Member Article

Costa Coffee franchisee sets sights on £20m turnover

Northern franchisee, Sim Trava, plans to become a £20m business by 2018 as part of an aggressive growth strategy supported by HSBC.

The business – which owns and operates numerous outlets of Costa Coffee and healthy fast-food chain Pita Pit across the North of England, including six stores in the North East, plans to create an additional 60 local jobs throughout 2016 in anticipation of hitting its 30th store milestone before the end of the year. The first of these came earlier this month as it opened its 25th Costa Coffee outlet in Stretford, creating 10 local roles.

Headed up by husband and wife team Simon and Tracy Vardy, Sim Trava currently employs 300 people, with plans to take this to 400 in the next 12 months.

The business has experienced steady financial growth over the past few years, with turnover hitting £10.1 million in 2015, up from £8.3 million in 2014, and £6.8m in 2013. Capital investment was over £1m in 2015, which helped build four new stores and refurbish three existing ones.

The business’ expansion plans are being supported by a total funding package of £5.2 million from HSBC, who Sim Trava has worked with for the past six years.

Commenting on the business’ growth plans, Tracy Vardy, director at Sim Trava, said:

“Sim Trava is an incredibly ambitious business, so we do have huge growth plans in place over the next few years. We’ve gone from operating out of our house with a single franchise in 2004, to operating 25 Costa Coffees and two Pita Pits across Northern England.

“Our people are our most important asset so we’ll continue to employ local, ambitious people who display the right attributes and characteristics to fit in here at Sim Trava. We’re extremely excited as we enter our next phase of growth and can’t wait to see what the next few years bring.”

For more information about Sim Trava, please visit www.simtrava.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Deeny .