Blah, blah, Black Sheep
This weekend marks the first birthday of the Black Sheep Coffee ‘coming soon’ hoardings going up at Telford Shopping centre.
There’s quite a buzz around a new coffee shop that isn’t a Costa, so here at Telford Live, we were getting quite excited. So why has this gone cold?
To put it simply – we don’t know. Town Centre management have offered a short statement with nothing to add. Black Sheep didn’t even respond.
One Telford Live contributor did spot that the site had popped up on a popular commercial property website. The prime corner location is attracting a rent of £65k, or 7% of gross turnover, whichever is higher. That’s the first fifty cups of coffee gone right there.
Add on business rates at around £20k a year, plus a £22k service charge, you are looking at around £2k a week, just to open the doors.
If you want to stick with the Black Sheep brand, then according to their website, you can expect to pay £350k to £450k for a fit out, have £100k for working capital, plus a franchise fee for the rights to use the brand, although some bank funding may be available.
While this seems like a lot, in 2021 a Costa Franchisee in the South with 124 stores posted a turnover of just under £300k per store. Is there a profit in there for you?
Pic: Telford Live
I contacted Black Sheep Coffee a couple of times over the months to ask for an update on their proposed Telford branch but got no response. I spoke to one of the ladies at the information desk in the Town Centre today and was told there will be no Black Sheep Coffee for us. The company took on too many projects apparently and have decided not to move forward with a branch in Telford.