Coffee 1


Coffee#1 is a British coffee house chain that originated in Cardiff, Wales in 2000, and since 2019 has been majority owned by Caffè Nero. Coffee#1 has outlets along the M4 corridor, with others in Wales and southern England.

History

Coffee #1 was started by a board of directors consisting of David Jones, from Bargoed in Wales, Maryanne Tagney from Bristol and Anthony Shapland, also from Bargoed. Later, James Shapland was hired as manager and ran the company until it was sold in 2011. Jones and Tagney remained the owners until that sale took place.
Coffee#1 opened its first coffee shop in 2001 on Wood Street, Cardiff. By 2011 the company had 15 outlets across South Wales and South West England and had twice won the Cafe Society's Coffee Bar Chain of the Year award.
In the autumn of 2011, Coffee#1 was bought by the Cardiff brewery company SA Brain, who wished to diversify from their pub business. The move was seen as a symptom of the tough trading conditions in the beer market. Brains had previously had Costa Coffee outlets in several of its pubs.
In 2013 another nine outlets were added and in 2014 sales grew by 55%. In April 2015 the company opened their 50th outlet, in Fareham, Hampshire, giving them a total workforce of 380. At the end of 2015 the chain included 57 coffee shops across Wales and parts of southern and central England. The company planned to open another 15 in 2016.
In mid-2018, SA Brain announced that they wished to sell a majority stake in Coffee#1, after a strategic review. In January 2019, Caffè Nero bought a 70% stake in the business, which at that time had 92 outlets.