The Department of Coffee and Social Affairs (DoCaSA), the speciality coffee shop concept, is set to open its biggest site yet, after securing its first site in the North, in Manchester.
The new site is located on the ground floor of Faulkner House, a 25,000sq ft building of serviced offices, in Manchester’s iconic Piccadilly Gardens area.
The new site, comprising nearly 3,000 square feet of space and offering 120 covers, will be the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs’ flagship store and barista training hub in the north of England.
It will also act as a co-work space for professionals, with hot desks, breakout spaces and meeting rooms available to rent by the hour.
DoCaSa chief executive Ashley Lopez, said: “We are thrilled to be opening in Manchester, a city with such a dynamic business and arts culture and one we have been looking to locate in for some time; this is the first of several planned site openings here.
“With 1.91 million professional freelancers in the UK, the increasing demand for flexible workspace is constantly growing. Manchester is no exception to the trend, and we are capitalizing on this demand by dedicating space in our new site to cater for those professionals who need alternative work space.”
The company recently updated its expansion pipeline for the next year, which will see it double in size to reach 22 sites.
The update followed the speciality coffee shop group’s 13th site and regional debut in Bristol’s Cabot Circus Shopping Centre, part of an overall ambition to reach 50 sites nationwide.
The group currently has three sites under construction and six in advanced negotiations, with all shops understood to be in prime locations or destination sites with high footfall.
The Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE-chaired group is a subsidiary of US-based holding company DOCASA, Inc.
As well as opening company-owned stores, the group is pursuing franchising and licensing of its branded shops outside the UK to countries where the premium coffee market is expanding.
