An Esquires Coffee franchisee has been able to open his second cafe, despite COVID-19 restrictions.
While many local cafes are suffering as people spend more time at home, Gurjit Randhawa’s Esquires Coffee branch on Dartford High Street, Kent has been performing well. Thanks to the Eat Out To Help Out scheme in August, the franchisee was able to continue with his expansion plans to open a second business.
Gurjit’s new cafe is larger than the first, and located just two miles away, in Crayford. When it first opened, employees at the original site kept things running smoothly so Gurjit could concentrate on the new outlet. In fact, he admitted,
"It has been easier running two than it has been running one.”
So far, Gurjit’s pleased with how many customers his new coffee shop franchise business is attracting,
“It was a fantastic start – I'm really happy it was taken by people, which is the main thing. When we started seeing the same faces over and over again, I knew I had done something right. Repeat customers make you feel confident you are doing it right."
Although the restrictions put in place for the pandemic have had negative implications for many coffee shops, Gurjit has noticed a growing number of young people working in his cafes:
“On any given morning we can have a dozen people here laptops open and working. There [are] so many people working from here we are actually going to make a corner designated to them."
He continued,
"This [pandemic] is going to be something we are going to be living with for a long time. Working trends have changed and we are looking at this and thinking... why not create a space for them?"
If the cafes continue to attract high numbers of customers, Gurjit has plans to expand further with additional Esquires Coffee branches.
Alice Tuffery, Point Franchise ©
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