Caffè Nero

In 1997, Gerry Ford led a small group of investors in the purchase of 5 London coffee outlets.[3] Gerry Ford subsequently completely redesigned those units, introduced gourmet coffee/a new fresh food menu and brand identity, thereby establishing the Caffè Nero brand as recognized today.[4][5] At the same time the signature coffee house blend – Classico – was introduced, and has gone on to receive awards for its quality. The Classico blend is still served in every store today.[6][7]

Café in Warsaw, Poland, where it is branded as 'green Caffè Nero'

In March 2001 Caffè Nero joined the London Stock Exchange under the symbol CFN. In early 2007, the company was the subject of a management buy-out by the newly formed Rome Bidco Ltd and taken private.[8] Since 2007, the company expanded to Turkey in 2007, the UAE in 2009, Poland in 2012, Cyprus in 2013, and Ireland and the United States in 2014, Croatia in 2017, Oman in 2018 and Sweden.[9]

In 2013, Caffè Nero's coffee was rated best tasting among five major UK brands by experts at the independent consumer magazine Which?[10]

In June 2016, the Caffè Nero Group completed the purchase of the Harris + Hoole brand from Tesco which consisted of 43 sites,[11] and in January 2019 the Group expanded further by completing the purchase of the majority shareholding of the 100 strong coffee chain Coffee#1 located in Wales, South West England and the Midlands from SA Brains.[12] The deal gave Caffe Nero a 77% majority stake in the business. Then in February 2022, Caffe Nero completed the full acquisition of Coffee#1 by buying the remaining 33% of the business from SA Brains.[13]

In 2020, like many businesses in the hospitality sector, Caffè Nero suffered from poor trading conditions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the second lockdown in November 2020, the company proposed entering a company voluntary arrangement with its creditors.[14] Mr Ford's hope being that successful renegotiation of rent agreements with landlords, and a reduction in overall costs, would enable the company to rebuild its business when the pandemic ends.[15][16] The CVA vote by creditors held on 30th Nov 2020 was successful, with more than 90% of creditors voting in favour.[17] The CVA was approved the day after Caffè Nero confirmed it had rejected an unsolicited takeover approach from Mohsin and Zuber Issa, stating that the brothers had "clear intention" to disrupt the CVA "as a precursor to opportunistically acquiring the company at a later date."[17][18][19] The brothers are behind the EG Group.

In September 2021, the high court dismissed the challenge against the CVA, brought by a landlord with the backing of the Issa brothers, with Mr Justice Green ruling that the company had "acted in good faith, in accordance with their professional duties and reached a perfectly reasonable decision that it was not in the best interests of the creditors to postpone the CVA Process”.[20][21]

In January 2022, Caffe Nero completed a refinancing process worth £330m to give it a platform for future growth and development as well as the ability to resume its new store opening programme as the business continued its recovery from the effects of the Pandemic.[22][23]

Caffè Nero has not paid any corporation tax in the UK since 2007 on sales of £2 billion and has been subject to ongoing criticism,[24] although the BBC has reported that "there is no suggestion that Caffe Nero has done anything illegal" and that "Caffe Nero has previously rejected accusations that its complex corporate structure involving various holding companies is designed to avoid corporation tax."[24] Paul Monaghan, chief executive of the Fair Tax Mark campaign group, said the firm's tax arrangements were “parasitic” and “insulting to the intelligence of the British people”.[25]

A handful of the company's stores have either had planning permission controversies and/or enforcement action taken. One town accused Caffè Nero of "bully-boy tactics"[26] following the opening of several stores in the United Kingdom without the required planning permission. However, all 11 stores where there have been planning permission issues have subsequently been granted planning permission.

In May 2015, the company said that they will stop serving milk from farms in Gloucestershire's badger cull areas. On 29 May 2015, the company said: "Caffè Nero has instructed its partners supplying to stores which are situated around the cull zone areas to supply milk from farms outside of the zone."[27] On 7 July 2015, rats were videoed scurrying along the floor and counter in their Donegall Square West unit in Belfast, despite having previously been awarded a four out of possible five star rating by inspectors from Belfast City Council. Having been notified of the incident, the store was closed for a full investigation and has subsequently reopened; the source of the infestation was an adjacent disused building.[28] A 2017 study by the BBC found trace amounts of faecal bacteria in Caffè Nero's iced drinks, alongside those of Starbucks and Costa Coffee.[29]

In June 2018 Polish State Sanitary Inspectorate and media reported 63 adults and 10 children having been poisoned (21 of whom were hospitalized) after eating salmonella-contaminated cakes served in a number of Caffè Neros in Warsaw, Cracow and Wrocław.[30][31]

• List of coffeehouse chains

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Caffè Nero.

• Official website