Black Sheep Coffee has signed three franchise development agreements for at least 39 new UK shops, across Greater London, East and West Sussex, and the South West. The coffee chain says the deals, announced on 15 October 2026, will increase its store count by more than 30%.
The London-founded chain built its offer around specialty-grade robusta coffee, which it says now makes up 85% of its coffee sales. Its UK expansion runs largely through multi-site franchise partners, as with the Lancashire team behind its first UK drive-thru.
In August 2025, a franchisee switching from a rival brand signed for at least 31 stores across Essex, Leicestershire and Buckinghamshire. This week the brand also opens its first kiosk inside a London station, at Waterloo, on 16 October 2026.
Fourteen more shops across Greater London
The largest single deal covers London, where the brand started. A new franchise partner, who has not been named, has committed to at least 14 shops over five years. The agreement means every London borough is now covered by a Black Sheep franchise partner, and it takes the brand into areas including Sutton, Croydon, Lewisham, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Haringey and Enfield. The new shops will target high streets, shopping centres, business centres and retail parks.
Sussex and the South West go to existing partners
The other two agreements extend existing relationships, the territory-based development model used by several coffee franchises in the UK. In East and West Sussex, Stuart Carter, Farouk Somani and Ali Cheval, who have been in the network for three years and run the Bluewater shop, have committed to 12 shops. The brand already trades at two Gatwick Airport sites in that territory. In Bristol, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, an unnamed partner who recently opened in Plymouth and Exeter has extended its agreement to cover 13 shops, building on the existing Bristol presence.
Gabriel Shohet and Eirik Holth, co-founders of Black Sheep Coffee, said in the announcement: “None of this would be possible without our exceptional franchise partners”. They described the London deal as a return to the city where the business began.
Who Black Sheep Coffee recruits as franchisees
The brand does not sell single shops to first-time operators. Its franchising page asks for experienced multi-unit or multi-brand operators, with a minimum commitment of 10 or more sites and £1.0 million in cash or liquid assets.
The formats it lists are high street shops, transport hubs, retail parks, shopping centres and drive-thrus. Its territory map separates priority markets, already trading with development plans in place, from future markets ready to award.
What Black Sheep Coffee asks of franchise partners
A minimum commitment of 10+ sites, £1.0 million in cash or liquid assets, and multi-unit, multi-brand or business experience, according to the brand’s own franchising page. Fees are not published.
What the announcement leaves out
Black Sheep Coffee has not published its current number of UK shops, so the size of the estate the 39 sites will add to is not stated. The London and South West partners are not named, and only the London deal carries a timeline. Propel reported on 15 October that just five territories now remain in the UK and Ireland, a figure the company’s own announcement does not give. The next signals will be the first openings in the new London boroughs.
