In 2016, when a single cup of coffee in South Africa could perhaps presumably cost as valuable as a beefy meal, a South African entrepreneur, Nicolene Elhadad and her husband, Tomer, saw a certain course – to open a shop that sells a cup of coffee for 10 Rand, a third of what most predominant coffee chains charged. Finest composed, they didn’t excellent sell coffee, they added pastries, sandwiches, and other meals items.
What began as a serene experiment in Cape City and not utilizing a restaurant journey and plenty uncertainty has developed into Xpresso Café, a thriving takeaway coffee chain with 65 stores nationwide, serving over 50,000 cups of coffee every day.
This is the account of how two day to day coffee lovers remodeled a easy whisper, which became, ‘coffee shouldn’t be a luxury,’ into a enterprise mannequin that disrupted a complete industry.
Nicolene Elhadad shares how she and Tomer bootstrapped their imaginative and prescient from the ground up, why they caught with a flat R10 menu for 5 years, and how their mission to assemble everyday indulgence less expensive continues to drive them.
All of it started with a moment of reflection, one who could perhaps presumably at last trade the route of Nicolene and Tomer Elhadad’s lives.
“We seen that the coffee shops did no longer appeal to every person. It became due to no longer every person could perhaps presumably afford the products they had accessible,” Nicolene said, recalling a coffee day out in relation to a decade within the past. “I figured out that unhappy due to I glimpse coffee as something you can also merely composed be ready to journey every day. It would also merely composed no longer be something you rupture your self with once per week.”
That itsy-bitsy frustration brewed into a gallant thought: a takeaway coffee shop where every little thing from coffee to pastries and sandwiches would cost excellent R10.
For two years, the couple wrestled with easy the style to assemble this form of mannequin viable. “We desired to assemble it easy and straightforward. Our imaginative and prescient became to provide a family of 5 folks an journey where every person can aquire two issues,” Nicolene defined. Nevertheless turning that imaginative and prescient into a functioning enterprise took conviction and a little little bit of negotiation.
“We argued about the worth,” she said. “My husband insisted that every item on the menu cost R10, however I did no longer know if that could perhaps presumably be sustainable.”
Soundless, the foundation caught. And in 2016, they opened the most predominant Xpresso Café in Durbanville, Cape City. With out a fanfare, no classified ads, and nil prior journey in hospitality, they quietly stepped into uncharted territory.
“We had no journey in drinking areas, coffee, or baking, and we had by no way labored with the public correct now,” Nicolene admitted. “We did no longer accept as true with a rigid marketing strategy. We targeted on guaranteeing that the enterprise can work from the till.”
That intended every sale needed to duvet the day’s costs. Nothing more, nothing less.
The night earlier than the beginning, Nicolene became gripped with doubt. “I believed this wouldn’t work. No person will come to our novel coffee shop.”
Nevertheless folks did come. And when they realized that every little thing on the menu cost excellent R10, they had been timid. “I needed to repeat it a hundred times due to other folks had been so shocked,” Nicolene laughed.
The buzz unfold rapidly, first through notice of mouth, then right through native press, radio, TV, and social media. The postulate became too unique to ignore.
From there, Xpresso Café grew progressively, expanding from one store to a nationwide chain. It maintained its customary mark point for 5 years earlier than elevating it modestly to R12 in 2021 and to R14 in 2024. Irrespective of those increases, the designate stays a low-cost outlier in South Africa’s coffee home.
“Every part in lifestyles does no longer must be costly. We assemble no longer assemble pretty a lot of profit, however in lifestyles, giving has always been higher than receiving,” Nicolene said.
Beyond the numbers, it’s the repeat customers that lift her joy. “We’re attempting to provide our customers flavourful coffee, beautiful pastries, appetising sandwiches and decadent treats to journey any time of the day,” she said. “Seeing our customers being ready to come back again every day for their licensed snack and occasional is a dream come exact.”
What Nicolene and Tomer constructed has become a motion, one who proves a enterprise can thrive no longer excellent through profit margins, however through cause.
