Buy a Maravi franchise
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This page is for families, individuals and companies who are attracted by the idea of buying a Maravi Café franchise and running one or more Maravi cafés — perhaps with a coffee roaster — in their own franchise area, with exclusivity around their premises.
The founder's case is that almost all of the risk has been taken out of the first café. You do not have to hope that the model works. Maravi is built on a three-year pilot that started from scratch and now, on the family's confirmed estate, spans five Maravi shops: four open South Coast cafés — one a roastery awaiting its roasting machine — and one in Spain. You can visit the pilot, taste the coffee and inspect the operation without anyone knowing you are looking.
We do not want to sell you a franchise. We want you to see a business that works, in your own town, and arrive at the decision yourself. When you are ready — when you need one or two T's crossing and one or two I's dotting — come back to us.
The founder's introduction is adapted from a recorded introduction supplied for the franchise, November 2026. Figures and claims are the founder's account, not audited accounts or a forecast. The Franchise Agreement governs.
“We don't want to persuade you. We don't want to sell anything to you. We want you to see businesses that simply work as it says on the tin.”
The founder · Maravi Caffe Holdings LLP
The shape of the purchase
A franchise area, a system and a business run by people.
You are not buying a kit and a logo. You are buying the right to run the Maravi model in an area, with the site, the room, the coffee, the equipment, the stock and the training that make the room work.
An exclusive ambition zone
A ten-year ambition zone. A single café can be protected by about 300 yards around the premises; a city-wide ambition can block an area for, for example, 20 cafés over ten years. The zone is reviewed annually.
The Maravi system
The brand, the design standard, the 2027 Coffee Emporium room and range, site approval, fit-out project management, equipment, opening stock, coffee and food supply, training, opening support and field support.
A ten-year agreement
Ten years, renewable, with the ambition zone reviewed annually and adjusted up or down. Larger zones carry a higher franchise fee and a yearly renewal fee; the terms are in the agreement.
A business run by employees
You are trained to operate the business with a team. Your staff deliver the service; you lead, monitor, host and protect the standard.
The founder is explicit that the ambition can be one café or a hundred, and that there is no fixed upper limit to the size of a franchise area. What matters is that the area and the operator can sustain the standard — and that Maravi believes the ten-year ambition is credible. The first phase is a £5,000 research and identification fee; if the research concludes the area is not viable, the £5,000 is lost.
The Café · the format we recommend first
The Café leads. The Counter and the Roastery follow.
The Café is the smallest format that carries the full Maravi experience: coffee, food, seating and service in one room. That is why it is the lead format for a first ambition zone.
It fits a high street or a neighbourhood centre, and it gives the operator enough room to build a day-long trade without the complexity of a flagship. The Counter Café is the compact, high-footfall variant. The Roastery & Coffee Bar is the destination flag — a roaster behind glass, a retail wall and, where the site allows, the Nia Botanica tea bar.
The Café can carry a roaster in selected sites, subject to space, extraction, planning and the landlord's consent. The Roastery format includes one as standard.
The lead format
- Footprint
- 90–120 m²
- Covers
- 40–60 seats
- Team
- 3–5 employed staff per shift
- Room
- Counter, light kitchen, WC and store
- Setting
- High street or neighbourhood centre
- Roaster
- Site-dependent; optional in selected sites, standard in the Roastery format
- Pilot target
- £1,000 per day, as a target — not a guarantee
- 2027 room
- The Coffee Emporium standard — brass doors, arched windows and the five-room range
Indicative specifications. Final size, layout, equipment and roaster are agreed per site and set out in the Franchise Agreement.
The founder's figure
Not cheap. Because it is extraordinarily high quality.
The founder describes the entry point as £200,000, rising with your ambition and the capital you can support. That is the founder's figure, not a quote. The final investment depends on the area, the site, the format and the terms.
The first phase is a £5,000 research and identification fee. It pays for the research into rents, build costs for the three sizes, footfall, competition and sites. If the research concludes the area is not viable, the £5,000 is lost.
Maravi's scale and standardised fit-out are intended to keep the build cost down. The founder's account is that the group can deliver the room for less than a local builder would charge; that is a claim to test in due diligence, not a promise on this page.
What the investment covers — the research phase, the fit-out, the equipment, the opening stock, the training and the fees — is set out in the Franchise Agreement and the franchise information memorandum. Take independent legal and financial advice before you commit.
From £200,000
An indicative entry point for a Maravi franchise area, rising with ambition and capital.
- Indicative
- £200,000 entry point
- First phase
- £5,000 research and identification fee; lost if the area is not viable
- Scope
- Research, area, site, fit-out, equipment, opening stock, training and fees — as set out in the agreement
- Not included
- Working capital, lease obligations, professional fees and the costs of your own due diligence
- Final figure
- Set out in the Franchise Agreement and information memorandum
The founder's figure is indicative, not a quote, an offer or a forecast. The £5,000 is lost if the research concludes the area is not viable. Test both against your own plan and advice.
The founder's numbers
Open the books. Then make up your mind.
The pilot is the reason the founder believes the risk is largely taken out of the first café. These are the founder's figures, shared to show what is open for inspection — not an audited set of accounts or a forecast.
| The pilot | The founder's account |
|---|---|
| Pilot period | Three years, started from scratch |
| Premises | Five Maravi shops: four open South Coast cafés (one roastery awaiting its roasting machine) and one in Spain |
| Outstanding debt | £600,000 after developing and fitting out four premises |
| Minimum daily target | £1,000 per café per day, as a target — not a guarantee |
| Pilot growth | Four open South Coast cafés, one roastery awaiting its machine; one Maravi shop in Spain |
| Funding | Cash flow, supported in the pilot by family investment |
Founder's figures, not audited accounts or a forecast. The pilot's books, leases, fit-out costs and trading history are available to serious applicants under confidentiality and due diligence. The family confirms the five-shop estate; the public Maravi site is being updated.
The structure we will put in the agreement
An ambition zone. Two training streams.
The model is deliberately simple: a ten-year ambition zone, a £5,000 research phase, and two training streams built around the operator's job. The exact boundary, fees, duration and attendance are set out in the Franchise Agreement.
The ambition zone
- Single café
- About 300 yards around the premises
- City-wide
- For example, up to 20 cafés over ten years
- Review
- Annual; reduce or expand into adjacent available areas
- Fees
- Larger zones: higher franchise fee and yearly renewal fee
- Research
- £5,000 research and identification fee; lost if the area is not viable
- Approval
- Maravi must be satisfied the area can sustain the model and you can deliver the ambition
The two streams
- Owner/operator
- Coffee, finance, recruitment, standards, marketing, compliance, site-specific and opening; initial and ongoing
- Barista/staff
- Espresso, brew, milk, service, food, hygiene, allergens and POS; initial and ongoing
- Who attends
- You and your key team; staff as required
- Operator
- Owners can wash up, but even that is frowned upon; the business runs through employees
- Duration
- Set out in the Franchise Agreement
The 300-yard and 20-café/ten-year examples are the family's model. The exact boundary, fee, renewal, duration and protections are set out in the agreement. The £1,000/day target is not a promise of sales.
Who this is for
You do not need to be a barista. You do need to be an operator.
The business runs on the employees it employs and the standards they are trained to. Your job is to lead the team, know the numbers, host the room and protect the standard.
You can work in the café if you want to. You are not required to be behind the machine all day. The best franchisee is someone who has run something before — a site, a team, a P&L — and wants a brand and a system behind them.
You do not need prior coffee expertise. You do need the capital, the commitment and the discipline to follow the Maravi way.
“Franchise owners can wash up if they want to, but even that is frowned upon.”
The founder · on the operator's role
The business runs through trained people, not the owner's shift behind the counter. You lead the team, know the numbers, host the room and protect the standard.
The background, if it helps
The family story is the reason, not the sales pitch.
Maravi was born in Malawi, in five generations of a family who have coffee in their DNA. The family story, the move to the UK and the pilot are worth reading before you decide — but they are background, not the proposition. The proposition is the room, the system and the numbers you can test.
The next step
Come and see the pilot.
Start with a visit, a coffee and a conversation. We will show you the room, the numbers and the agreement, and you can decide whether the area and the business are right for you.
Request the franchise pack Visit the pilot
No payment or binding purchase is taken online. The first paid step is the £5,000 research and identification phase; the next step is a visit, a discovery call and the Franchise Agreement. No franchise is offered except under that agreement.