Starbucks UK franchise partner 23.5 Degrees is aiming to open 220 new sites in the next six years, as it prepares to open its 80th location, in Norfolk, later this week.
The firm is planning to reach a store count of 100 in 12 months. During the pandemic, it opened seven drive-thrus in 2020, including one in Canvey Island in Essex and one in Peterlee, County Durham.
Its opening on Hardwick Road in King’s Lynn on Friday (26 March) will give the town its first Starbucks drive-thru. It will create 25 jobs.
Mark Hepburn, managing director of 23.5 Degrees, said the firm was “keeping its foot on the gas”.
Hepburn said: “The last year has been challenging but opening this Starbucks store demonstrates our commitment to our ambitious growth plans.”
The business typically seeks freehold and leasehold drive-thru opportunities on main arterial routes, close to major retail destinations or on large industrial estates. Retail parks, high street locations or drive-to places would also be considered.
Its offer would be designed to fit into units measuring either 1,500, 1,800 or 2,200 sq ft, which can either be modular or traditionally built.
23.5 Degrees opened its first Starbucks store, in Hampshire, in 2013. The business said it had contributed more than £28m to the economy through acquisitions and development.
The franchisee has the rights to develop in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Essex, and Dorset in the South and East Anglia, as well as Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland in the North.
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