NAIROBI – The premier local café-restaurants and bakeries operator Artcaffe has confirmed the sealing of a long-term joint venture project with C. Dorman Limited.
The joint venture project, will involve the acquisition and management by Artcaffe of specific Dormans Coffee Houses, which will continue trading as “Dormans”.
The Artcaffe group which was hard-hit by the Westgate Terrorist attack last September will also be seeking to grow its existing human resource base of 500 staff significantly by retaining more than 400 new staffers this year following this transaction.
Speaking when they confirmed the joint venture project, Artcaffe Managing Director, Mr Sagi Vaknin, and his C Dorman Coffee Ltd counterpart, Mr Jeremy Block, disclosed that the firm would continue running the popular Dormans Coffee houses at strategic locations including the Village Market, Crossroads Karen, Junction Mall, AirKenya lounge at Wilson Airport and more.
The project between Artcaffe and C. Dorman Ltd, Vaknin disclosed, had been, inspired by the two organisations mutual commitment to raise the local retail restaurant standards and provide employment for our youth.
“For this reason, we have entered into this project which will allow the Artcaffe restaurateur excellence and experience to meet with the undisputed over 60 years’ excellence, heritage and expertise of Dormans in the coffee industry,” Vaknin said.
And added: “this is an exciting opportunity to refresh the Dormans coffee house brand and further raise the customer experience standards while maintaining the great quality coffee Dormans always had.”
Mr Jeremy Block, a 3rd generation Kenyan, wished to clarify that he purchased the shares from ED&F Man, over four years ago, and is now the majority shareholder of C. Dormans Ltd.
While describing the opportunities’ ahead as immense, C. Dorman proprietor, Jeremy Block, welcomed the joint venture programme with Artcaffe.
Already, Artcaffe has embarked on the operational development planning processes that will involve the redesigning of Dormans outlets, refreshing of the menu and upgrading of the décor and customer experience.
Within the wider investment and expansion programmes for both Artcaffe and Dormans, Vaknin further confirmed that plans are at an advanced stage to open parallel outlets at The Oval, a new commercial complex in Nairobi opposite Ukay Centre.
Artcaffe will open a 250-seater restaurant along the buildings patio terrace while a Dormans Coffee outlet will be at the buildings atrium.
“This underlines our strong commitment to continue building the economy and providing employment, despite our difficulties and setbacks following the Westgate incident last September. We are still recovering from the losses but are determined to push forward into a greater future, and this project is a significant step towards reaching our goals,” Vaknin said
Source: press release
