Coffee kings Bruce and Luke's recipe for success

Then a coffee roaster and coffee sales service, then another cafe plus doughnut business, then another cafe...

Now there are plans to expand the empire known as Bruce and Luke’s even further. Not quite world domination - but another 100 cafes over the next 10 years is a start.

They’re still settling into the latest venture, but have already agreed terms on the next.

Bruce Brown and Luke Jackson took on Coffee Genius in Carlisle in February and are about to make extensive changes to transform the business.

But the dynamic duo, who have won awards for their coffee and for Foxes Cafe, are also eyeing up other sites across Carlisle.

Plans are in place for another in Kingstown to service the growing business and housing developments in the north of the city, then there are two other possibilities that they are keeping under wraps at the moment.

It’s morning at Coffee Genius and Bruce is drinking a fruit tea, but they give the impression that they’ve already been fuelled by several espressos.

They think quick and talk faster, finishing each other’s sentences and switching from serious to jokey and back again.

“Foxes is the beginning, this should be more of a final version. This will be a central showpiece, then we will use this as a model for the next one,” explains 29-year-old Luke.

“We want a hundred in 10 years. The first time we said it, we had that face as well,” smiles Bruce.

“But the more people we tell, the more obligated we are. So we’re really just getting started.

“We’re just trying to get everything in line, people and procedure to make it scaleable.”

Everything in the cafe will change, from layout to wallpaper, soft furnishings to menus. Even the mugs.

The only thing that will stay are the staff, who Bruce and Luke rate very highly.

A major plank of their business ethos (apart from trying anything that they think might work) is to value and develop staff.

Luke adds: “We know we can’t take on the world by ourselves, it is getting the right people in the right seats and then giving them the tools to succeed.

“We’ve tried loads of different management structures and we’ve learned all the time.

“It was easy to be a skilled operator because we were passionate and we wanted to be the best. This was losing money when we took it on but it has an amazing team that have won four awards in the city as the best cafe. So we know it is doing quality, we know it is liked by the city, it is not making money but it is turning over,” says Luke.

Bruce, 30, adds: “There is cloak and dagger when you talk about profit, it is not a nice subject.

“Profit improves customer experience and staff welfare,” chips in Luke.

“We don’t want to be obscenely profitable and taking advantage of people, absolutely not, it’s not what we’re here to achieve,” adds Bruce.

“Profit needs to be there. It is absolutely essential. If you only pick one thing, pick that. The difference between and profitable business and a non-profitable business in standards is totally different.

“We fail every single day. Fail fast, fail small, start again quickly, just learn from it.”

Luke continues the theme: “Every time we talk about failure, we’re quite optimistic about it. We always talk about failure and people say ‘don’t beat yourselves up’ we’re not, we’re just very aware of it. It is important and it is relevant.”

“Our aim is always to be the worst operator in the room. I want to be surrounded by people who are better than me at things. That is how to grow a business.”

They say taking on Foxes, in Abbey Street, was “an escape”.

Bruce was a spray painter. Luke was a car salesman: “And I was atrocious at it! I was this young kid in a suit trying to sell these families a family car.

“There is a lot of pressure in it. It is very pushy. I worked hard and I did okay but...”

Bruce says: “We are under less pressure now. We know the consequences before we even start.

“You don’t mind the future because it could be exciting. Working for someone else, you worry.”

“I have a chip on my shoulder to prove to the world that I can do something,” says Luke.

“I don’t want to be rich, I just want to change the world in my little way.

“We have this enablement that we can do or try anything. You are not bound by rules.”

Bruce reasons: “The biggest restriction is people’s own fear. Go for it. A lot of people we meet, they say ‘you are so lucky’. We are not lucky, we just tried it and it didn’t fail.”

When they opened Foxes, Bruce was in the kitchen Luke at the front and their friend Maz on the floor. Now there are 30 staff on the payroll.

Luke remembers the early days: “It would be quiet, then 30 people would come in and it would be chaos, it would be mad!”

“It was like a war scene,” adds Bruce.

Neither believes we’re anywhere near ‘peak coffee’ yet. There’s still plenty of scope for our cafe society to expand.

They point out that coffee is becoming an accessory as well as a talking point.

“There’s a long way to go,” Bruce predicts.

Luke explains: “The coffee boom only started in the mid 80s, Starbucks is still refining its model. They created a taste for the industry. Our parents did it in moderation, our generation will do it to complete excess.

“In the same way that computers happened, people dabbled in computers and now it is an excess technology. One generation dabbles and the next completely excesses, whether that is smoking, technology, food, drink, whatever that is.

“It is peaks and troughs and we are just about heading to the excess phase of coffee.

“The first trigger for us to say ‘let’s open a chain of coffee shops’ was looking at the top 25 chains and at the bottom was Thorntons with 24 stores and we thought ‘that doesn’t seem bad!’

“Realistically, there are only five coffee chains that are globalised. Costa and Starbucks are huge ones, but even Caffe Nero is only 500.”

“We see the future of coffee as all these retail outlets, like TopMan, Hotel Chocolat and House of Fraser, all offering coffee.”

Luke predicts: “The coffee shop scene will change. Retailers will become coffee shops to boost their sales. Come in and have a coffee while you try on a T-shirt, because we know you’re going to buy that T-shirt online, but we will get some money off you while you’re here.”

For all their success, good management intentions and inspiring talk, they recognise that they can still learn.

They mention the success of local businessmen Fred Story and Simon Harrison and Robin Graham who have developed the Halston Aparthotel and are currently revamping the Victorian villas in Portland Square that were old county council buildings.

Bruce: “People like Simon and Robin are so key to this city. A little bit of inspiration for you. And they are proud of the place as well.

Luke says: “They give people like us a reason to try. You can do it. You can be successful in this city.”

The next move for the business partners is to build on their doughnut and bagel business.

They want to develop a roastery and bakery to serve their cafes. By making their own products, they can manage the margins and make a profit, even in a recession.

They don’t follow the argument that Brexit spells gloom for the economy or that our town and city centres are doomed.

The city seems to be on the verge of expansion. The airport is set to launch in July, rumours are circulating again about redeveloping the Rickergate area, there is the major expansion of St Cuthbert’s garden village scheme to the south and more businesses are being attracted to the area.

They would like to see less ‘management’ from local authorities and more flexibility to help businesses to grow.

“We have invested heavily in a city centre location because we think a lot of housing developments will start to appear in the city centre,” forecasts Luke.

“Chaos is opportunity, Brexit is opportunity, the High Street dying is opportunity.”

“The risk is not doing it. If we don’t do it, someone else will. The opportunity is there,” adds Bruce.

Bruce gets the last word, though either of them could have said: “Don’t look for blame, don’t look for help. Look for opportunity. The opportunities we have chased, people have liked.”