That was the question posed to Doug Williamson, one of the original founders of Esquires Coffee, now CEO of Esquires Coffee UK. Anne Drdul reports
Haha, maybe the next Charles Shulz,” he laughs. “I’m flattered by the question, but it’s probably more of a juxtaposition than a comparison. We in the coffee industry owe pretty much everything we have to Starbucks. Anyone who claims otherwise is probably not being completely honest with themselves.”
[Pausing, almost uncomfortably] “I can’t drink Starbucks any more,” Doug confesses. “My tastes are more bohemian. There is so much inspiration to be garnered from one of the thousands of indie coffee shops in the UK, so that’s where I typically spend my time.
“It’s strange, when I was back home in Vancouver, Starbucks was pretty much my go-to spot.”
“Sure,” Doug chuckles, almost as if he’s happy to get this question out of the way early.
“I founded Esquires Coffee with a high school friend in 1992. We opened 37 stores in Canada, mainly on the West Coast, and we were pretty happy with that. The lifestyle was good for a couple of 23 year olds. We had a great mentor, who kept driving us though.
“Starbucks entered the UK in 1998 and when we were approached around the same time to see if we would be interested in expanding in that region, we had to go for it. We expanded into the UK in 2000 and then into Ireland in 2001. We expanded into New Zealand in 2005. We have stores in 11 countries last count, with many more to come.”
“It’s not silly at all. It’s probably the best question anyone could ask, because it’s honest.
“I think the key to our success and growth is twofold. Our shops were incredibly hip because we had a true artist design them. We were ‘indie’ long before indie was cool. Secondly, we were innovators in terms of delivering a dynamic customer experience.
“We were truly honoured that people chose to buy stuff from us and we treated our customers like we actually cared about them. We made people feel good about themselves. It was genuine, too.”
“Well, Vancouver weather is really not that much better. I travelled to the UK extensively back in the early 2000s. I love everything about the British culture - the diversity, the sense of humour, the self deprecation, the theatre scene, the pub culture, the architecture - I could go on. It feels like home here.”
“I have to say it was not easy - not at all in the first year. I underestimated the cultural differences between North America and the UK. The way of doing business in the UK is very different.”
“Things are completely different now. Most of our estate has been rebranded and renovated. We have one of the best beverage menus in the market.
We’re about to launch a new brunch menu and are just finishing the final touches on our new EPOS system and loyalty scheme. We are here to do some amazing things and we’re not going to give up until the job is done.”
“Costa are the Goliaths in the UK. But I do see a day where consumers begin to draw the line. People, generally, don’t like being devoided of choice.”
Our interview takes place over two days, first in a greasy spoon diner near his offices in Fulham. Doug says he loves the unpretentiousness of the place. He says he admires the people who own and run the cafe. “Salt of the earth folks,” he claims. I can tell he feels comfortable here and I have to self confess a noticeable lack of judgement myself.
The next interview takes place in Bradford, where Esquires has just opened its latest shop. The store looks stunning. Every detail has been attended to, but it’s more of a raw precision. The menu is vast. The food offer is on trend. There’s definitely something special to this place.
It doesn’t look or feel that much like a chain, it’s far closer to an ‘indie’ café.
“It begins with a vision and that vision is why I’m here. We have an absolute guru leading our global branding and positioning. His name is John MacDonald. John’s like this super cool hippie. It’s impossible not to love this guy, he’s the real deal.”
“If our aspirations were to be the number one brand, we would certainly be nervous. Our focus is on finding great franchise partners and making sure they make money. We have to find the right people and put them into the right properties at the right rents.”
“Absolutely. We aren’t a high street brand and this will sound strange, but I don’t want us to be seen as a high street brand. Our franchise partners are in business to make a profit at the end of the day, not to pay landlord mortgages.
“You have to be prepared to take a wider position in the market and grow towards the centre of the target.
In a few years we hope to have 100 stores and if we aren’t seen as a high street brand I view this as an excellent execution of our plan.”
“Our focus is on branding the customer experience and being really important to the people that honour us by spending their hard earned money in our shops. We’re not interested in being the supermodel of the coffee sector - we want to be the cute, fun and quirky brand that makes people feel good about themselves.”
“That’s just a small part of branding the customer experience. Coffee houses have become the office for many people today. They’re the study hall too. Coffee houses have always been a great meeting place. The environment needs to respect today’s lifestyle and technology is a huge part of our everyday life.”
“Right now our focus is on finding great operators. They could be a single store or a multi-store operator. We have some excellent programmes; we’re making Esquires an extremely attractive investment.”
“We’re more focused on the right locations within each region and franchise partners dictate where we go, to a large extent.
“We’re looking for master license and area developers for Scotland and Wales. We’re exploring relationships with investment groups who are looking to add a special coffee partner to their portfolio and we’re speaking with several large retailers about cobranding or adding Esquires to their schemes. We’re prepared to wait until we find partners that share our vision.”
And with that, Doug politely excuses himself and he’s off. I sit back, polish off the rest of my cheesecake and decide to flip open my laptop, plug it in and settle in for a few hours of bliss.