The Nero Group, owner of Caffè Nero, posted record sales of £670 million for the year to 31 May 2026, up 8% on the previous year, as its core coffee brand delivered like-for-like growth of 4.5%. The group opened 72 new sites during the year and says it plans at least 80 more in the current financial year.
Founded by Gerry Ford in 1997, Caffè Nero has grown into the Nero Group, which also owns Coffee#1, 200 Degrees, Harris + Hoole, FCB Coffee and Aroma. The group now operates 1,191 outlets across 11 countries and employs more than 11,000 people. Once listed on the London Stock Exchange between 2001 and 2007, the company has traded privately since, with Ford serving as chairman and chief executive throughout. This is the group’s third consecutive year of record annual sales. This is the group’s third consecutive year of record annual sales, and the results land at a strong moment for the wider UK food and drink franchise sector, where new openings have continued despite pressure on consumer spending.
Group sales rise 8% to £670m as UK like-for-like growth hits 4.5%
Group sales reached £670 million for the year to 31 May 2026, up 8% on the prior year, with overall like-for-like growth of 4.1% across the group’s six brands. Caffè Nero itself delivered like-for-like growth of 4.5%, and total UK sales rose 5%. The group singled out iced drinks as the strongest category, with sales up 52% on demand for iced coffee and matcha, a trend it says has continued into the current financial year.
Costs, formats and the other brands recruiting are set out in our guide to coffee franchise opportunities in the UK.
72 new sites opened this year, including a US acquisition
The group opened 72 new locations during the year, of which 16 came through the acquisition of Compass Coffee, a chain based in Washington DC, marking a step up in its US presence. The addition takes the Nero Group’s total estate to 1,191 outlets in 11 countries, spread across its six brands. The group has not broken out how many of the 72 new openings were in the UK against its other markets, and its results commentary frames the Compass Coffee deal as part of a broader push into international markets alongside its established UK, Ireland and wider European estate. The group has grown abroad through direct acquisition rather than a master franchise agreement, the route several UK-founded brands use to expand overseas.
Caffè Nero remains company-operated, not a franchise network
Caffè Nero publishes no franchise recruitment page for the UK, and its results commentary makes no reference to franchising or franchise partners. The estate described in the group’s figures, including the 72 sites opened this year, is presented as company-operated. That leaves no current route for an independent operator to apply to run a Caffè Nero site under franchise terms, unlike some other UK coffee and food-to-go chains that do offer regional franchise agreements.
Good to know
Searches for a “Caffè Nero franchise” turn up no matching offer on the company’s own site. The Nero Group’s UK stores, including Caffè Nero, Coffee#1, Harris + Hoole and 200 Degrees, are presented in its own results as company-operated rather than franchised.
At least 80 new stores planned for the current financial year
The Nero Group says it plans to open at least 80 new stores during the financial year now under way, a faster pace than the 72 opened last year. The group has not named which of its six brands or which countries will account for the bulk of the new openings, nor whether further acquisitions of the kind that brought in 200 Degrees and Compass Coffee are planned. The company describes the iced and matcha trend behind this year’s UK growth as continuing into the new year.
