Black Sheep Coffee challenges Arabica dominance with specialty-grade Robusta beans  

Black Sheep Coffee has 115 stores globally. At locations in the UK, the UAE, the US, and France, it serves the world’s first specialty-grade Robusta beans. Co-Founder Gabriel Shohet sheds some light on the company’s exciting history: “My buddy Eirik and I met when we were roommates in college. After graduating, we got talking about starting a business together, and in the summer of 2013, we agreed to both quit our jobs on the same day and move to London to start a coffee company because we loved coffee and thought it could be a ton of fun to offer something truly different in this space.  

“We visited hundreds of coffee plantations across the globe and eventually launched the world’s first specialty-grade 100 percent Robusta in a world that was dominated by 100 percent Arabica. Because we were going totally against the market trend and challenged old-established ideas about Robusta, we quickly became the black sheep of the coffee industry, and Black Sheep Coffee was born. We only had £20,000 in savings to invest in our new venture, so the early days were tough. We had a trestle table and couldn’t afford to buy a coffee machine, so we rented an old second-hand one and set up a pop-up shop. Our famous Robusta Revival, with its higher caffeine content, lower acidity, higher protein levels, and nutty, chocolatey flavor notes, was a hit from day one, and we never looked back. To this day, it still accounts for more than 85 percent of our total coffee sales.  

“For two years, we were running pop-up stands in different market stalls every day of the week and slowly building a following of loyal customers. Eventually, we scraped enough money to build our first coffee shop and grew things from there. Today, Black Sheep operates across three continents, and we are the fourth-largest coffee company in the UK and the fastest-growing in net shop-opening terms.  

“Our focus is on delivering the best quality products, a great customer experience, and an unrivalled speed of service,” he continues. “The most important thing for us is to make sure we source the best beans in the world and hire the best baristas in town so that our coffee is always unquestionably the best wherever we open. Eirik and I still spend a great deal of time visiting coffee plantations all over the world, and we like to buy directly from the farmers we meet rather than using middlemen. We also care deeply about the look of our shops. Every Black Sheep Coffee has unique graffiti artwork painted by some of the world’s best street artists. Everything is raw art directly applied onto our walls, so nothing is ever printed, and you won’t see a single frame attached to our walls. Our menu includes our unique range of Norwegian waffles, the best açaí bowls money can buy, and a really cool range of matcha drinks made with pure ceremonial-grade matcha sourced directly from Japan.”  

Exponential expansion 

With a high level of consistency across its stores around the globe, Gabriel explains the small differences that are present in certain locations: “In separate markets, we make local adaptations. For instance, in the UAE, we are known for our za’atar croissants and our Arabian lattes that are only available in our Middle Eastern shops, and in the US, our drinks come in larger sizes.” 

Gabriel then goes on to explain the importance of research and development (R&D) for such an enterprise: “R&D is critical for us. Retail is all about being one step ahead of the game by constantly scrapping old ideas and implementing new ones, so we’re always looking for ways to improve our range. In the last year, the notable new launches were our matcha drinks range and our açaí bowls, but we’ve got some really exciting new stuff coming this summer, so watch this space!”  

After opening its first store in Ireland, Gabriel explains how the company approached the decision, as well as how it has impacted the business: “More so than the location, the important decision for Northern Ireland was to pick the right local partner. Lawrence Bannon is an incredible operator who is as passionate about Black Sheep Coffee as we are and who understands retail like no one else in Northern Ireland. As a result, our Donegall Square shop in the Pearl Assurance Building in Belfast has absolutely shattered all our forecasts and is delivering twice the sales that we had predicted in our business plan. It took us a couple of weeks to adapt to the higher-than-expected demand but waiting times have come down significantly now and are almost in line with the rest of the network, so we’re super excited about the upcoming openings in Ireland this year.”  

After signing a 30-year franchise agreement with the Al Farran Group, operations in the Middle East are also set to significantly expand. Gabriel explains: “There are 11 additional openings planned in the UAE alone this year.”  

Concluding, Gabriel highlights the company’s bold ambitions for the future: “Our goal is to rid the world of boring, average-tasting coffee, and to do that, we have to become the largest coffee company in the world. Whether it takes us five years, or ten, or even 15 isn’t as important to us as reaching that goal.”   

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