Black Sheep Coffee is a British coffeehouse chain headquartered in London, England.

History

Black Sheep Coffee was founded in 2013 by Gabriel Shohet and Eirik Holth. In 2014, they raised £23,000 on the

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

site

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

. In June 2019, Black Sheep Coffee raised £13 million, bringing the total raised to £19 million, all from

private investors An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...

and valuing the business at £109.2 million. Later that year, Black Sheep took over eight stores from rival

Taylor St Baristas Taylor St Baristas was a British coffee shop chain, with 10 branches, nine in central London, and one in New York City. It was established by Andrew, Nick and Laura Tolley who quit Harris + Hoole the coffee shop chain they established in 2012 wit ...

which was entering

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

. In 2021, Black Sheep received investment from basketball player

Kristaps Porziņģis Kristaps Porziņģis (; born 2 August 1995) is a Latvian professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is one of the tallest active players in the NBA, standing at tall, and plays bo ...

, to support expansion into the US. In 2022, the UK government became a shareholder in Black Sheep Coffee when it was backed by the

Future Fund The Future Fund is an independently managed sovereign wealth fund established in 2006 to strengthen the Australian Government's long-term financial position by making provision for unfunded superannuation liabilities for politicians and other pu ...

, a scheme to support companies affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. By March 2023, Black Sheep Coffee had more than 50 locations in the UK.

Products

Black Sheep Coffee is known for using robusta coffee beans in its premium coffee, "at a time when everyone believed 100% Arabica to be the only premium species of coffee". Its shops offer a range of barista prepared coffees, smoothies, pastries, bagels, toasties, and Norwegian waffles. A number of shops serve alcohol of an evening, including espresso martini cocktails. Black Sheep Coffee's beans are available to purchase in-shop and online.

Locations

Black Sheep Coffee's shops are mostly concentrated within London, England, where it is headquartered. As of May 2023, 43 of its shops are located within London and 26 are located elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

References

{{Reflist British companies established in 2013 Coffeehouses and cafés in the United Kingdom Coffeehouses and cafés in London