The Art of Coffee, which Ukrainian entrepreneur Ruslan Mocharskyy founded in 2009 in Dublin, is opening up a 15th branded outlet at the city’s Spencer Place in the coming weeks. It is also looking into opening another outlet in a large shopping centre in south Dublin.
Mocharskyy, who owns seven of the cafes with the remainder franchised, said the Art of Coffee brand was continuing to grow. The new outlet on Spencer Place will be franchise-owned and cover two floors with room for up to 70 customers.
“It is a big place,” he said of the new cafe. “It is a brand-new build.”
Asked about the offering at the new Art of Coffee outlet, Mocharskyy said they try to do the same everywhere but with some “slight differences”.
“In the north, we sell ham and cheese toasties, but in the south, we sell Serrano ham and cheese,” he said with a laugh.
Mocharskyy said Art of Coffee’s centralised kitchen bolstered its offering over some rivals.
“I am not dependent on any suppliers,” he said of his food offering. “Most of the products we have in the fridges are made by our chefs.
“For example, the sausage rolls, we sell thousands and thousands of them a week. Every single one is made by hand in the kitchen. We can experiment, we can make different recipes.”
Coffee bean costs have soared over the past few years, but Mocharskyy has managed to shield The Art of Coffee from some of the worst rises. His supplier has been able to secure his prices for two years.
Mocharskyy was coy on numbers regarding further expansion but he said there were growth opportunities amid turbulence in the sector.
“You have to be careful with sites,” he said. “My criteria prior to Covid and after Covid on locations is different now as well.”
Factors like whether nearby offices offer free coffee in-house or what a neighbouring company’s working-from-home policies are can be decisive, he said.
“You have to do a bit more research than before to make a final decision as to whether it will be a good site or not. Now, in town, a bit of a mix of offices, residential and some shops nearby is the perfect combination for me at the moment.”
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