Esquires Café

What Esquires Café does

Esquires Café (trading as ESQ) is a New Zealand coffee house franchise operating 20 stores across the Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, and Canterbury regions. Founded in New Zealand in May 2002, the brand was acquired by Café Coffee & Bakery Systems (NZ) Limited (CCBS) in late 2015 and subsequently refreshed under the new "ESQ" brand identity with an emphasis on improved coffee flavour and fresh made-in-store food. The legal entity operating the program is RFG NZ Limited, trading as Esquires, with the system owned by CCBS.

The product portfolio centres on the ESQ café experience (hot/cold beverages and breakfast/food items), complemented by the "Regulars" loyalty program (10 points per $1 spent, 1 point = 1 cent redemption, prepaid card up to $500 balance), the Esquires Regulars mobile app on iOS and Android built on Loyal+Connect, and a Stocard-integrated digital loyalty card. A complementary e-commerce channel (ccbscoffee.co.nz) sells Esquires coffee beans direct to consumers for at-home use. Revenue derives from franchise fees/licensing royalties accruing to the franchisor and, at the system level, from in-store F&B transaction volume and packaged coffee sales.

The business serves two customer segments: general New Zealand consumers seeking everyday coffee and casual café occasions, and prospective franchisees seeking an established brand with operational support. Esquires is a member of the Franchise Association of New Zealand and the Restaurant Association of New Zealand. There are no disclosed enterprise customers, no public financial filings, and no disclosed AI/ML capabilities; the technology footprint is limited to loyalty and e-commerce integrations.

Name

Esquires Café

Legal name

Cafe Coffee & Bakery Systems (NZ) Ltd

Website

https://esquirescafe.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Esquires Café is a New Zealand coffee house franchise operating 20 stores under the refreshed ESQ brand, serving everyday consumers with coffee, fresh food, a mobile loyalty app, and direct-to-consumer coffee bean sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Coffee Shop / Café Services

NAICS

Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Coffee Chains & Franchise Cafes (THAFADAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Single-Serve Coffee (Pods, Capsules) (CRADAHAH)

Keywords

• Coffee franchise
• Café chain
• Loyalty program
• Fresh made-in-store food
• Coffee beans retail

Headquarters

HQ city

Takanini

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. In-store Food and Beverage Sales: Revenue from sale of hot and cold beverages, breakfast and food items prepared fresh in-store at franchise locations. Products include coffees, frappés, and baked goods.
2. Franchise Fees and Licensing: Franchise model where independent operators pay to open Esquires Café locations under the brand. Company provides brand, support, and operational systems.
3. E-commerce Coffee Sales: Online sales of Esquires coffee beans and related products through the website, offering the same great taste at home.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Esquires Café operates as a New Zealand coffee house franchise serving hot and cold beverages and fresh made-in-store food across 20 franchise storefronts. The company also runs The Regulars loyalty program (prepaid and points-based), the Esquires Regulars mobile app for rewards and ordering, and an online e-commerce channel selling Esquires coffee beans for at-home consumption.

Product overview

Esquires Café operates as a coffee house franchise with 20 stores across New Zealand, offering coffee and fresh made-in-store food through physical café locations. The product portfolio centres on the ESQ brand café experience, complemented by The Regulars loyalty program (enabling point-earning and redemption across beverages), the Esquires Regulars mobile app (for rewards management and digital ordering), and an online coffee bean shop. The company also offers franchising opportunities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Esquires Café / ESQ Brand Coffee House Traditional coffee house café offering hot and cold beverages and fresh made-in-store food, served at franchise locations across New Zealand under the refreshed ESQ brand standard.
• The Regulars Loyalty Program Customer loyalty and rewards program offering points-earning on beverage purchases plus an optional prepaid card, redeemable across Esquires stores in New Zealand.
• Esquires Regulars Mobile App Mobile application for iOS and Android enabling Esquires loyalty members to manage rewards, track points, and order breakfast meals and coffee capsules, with digital loyalty card support through Stocard.
• Esquires Coffee Beans (Online Shop) E-commerce storefront selling Esquires-branded coffee beans for at-home consumption, operated by parent company CCBS Coffee.
• Esquires Café Franchise Opportunity Franchise licensing offering allowing independent operators to open Esquires Café locations under the brand, with CCBS providing brand, operational systems, and franchisee support.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10 points earned per $1 spent on eligible transactions
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Café Coffee & Bakery Systems (NZ) Ltd (CCBS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015CCBS purchased Esquires in late 2015 and has since completed 16+ refurbishments to the ESQ brand. CCBS provides operational support, brand management, and franchise support to Esquires locations.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Columbus Coffee: New Zealand café franchise chain operating within Mitre 10 and retail-park locations nationwide. Comparable franchise model, similar grab-and-go coffee plus food offer, and overlapping catchment of suburban Kiwi consumers.
• Mojo Coffee: NZ-born coffee brand operating cafés alongside wholesale and packaged retail coffee. Comparable in coffee-forward brand identity, NZ footprint, and the extension from cafés into retail/CPG coffee products.
• Robert Harris: Established NZ-owned café franchise serving coffee, food, and cabinet items in retail and service-centre locations. Highly comparable to Esquires in target customer, food offer, mall/service-centre site selection, and franchise-based scaling across NZ.
• Coffee Club (The Coffee Club): Trans-Tasman franchise café chain offering coffee, all-day breakfast, and casual dining in NZ shopping malls and high streets. Most direct comparable: same franchise model, similar mall-based unit economics, and overlapping customer base of everyday Kiwis seeking coffee with food.
• The Habitual Fix: New Zealand café franchise chain offering coffee and fresh food in suburban and regional locations. Comparable target customer (everyday consumers), franchise-led growth, and menu positioning that combines coffee with made-in-store food.

Regional players

• Atomic Coffee Roasters: NZ specialty coffee roaster and café operator. Comparable in NZ coffee retail and CPG bean/capsule offering, but positioned at the premium third-wave end rather than Esquires' mass-market café positioning.

Others

• Wild Bean Cafe: BP-branded convenience coffee counter operating at NZ service stations. Comparable in coffee-led grab-and-go format and service-centre location strategy, but owned by BP rather than operating as an independent franchise network.
• Loyalty New Zealand (Loyalty NZ / Paymark): Provider of loyalty platform infrastructure used across NZ retail and hospitality. Adjacent rather than competing: Esquires' Regulars programme sits on similar loyalty tech stacks, making Loyalty NZ a relevant ecosystem peer for benchmarking programme design.

Broad incumbents

• Starbucks New Zealand: Global coffee chain with NZ mall and high-street locations. Comparable product category and target consumer, but operates at much larger scale with proprietary rewards technology and brand recognition Esquires does not match.
• Gloria Jean's Coffees: Global specialty coffee franchise with NZ mall-based cafés. Overlaps with Esquires on franchise model, coffee-led menu, and mall site selection, but operates globally with deeper marketing scale and broader product range.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/esquirescafenz
• Xx.com/EsquiresNewlynn

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Esquires Café