Triple Two Coffee currently operates 11 stores in the UK | Photo credit: Cooks Coffee Company 

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UK-based Triple Two Coffee is expected enter administration after parent firm Cooks Coffee Company said it would appoint administrators to place the franchise coffee chain and its subsidiaries into an insolvency process.
 
Cooks’ Esquire’s Coffee chain, which operated 51 and 15 stores in the UK and Ireland respectively as of 31 March 2023, alongside 26 stores in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, will not be affected.
 
In a press release, New Zealand-based Cooks Coffee said Triple Two had been adversely impacted by the ‘current market environment’, despite growing rapidly before the pandemic and showing ‘continued momentum’ in 2022. Cooks’ 2023 annual report shows the chain opened four stores and closed six last year.
 
In May 2023 Cooks reported several planned outlets had been deferred due to supply chain disruption in the previous third and fourth quarters.
 
Founded in 2016 by Sezan Walker and David Hodgetts Triple Two was acquired by Cooks Coffee in June 2020 and currently operates 11 stores in the UK.
 
New Zealand-based Cooks had until recently hailed the strength of the Triple Two business and in October 2022 reported it had doubled the size of the franchise operator to 20 stores and launched the first ‘Triple Two Go’ mobile van stores.
 
In January 2023 Cooks reported record 2022 revenues in the UK and Ireland with year-on-year sales across its two café brands increasing 41% in the UK and 91% in Ireland. 

However, reporting its full-year group results in May 2023, Cooks Coffee Company said total sales fell 10% to £3.4m ($4.2m) in the 12 months to 31 March 2023. Pre-tax losses widened to £1.6m ($2m), compared to £200,000 ($250,000) the previous year, following slower-than-expected outlet growth in the second half of the year. 
 
The closure of the Triple two brand will deal a blow to Cooks’ aspirations to reach 120 stores globally in 2023, a goal it sought to reach by achieving 10% outlet growth across both coffee chains in the UK. Cooks’ dual listing on the UK’s Aquis Stock Exchange in November 2022 was also intended to accelerate outlet growth and pave the way for further brand acquisitions.
 
Nevertheless, withdrawing from Triple Two could enable Cooks to focus on its Esquires business, which it is seeking nearly double its UK footprint to 100 stores by 2026.