The streets of London are going to be changing from pink and black to a pale green… and why? Blank Street Coffee are taking Over Under.
The Brooklyn-born coffee chain has only been up and running since 2020. But those numbers are only going up; they’ve got two more in the pipeline and with this latest announcement you can expect to see a lot more of Blank Street Coffee on the streets of London.
Over Under is a staple coffee chain in South West London- seven strong in it’s numbers and it’s recognisable pink and black storefronts. You’ll know it for it’s great brunches at the Clapham Common location and, most recently, it’s Battersea pop up truck where it celebrated its opening with a legendary free coffee week. It serves great coffee, great pastries and small bites, and has an app-based ordering function too… very much like Blank Street does. Suddenly this acquisition doesn’t sound too unlikely. Both companies are about accessible coffee, quick ordering, and have a strong aesthetic presence. Ed Barry, CEO of Over Under will stay as a key player in this deal, bringing his knowledge of UK coffee to the US based company.
Blank Street Coffee’s $25 Million Raise Shows What Big Institutions Want From Food Service: Quality And Convenience
Small-format specialty coffee chain, Blank Street, has raised $25 million in a series A round led by General Catalyst and Tiger Global, only months after it closed $7 million seed through three venture firms. Now the company, whose post-money valuation has exceeded $98 million according to PitchBook, is fundraising for its next series B round due to mounting investor interest.
So what makes this Brooklyn-based startup that launched only a year ago such a darling among large institutions? Cofounders Vinay Menda and Issam Freiha conclude marrying “high quality products, ultra convenience, and fair prices” is what has made the company overall successfully carve out a sweet spot in a very saturated coffee space, adding how Blank Street’s top-line revenue has increased by 15 times since January 2021.
Indeed, Blank Street immediately partnered with EV Foods at the iconic Wythe Diner in Williamsburg upon debuting its first battery-powered mobile coffee cart last August, and has since evolved to be a mix business model that also includes micro-footprint brick-and-mortar spaces.
Currently operating 15 locations throughout New York City with a goal of expanding to 100 by the end of 2022, Blank Street offers a variety of products, including those from Gertie bagels, King Street Baking Co., and King David Tacos, in addition to Parlor Coffee.
“[Our coffee] is 20-30% cheaper than Starbucks, and roughly the same as Dunkin’s,” Menda explained. “The main technology we use in stores, such as espresso equipment, is fully automatic, so baristas can focus most of their time engaging with customers, enhancing their in-store experience.”
Future specialty items will also be offered at a lower price through a wholesale partnership between Blank Street and local vendors, called “Powered By Blank Street,” according to the duo. The goal is to help these vendors expand footprints into new markets without the hassle of finding expensive storefronts, providing their own labor, or managing day-to-day operations, while enabling them to build businesses using data and analytics provided by Blank Street’s internal software.
Similar to Blank Street, food and beverage startups leveraging technology to ramp up their operational efficiency are gaining unprecedented investor interest as traditional consumer and retail sectors have been grossly affected by the pandemic, forcing many of them to shut down retail shops or rethink their supply chain strategies.
“Venture investors poured $3.7 billion into foodtech startups in Q2 [2020], an increase of roughly 28% at a time when dealmaking has sharply dropped elsewhere.”
Hitting Profitability Within The First Two Months
