Better latte BY Angus Shaw
than never
Thanks to his past, Umair Shafiq was primed to launch a restaurant business but his caffeine addiction convinced him to become an Esquires Coffee franchisee instead
U
mair Shafiq, franchisee of Esquires Coffee Maidstone, the coffee franchise, is decking his shop’s halls with holly and even looking at getting drinks to local shelters for Christmas. But Maidstone would be less jolly this year if Shafiq hadn’t stumbled upon the Esquires opportunity when he was looking for a way to utilise his hospitality experience.
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Indeed, being born into a family of restaurateurs made hospitality something of a destiny for Shafiq. “My father had his first restaurant in 1972 so we’ve actually just grown up in and amongst hospitality and catering industries,” he explains. “It’s like second nature to [me].” Whether it was just to hang out or gets hands on, once the bell rang after school Shafiq often made a break for his dad’s business. “If you grew up in a restaurant like you would do back in the 80s and 90s it becomes like a superpower that gets engraved into you,” he says. Shafiq couldn’t ignore his special abilities and set out to launch his own hospitality business. But he didn’t want to just follow in daddy’s footsteps and after countless hours of head scratching in coffee shops, he got an idea. “Obviously, I became addicted to coffee at one point while looking to form my next step,” Shafiq recalls. “I was always sat in coffee shops thinking for a long time and then realised, you know what, coffee is something I really want to do.” He found many parallels between coffee and
restaurant businesses he could apply his experience to. “Coffee shops [are] just another version of restaurants,” he says. “Although, with coffee shops it’s more all day every day.” But getting through the daily grind of running a coffee shop was a commitment he was prepared for. Interestingly, he didn’t start off with Esquires Coffee but actually began his journey by becoming a franchisee for BB’s Coffee & Muffins, the café franchise. Needless to say, he fell in love with franchising as a concept. “I understand the value of going to a brand with multiple stores across the nation,” Shafiq says. Still, eventually he and the chain decided to go their separate ways. But given he’d found his calling, deciding to stick to franchising was a no-brainer when considering his next step. And Shafiq had a certain type of coffee shop in mind. “I was thinking of launching one of the bricklaying, independent types of [cafes] where I used to always go,” he says. That criteria scratched many franchises off the list. But eventually, Shafiq stumbled upon Esquires Coffee Buckingham for a caffeine hit while it was going through a rebrand and was won over by the Canadian coffee chain. “As soon as I saw
30/11/2018 15:57