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