Northern Ireland’s largest independently-owned coffee chain Ground Espresso Bars has announced a multimillion pound expansion plan which includes new stores in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland.
The latest stage in the company’s aggressive expansion plans will see three new stores open in the coming weeks in Northern Ireland, representing an investment of over £400,000 and creating more than 40 new full and part time jobs.
These new stand-alone sites include the old Pump House in Portadown, Laganbank Retail Park, Lisburn, and Victoria Square, Belfast.
The new stores will position a Ground in every county in Northern Ireland and bring the company’s total number of coffee shops to 23.
Further expansion will continue next year with two new stores in the pipeline for Dublin, a store in Newry and four already confirmed in Scotland, which will be in partnership with Next, with who Ground has been working with since 2014.
These new locations will see the company’s concessions with Next stores double in 2018.
A further four stand-alone Ground Espresso Bars are also planned for Scotland along with several new locations in Northern Ireland.
“This is a really exciting time for Ground as we embark on our second major expansion within three years,” said operations director Karen Gardiner.
“Our partnership with Next has gone from strength to strength over the last two years and we look forward to continued success and to expanding the Ground team further throughout the UK and Ireland.”
Ground currently employs over 250 staff across 20 stand-alone stores and concessions in Ireland which operate on ethically conscious principles using locally-sourced produce.
“We made a commitment when we opened our first store 16 years ago to provide the Northern Ireland public with high quality coffee and fresh homemade produce, and this has been testament to our success and in helping us build a loyal customer base,” said co-founder Darren Gardiner.
