unLTD’s Phil Turner sat down for a bite to eat with Cawa Coffee’s Business Development Manager Deon Jacobs, to chart the Sheffield-based cafe brands rise from a single Broomhill shop to a chain of cafes and kiosks across the region, as well as their plans for rebrands, new brands and franchise models…
Hi Deon, can you give us the lowdown on the rise of Cawa Coffee?
The two co-founders opened their first spot in Broomhill in April 2017, which is actually when I first met them. I was driving home one night and popped into the bakery and they had the most amazing cruffins. Soon enough, they had queues around the block, especially in the morning when the sourdough came out. The sourdough is really special and uses a starter that dates back to the 1990s, in Ukraine.
They then decided to move into bigger premises because obviously it was just far too small. They found these premises and moved here six months later but kept the old place around the corner for the bakery side of things.
But, again, it got to a point where it was just not big enough. They then decided to open on Division Street, and moved into a more bespoke, 25,000 sq ft bakery near Meadowhall.
They then started selling their products on Amazon, under a brand called Westbourne, and became the number one selling sourdough on Amazon. It’s a very, very good product and the reviews are excellent.
Moving on from there, we opened in Chesterfield and Chesterfield Train Station in 2021, as well as Nottingham Train Station in 2022 and most recently in Meadowhall, in August this year.
How did you become involved and what’s your role in the business?
After that first visit, I became friends with the co-owners and stayed in touch. My background is merchant services, so I was going out to see hotels, coffee shops and restaurants, and I would take their samples, more as a favour, because I try to help people, that’s how I work.
Then a couple of month’s ago, they asked me to join forces with them because they’d got to a point where they needed somebody that could look after the business development side of things. They’re focus is on getting the products right and are directly involved with the baking. They love that side of it.
When the business was first set up, they used to go out during the day and find new business and then come back at night and bake. They were working 18 - 20 hours a day.
A lot of time and love goes into the process. For instance, we use only French flour and butter for our pastries, and I think that does make a difference
We now employ 84 people and we’ve got a really good, steady team. Most of them have been with us two or three years, so they really know their stuff, but we have big plans and lot’s more capacity. My role is developing plans for a franchise model and getting involved with the local communities, especially to make Broomhill a really vibrant destination.
Can you tell us more about the franchise model?
This came about just a few weeks ago. We opened Meadowhall, and it’s a lovely spot, but we don’t have enough space to bring in all the products. The two co-founders sat down and thought, how can we change the business? They decided to go down the route of only selling croissants with different fillings and coffees.
So that’s now become La Croissanterie, and that brand will be rolled out to train stations and service stations around the country. We’re already looking at Derby, Leicester, St Pancreas, Leeds and Sheffield.
By only selling croissants and coffee, we’re not going to please everybody, but if you look at brands like Subway, for instance, all they do is sandwiches and that works for them. Another thing which attracts a lot of people to us is our coffee. We import the coffee and we roast it ourselves. It’s really good quality coffee.
Division Street will be rebranded as La Croissanterie in the next few weeks, as we develop and create the franchise brand.
It sounds like you’re being kept busy – what’s next?
Nextdoor to the Broomhill coffee shop, in the old bank, we’re going to open La Reserve. That will open in the next few weeks, in the afternoon and into the early evening, serving afternoon teas, lunches, and Mediterranean food.
We’ll have a pizza oven, but the menu will incorporate food from across the Mediterranean, from Lebanon and North Africa to France and Spain, and there’ll be wine and cocktails. We also used to hold jazz nights and people really liked that, but the space just wasn’t big enough, so we’ll hold those in La Reserve.
It will be our first proper restaurant and wine bar, open early evening for people on their way home. We want to try and turn this area into a food hub again, and a bit of a destination.
In terms of going forward, we see Cawa as a coffee shop brand that could work in city centres across the country. La Croissanterie will become a franchise brand and we hope to have about 35 in the next 18 months.
Where we ate: CAWA
Me and Deon had lunch at CAWA in Broomhill, a hotspot for great coffee, bakes and pastries. They are famed for their flavour combinations, some of which are pretty unlike any you’ll see elsewhere so we both went for their hugely popular fish finger croissant, washed down with an Oat Milk Latte. It’s open 8am-6pm Monday to Saturday and 9am-5pm Sunday.
Find them at:
253 Fulwood Road
Broomhill
S10 3BD
www.cawa.coffee
