised outlets. It intends to retain just 10 to 15 bars under company ownership.
October: Founder Bobby Hashemi is ousted in a shareholder revolt replaced as chairman by Peter Breach.
The company signs a franchise agreement, which will see the brand launched in Northern Ireland
, the Republic of Ireland
and also Turkey
.
June:
First bar opening in Bulgaria
in Burgas
.
July:
First bar opening in Turkey
in Istanbul
.
May: From 1 May, customers are offered free Wi-Fi
across the majority of UK coffee bar estate (10 minutes free then further access subject to purchase). The WiFi is supplied by CommsPort.
First bar opening in Malta
Airport.
June:
First bar opening in Romania
in Bucharest
.
July: Coffee Republic announces that Steven Bartlett, the former shareholder who ousted the company's founder, Bobby Hashemi, in October 2006, is to step down as chief executive.
August:
First bar opening in Kuwait
, in Kuwait City.
September: A contactless payment
trial launches, a new quick and easy way to pay for purchases of £10 and under using OneTouch payment.
December: A contactless loyalty card trial launches with sQuid.
January: First bar opening in Saudi Arabia
in Jeddah
.
July: The Company is placed into Administration in early July and trading in shares is suspended. At the end of July, following the closure of 18 Bars, Coffee Republic is bought out of administration by property firm Arab Investment Ltd. The new company trades as Coffee Republic Trading Ltd.
September: Coffee Republic announces that it has secured a deal to open the highest urban coffee shop in the UK, 300 m up on the observation deck of the Pinnacle building in London.
Greene King,
Cineworld
,
Ealing Londis,
Travelodge
,
Shell
,
Enterprise Inns
,
London Town Hotels.
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
bar and deli
Delicatessen
Delicatessen is a term meaning "delicacies" or "fine foods". The word entered English via German,with the old German spelling , plural of Delikatesse "delicacy", ultimately from Latin delicatus....
franchise
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
chain founded in 1995.
History
- 1995
Coffee Republic is founded by brother and sister team Bobby and Sahar Hashemi, opening its first site in London's
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
South Molton Street.
- 1996
Coffee Republic Ltd. is founded in Greece by Kostas Dalakouras and partners and still operates in Horeca market all over Greece, providing gourmet coffee products and services. The company is Coffee Republic S.a. now and owns the national trademark for Greece.
- 1997
Coffee Republic finds its feet and opens a further 7 stores in London and opens its first stores in Newcastle and Manchester.
- 1998
The group enters the Alternative Investment Market
Alternative Investment Market
AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....
(AIM) by reversing into Arion Properties. The group grows to 24 branches after opening 17 new sites between March and November and has by now expanded beyond the capital to York, Birkenhead, Newcastle and Manchester.
- 2000
July: Coffee Republic switches from AIM to the full list. At this point, it has 61 coffee bars and cafés and announces plans to open 80 more by 2002.
- 2001
March: Hashemi steps down as chief executive, but continues as a non-executive director. He returns as executive chairman in the summer of 2002.
December: Coffee Republic buys the GoodBean coffee bar chain, gaining 12 outlets in south-east England and seven further sites under construction. The acquisition takes the group to 108 outlets.
- 2002
In July, the group announces plans to halt its expansion programme, sell underperforming bars and launch a strategic business review as annual losses grow. A number of takeover talks ensue with easyGroup, Benjys and Caffè Nero but all offers are rejected. Coffee Republic sells 13 sites to Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
and returns to an AIM listing.
- 2003
August: Coffee Republic unveils a survival plan to convert itself into a New York-style deli-bar chain called Coffee Republic Deli and whittle its numbers down to a core of 50 outlets. It pilots the concept at Baker Street and Exchange Street in London.
- 2004
June: Coffee Republic sells eight outlets in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
and southern England to Caffè Nero
Caffè Nero
Caffè Nero or Caffè Nero Group Ltd is an Italian-style coffee shop chain primarily based in the UK. It was founded in 1997 in London as the Caffe Nero Group by Gerry Ford...
.
- 2005
November: The group signs its first franchise deal and ends the year with four franchised outlets. It intends to retain just 10 to 15 bars under company ownership.
- 2006
October: Founder Bobby Hashemi is ousted in a shareholder revolt replaced as chairman by Peter Breach.
- 2007
The company signs a franchise agreement, which will see the brand launched in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and also Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
June:
First bar opening in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
in Burgas
Burgas
-History:During the rule of the Ancient Romans, near Burgas, Debeltum was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian. In the Middle Ages, a small fortress called Pyrgos was erected where Burgas is today and was most probably used as a watchtower...
.
July:
First bar opening in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
.
- 2008
May: From 1 May, customers are offered free Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
across the majority of UK coffee bar estate (10 minutes free then further access subject to purchase). The WiFi is supplied by CommsPort.
First bar opening in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
Airport.
June:
First bar opening in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
.
July: Coffee Republic announces that Steven Bartlett, the former shareholder who ousted the company's founder, Bobby Hashemi, in October 2006, is to step down as chief executive.
August:
First bar opening in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, in Kuwait City.
September: A contactless payment
Contactless payment
Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smartcards or other devices which use RFID for making secure payments. The embedded chip and antenna enable consumers to wave their card or fob over a reader at the point of sale. Some suppliers claim that transactions can be...
trial launches, a new quick and easy way to pay for purchases of £10 and under using OneTouch payment.
December: A contactless loyalty card trial launches with sQuid.
- 2009
January: First bar opening in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
in Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
.
July: The Company is placed into Administration in early July and trading in shares is suspended. At the end of July, following the closure of 18 Bars, Coffee Republic is bought out of administration by property firm Arab Investment Ltd. The new company trades as Coffee Republic Trading Ltd.
September: Coffee Republic announces that it has secured a deal to open the highest urban coffee shop in the UK, 300 m up on the observation deck of the Pinnacle building in London.
Branches
| Country | Bars | Concessions | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | 98 | 149 | |
| 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| TOTAL | 68 | 99 | 165 |
Concession Partners
Coffee Republic has 99 Concessions operated by 7 partners:Greene King,
Cineworld
Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc is a cinema chain operating in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Jersey. The chain consists of 78 cinemas; 76 of which are located in the UK and one each in Ireland and Jersey. It is the second-largest cinema operator in the UK with 801 screens, and the owner of...
,
Ealing Londis,
Travelodge
Travelodge UK
Travelodge Hotels Limited is a private company operating in the hotels and hospitality industry throughout the United Kingdom. Branded simply as Travelodge or Travelodge UK, it is the second largest in the budget hotel sector and third biggest hotel chain in the UK by number of bedrooms...
,
Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
,
Enterprise Inns
Enterprise Inns
Enterprise Inns Plc is a UK leased and tenanted pub company, headquartered in Solihull, West Midlands in the United Kingdom.-History:Enterprise Inns was founded by Ted Tuppen in 1991, initially with 368 pubs from Bass...
,
London Town Hotels.