Caffe Nero, the c.570-strong coffee chain led by Gerry Ford, is looking to ramp up its presence in out-of-town locations after the success of a couple of trial sites.
The group, which launched a new design format in Bluewater and its first office-based unit last year, recently opened a unit the new Whiteleys scheme in Hampshire and is on site for a further unit at Malvern shopping park.
The chain, which has appointed Space Retail Property Consultants to advise on its out-of-town rollout plans, is understood to be in legals on a couple of further units and in talks on several more.
It is looking for c.1,500sq ft sites.
Last year, the group reported a 4.7% rise in underlying profits for the year to 31 May 2012, and a 2.7% increase in like-for-like sales during 12 months in which it opened 51 new stores.
The company made EBITDA of £31.5m during the year, while revenue climbed 11.5% to £184.6m. Pre-tax profit rose 10.4% from £17.3m to £19.1m.
