Artisan doughnut brand Dum Dum Donutterie will be investing £15,000 per site in upgrading its coffee offer. 

Founder Paul Hurley is in talks with three roasted coffee suppliers to pick the best fit before rolling out a “unique” coffee offer across its three UK sites and installing new equipment.

“It is a significant investment, with equipment for each store costing £15,000,” Hurley told British Baker. “We will begin the transition period at the start of May.

"We are looking at doing a much higher-end coffee, working with London coffee roasters, and we’ve narrowed it down to three suppliers. It will be a very high-end coffee as a point of difference – it is a very profitable segment.” Hurley hopes the move will generate a lot of coffee sales, as well as food.

“We didn’t want to go too unique without coffee at launch, as we wanted the focus to be on the doughnuts. It was expensive but it wasn’t artisan. We are reinvesting in the coffees we buy and where we source it from and also a huge amount in equipment.”

All new sites will incorporate the new coffee offer.

Expansion

Hurley has received “significant” interest from would-be franchisees and has just signed with business partners in Dubai for a first standalone site to launch in June or July, with a view to looking at in-mall sites in the future. An agreement is also close on what will be the group’s fourth permanent UK site in Brixton, with Camden and Soho to follow. There is also a pop-up site at Westfield Stratford.

“We don’t plan to be a franchise business, but if we find very good people to work with, we will with an exclusive number. Our business model is to make amazing products and amazing stores. If we can complement that with working alongside good people to showcase the brand, we will.”

The Dum Dum Donutterie company is just a year old and made its name by baking, not deep frying, its doughnuts.

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