Raining Berries

About Raining Berries

US franchise coffee concept founded in 2018 by former UK-based currency trader Bimal Bhojani, whose family background had been in the tea, coffee and sugar industry in East Africa. Having moved to the US in 2007 to build private schools, Bhojani was looking for a new project and returned to his family’s roots at the suggestion of his daughter, opening his first Raining Berries site in January 2020. With 20 US sites either open, under construction or signed for pending a location, Bhojani told Propel in November 2022 that he is eyeing similar numbers in the UK, and is planning a first site here “within 12-15 months”. He said: “Our first store did $350,000-$400,000 in the first year of operating under covid conditions. In the second year, it was $500,000-$600,000, and in the third year, the store is projected to hit £1m in revenue, which is huge, as we’re still what I’d call a virgin brand. Once we get 20 open, I think we’ll get to 40 pretty quickly. It’s grown a lot quicker than I anticipated, and I think if we can get into the UK market, we’ll take Europe by storm. I’m not looking to open hundreds and hundreds of stores, but if we can get 20-40 sold in groups of five within two to three years, with eight to ten franchisees, the rest will be organic growth and give us the exposure for mainland Europe, which I anticipate happening fairly quickly. We’re looking at high-end towns with a good demographic of a younger population rather than major cities at first.”

Why franchise with Raining Berries

• ✓The proven Raining Berries model is set up for all types of entrepreneurs. Franchisees can choose to open a small cafe or a larger unit with flexible meeting space. Cafe formats offer excellent flexibility with the ability to capture high footfall and are designed for shopping complexes and town centres. Large Cafes offer an attractive and unique meeting space for private meetings and parties and are adaptable to the demands of the local area so each unit can be designed differently. The Raining Berries Team have identified more than 250 potential store locations across the UK. Franchise fee is £19,500, with royalty fees 5% and marketing levy 1.5% (with 0.5% going directly to African charities to provide clean water). Based on a sample of operating Raining Berries shops/kiosks, average transaction value is £9.50 and average weekly sales are £17,500. Gross profit is 69%-72% and indicative transaction volume 250+, while return on investment is typically two years.

Investment breakdown