Loungers, the Piper-backed cafe bar operator, is looking to expand its Cosy Club concept into Manchester, Bristol and Southampton as it reports a 6% rise in like-for-like sales in the 26 weeks to the end of October.
Year-on-year sales for the period were up 58.9% to £15.2m, said the company, which opens its 12th site of 2013 and its 41st overall next week in Truro, Cornwall. It’s understood the group is looking to ramp up the expansion of its six-strong Cosy Club format, which is believed to be performing strongly.
Loungers, which is targeting 15 openings in 2014 and is understood to have agreed deals on the majority already, is looking to secure deals on Cosy Club sites in Manchester, Bristol and Southampton as part of its growth pipeline.
Cosy Club was developed by Loungers to go into market towns and to appeal to a more female audience.
It’s understood to be negotiating on a further two sites in the Manchester area.
Anticipated 2014 openings include Glossop, two in Brighton, Torquay, Shirley (Birmingham), Letchworth, Chippenham, Witney, & Kettering, all of which will open as Lounge cafe/bars.
Alex Reilley, Loungers managing director, said: “Truro is a great city and we’re extremely excited to be opening such a cracking site there. This year has seen us successfully deal with another step change in growth and 2013 has proved to be another exceptional year of openings for us. We’re looking to up the ante again in 2014 with 15 openings targeted and we remain very much on track to hit 90 sites by 2017.”
The Truro site is the groups’ first site in Cornwall and occupies a 4,800sq ft former building society on Princes Street. Loungers has invested £525k converting the two-storey property to provide 130-covers internally and a further 60-covers to a first floor roof terrace.
