SOHO Coffee enters joint venture with CH&Co Group
SOHO Coffee Co. has entered into a joint venture with CH&Co Group, centred on the contract caterer's Apostrophe café chain.
The coffee firm has acquired the Apostrophe sites, which will continue to trade under the existing brand for the foreseeable future.
The venture provides CH&Co Group with a Master Franchise Agreement (MFA), which will enable the company to include SOHO as part of its portfolio offering to clients.
Chris Copner, chairman, SOHO Coffee Co., said: "We're very excited to align ourselves with a catering brand of the quality of CH&Co Group. This deal is the perfect opportunity for both parties to help each other grow. It immediately gives SOHO a top quality London portfolio to build on and gives CH&Co Group exclusive access to a rapidly growing, and increasingly international, quality food and coffee brand that will create opportunities and leverage sales in the contract catering arena."
Bill Toner, CEO of CH&Co Group, added: "We've been watching SOHO's growth and development with interest in recent years and they are definitely a company to watch. We're proud to be working together on this venture.
"The joint venture is a good cultural fit and both companies have complimentary expertise; the team at Apostrophe will gain from opportunities that the wider exposure to a quality international brand like SOHO will bring and the customer experience will be enhanced further too."
He said CH&Co expects to open around 10 SOHO outlets a year within contract catering environments.
SOHO first opened in 1999 and has stores across the retail, travel, leisure and healthcare sectors in the UK.
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