Caffè Nero has made a leadership reshuffle in the UK whilst reporting sales growth of 8% in its latest financial quarter.
The premium coffee house brand announced that Will Straton-Morris has stepped down as its CEO in the UK but is taking up a new group role of chief business development officer as of 1 June – the beginning of its new financial year (FY26). Founder and group CEO Gerry Ford is now reassuming the reins of his company in Britain, supported by group CFO Ben Price and Caffè Nero UK managing director Glyn House.
“Will has worked very hard over the past seven-plus years to promote the Caffè Nero business in the United Kingdom,” commented Ford, who founded the business in 1997. “The Board and I would like to thank him for all his effort and commitment.
“As we move into a phase of greater expansion, I’m sure Will’s skill sets will prove extremely useful to the group in establishing new business partnerships, developing our footprint in new countries and securing new commercial relationships,” Ford added.
The process of appointing a new UK CEO for Caffè Nero is said to be well underway and predicted to be made in the months ahead.
In the meantime, The Nero Group revealed figures for the third quarter of its financial year, covering 1 December 2024 to 28 February 2025. Its UK revenue rose by 8% compared to the same period the year prior, while like-for-like sales had improved by 6.2%. This comes off the back of record revenues in the first half – up 11.4% to £185.4m in the UK – driven by menu innovations such as the Maritozzi Buns.
Robust trading in the UK over the third quarter was supported by an impressive Christmas season with over two million customers served during December and sales increasing by 14% versus those from the month in 2023. New bakery items launched for the festive period included the Italian Porchetta Focaccia and Profiterole Cheesecake among others, which helped Caffè Nero UK enjoy two record sales weeks of over £9m and its highest ever single day at £1.5m.
International expansion saw the wider group, which trades across 11 markets worldwide including most recently Saudi Arabia, deliver sales growth of 11% during Q3 with like-for-like sales up by 5.5%.
Caffè Nero had continued opening new shops in the quarter, adding four in the UK including its first site inside a John Lewis store in White City, London. The company also rolled out a new café concept in five Waitrose supermarkets.
A total of 15 new openings across the world brought its global estate to 1,121 shops as of the end of February 2025 – 94% of which are company owned – with 11,000 employees serving over 155m customers a year. More than 700 stores are in the UK.
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