Brendan Duigenan recently became managing director for the Irish operations of Esquires - The Organic Coffee Co., part of New Zealand-based Cooks Coffee Company.
Duigenan will be responsible for growing the brand’s franchisee portfolio, focussing on individual entrepreneurship and local community engagement.
In this interview, he discusses his 25 year background in hospitality, how demand for Fairtrade coffee remains strong, and what his plans are for the future.
What will be your number one priority in your new role?
I have two priorities and they are both equal. The first priority is to grow and expand the brand.
Secondly, we are in such difficult times in the hospitality trade at the moment. It is a really difficult place to make a buck. We are focused on reducing our operational costs for our franchisees while maintaining those high standards of service and quality.
Those are my two priorities. I am working on a strategic development plan at the moment and both of these factors are equal. You have to keep the current franchisees happy while not focusing too much on expanding the brand. You have to keep these two facets of the business happy - the shareholders and the franchisees. It is an equal priority.
You have worked for three major coffee chains including Starbucks. What is it about the sector that draws you in?
I love coffee and always have since a very young age. I kind of fell into it by accident. At the time, I was working for pubs and restaurants. I was thinking of going into hotel management and that side of things and a recruitment agent kept at me to go to Starbucks. The last place I wanted to go was a chain. After about three months of begging me to go for a Starbucks interview, I said, "OK, look, I'll give it a go."
I have never looked back. I had two, three-hour interviews and took a role in Kildare Village. I gave myself a target, where if I wasn't a district manager in 18 months, I would move on. I was a district manager in 18 months, I think it was actually within 12 months.
I absolutely loved my time in Starbucks and all three coffee chains I worked with. It is just such a fast-paced environment. The customers are always fantastic. I used to spend a lot of time putting people asleep in the pubs with drink. I decided to keep them awake with coffee! I knew as soon as I stepped behind the counter in a Starbucks that this was for me. It was just such a great place. People who worked there were fantastic and everybody's always in a very upbeat mood. I took to it straight away and I haven't looked back.
Please tell me a little bit about your own background – where you grew up and studied.
I am a Lucan man. I lived there for 48 years, and I only decided to move out about four years ago, just because the traffic was killing me, but I grew up in Lucan.
I went to the Christian Brothers in Lucan and then I went to a small private college in Dame Street called the College of Management Studies and I studied Accountancy.
About two years in, I knew this isn't for me, I couldn't see myself being an accountant at all. I was working supermarkets at the time to pay my way through college. I loved the environment of working in the supermarket. I love retail and I just knew that it was for me. I love people too much, I couldn't see myself in an office being an accountant.
What do you enjoy most about your current role?
I know it sounds like a cliche but it's the people. We have amazing franchisees and a great crew.
We are a small, little crew. A couple of ops managers currently recruiting a general manager. There will only be four of us and we just make decisions so quick and the franchisees are just so easy to work with, they are so susceptible to change.
We are a really nice little brand to work with, the team are just exceptional.
How has the demand for fairtrade coffee changed in recent years?
I think there is a migration away from Fairtrade coffee at the moment due to price. There is probably another big price increase coming down the line. The time from when the coffee bean is picked to the time the coffee arrives in your cup is about six months. Speculation on coffee prices takes about six month to filter down.
We are probably looking at October for when we get a price increase from our supplier for coffee. People will migrate away due to price, maybe not so much the big chains, but other smaller independents will move away for a cheaper product.
We are 100% Fairtrade, I think our customers expect that. We won't be changing anything, we think it is important. If I walked into a coffee shop and found out it was not Fairtrade, I would be angry and I wouldn't go back.
What other challenges does the industry face?
The cost of living crisis at the moment is probably the worst that I have seen. I went through the financial crisis in 2008, we shut stores and it was a really challenging time but this is probably worse than that.
The cost of goods in the supply chain is coming down in some parts but it is not moving quick enough so it is challenging. The minimum wage increase has also been difficult. Adrian Cummins from the Restaurants Association of Ireland is pushing the VAT 9 campaign at the moment and we really do need the government to listen to us. That would be a game changer if they reduced it back to 9%. It would give everybody the breathing space they need.
If you want to grow a brand, sites and opportunities are out there, there are franchisees who want stores but the fit-out costs are absolutely phenomenal at the moment. Where they probably would have fitted out a store for €300,000, it's €500,000 now. If you are going to grow the business, you have to attract people but if the fit-outs cost are too high and the return on investment is four or maybe five years when it used to be three, it gets challenging.
It's really all external factors. There is not a day that goes by that you don't have a conversation in relation to supply chain or reduction of any kind of costs. We are constantly on to our suppliers to get the best value for our franchisees.
My previous role as head of operations, that was my role - operational costs. How do I reduce operational costs is the important question. The other stuff is fixed. So we spent the last five years, really bringing in tools and processes that would allow a reduction in labour or a reduction of cost goods.
Do you have a business motto?
Work smarter, not harder. Again, going back to when I was head of operations, we brought in a digital learning management system. Everything was paper-based, all the training, and now you just do it on your phone. It stops people sitting with a laptop out the back somewhere when they could be facing the customer.
If there is an easier way to do something, Esquires will find that. We have got all the gadgets and tech that will allow us to get franchisees to interact with their customers rather than be out the back with piles of invoices and training paperwork. Everything is done a lot easier.
I reduced labour by bringing in tools and processes. When I was a store manager, I had piles of paperwork. Monday was just paper, we were still faxing stuff. It was just too time consuming. I look at it from the store manager or franchisee’s point of view and how they want the brand to support them. We offer the tools and resources to make life easier.
We were one of the first chains to put kiosks into a cafe. We just wanted to give the customer a new channel to order for themselves without feeling under pressure. That was a significant game changer. There was a 50% increase in ATV on the kiosk versus the till. It takes away the inconvenience of queuing and allows us to make more money.
What has been your best professional decision so far?
Joining Esquires. I always loved Esquires. When I worked in Starbucks, I would be doing interviews or meetings in Esquires in Swords. I always admired it as a brand.
Working with Tony, the previous MD, has been such an inspiration on my career and he has been such a mentor. He allowed me to do things and he also gave me the guidance to do things correctly.
It's not just Tony. It's the whole team. They are absolutely lovely people to work for.
What do you like to do when you are not working?
I have been fishing since I was four years of age. I love fly fishing. You could be having the worst day ever and it all disappears by the side of a lake or a river. I don't get out as much as I would like to but I am teaching my ten year old son how to fly fish at the moment.
When you are in a busy cafe surrounded by a lot of people versus those moments when you are at the bank of a river on your own is a great release.
What are your plans for the future?
We have a strategic development plan for the next three years and it is in the early stages. That is where the brand will be focused for the next three years.
When that plan is finished, I'll do another one! You have to keep relevant. You have to keep a plan. You have to know where you are going in your own mind.
How do you take your coffee?
I suppose it's a force of habit, I take an Americano straight up. It allows you to quality check your coffee. There are a lot of factors that can affect the taste of coffee.
I do like a flat white in the afternoon because it's such a nice drink. It can be drank very quickly because it's not a high temperature and it's got that extra bit of coffee in it as well.
