KOFFEE Pot is without a doubt a northern institution. A stalwart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter scene, the greasy spoon cafe has been feeding the working folk ever since it’s opening back in 1976.
Up until two years ago, Koffee Pot had been a mainstay on Northern Quarter’s Stevenson Square since it’s creation – however issues with their landlord led to the company having to relocate. They did find a new location, and are now based just round the corner on Oldham Street.
Koffee Pot prides itself on its traditional fry-ups and bacon butties. As Guy Garvey, lead singer of Elbow said at his 2010 performance at the Manchester Arena “If you’ve never had a bacon sandwich from there, you’ve never had a bacon sandwich”
When Koffee Pot were kicked out of their original location co-owners Chris Devlin and Sam Dunwoodie were in two minds whether they wanted to carry it on.
“We were still going to own a restaurant, but we wanted to do something completely different. But then there was an uproar of people complaining and we were receiving calls everyday” Sam said.
The Northern Quarter as a hub of activity relies heavily on a community-style vibe which permeates across most of the businesses which have set home there.
“You here a lot of business nowadays in the Northern Quarter harp on about being a community place – I believe Koffee Pot is the original community place here.
“We’re quite cheap, and we know our regulars. We get hipsters, young people and old people – we don’t really appeal to just one demographic like other places seem to be doing more often now” says Sam. “We try to be cheap, we try to be accessible as possible – everyone is welcome”
Staying relevant can be a harder job than most for many businesses nowadays in such a business climate saturated with new and exciting start-ups ready to make their move on the high street. How does a company like Koffee Pot, who have remained successful for so many years, maintain their place?
“You just need a fry-up. On a Saturday and Sunday morning, some people will be hungover so they’ll want a fry-up. What you see is what you get with us – we haven’t really changed. Serving our hungry customers and fry-ups you could say have been key to our success” Sam states.
The popularity of Koffee Pot can be put down quite considerably to its ability to stay loyal to its brand and business strategy. Endorsed by celebrities such as Frank Sidebottom and Elbow – they have recieved national recognition as a northern institution, with people from all over the north happy to come down to see what all the fuss is about.
Since the humble beginnings in 1976, the Koffee Pot brand has developed with the times in social terms – with independent cultural magazine stands, a wifi-account and in more recent times – Sam and Chris have launched a night bar. “We still like to think of ourselves as a greasy spoon, but we’ve now got our own bar and event nights” Sam says, a clear statement of intent to progress the Koffee Pot brand.
All you hangover needs catered for ?????☕️ #breakfast #brunch #hangiver #eatmcr #coffee #bloodymary pic.twitter.com/JNWcvetYPB
— koffeepot (@thekoffeepot) November 6, 2016
“Manchester is a massive breakfast brunch city. We’ve updated our decor, we’ve kept our look simple and all our music plays off the radio. We’ve tried to keep to who we are as much as possible, we don’t need to change that much” says Sam.
“A lot of places around Manchester will serve a fry-up and charge upwards of £8-9. For £7 here you can get the fry-up, toast and tea. Anymore and i’d feel like I was robbing people” Sam laughs.
The cafe does open deck nights and on Friday’s showcases DJ’s in an aim to attract more people to Koffee Pot in the evenings to broaden the customer base.
As far as businesses go, Koffee Pot has proven itself to be much more of a human business – with more emphasis put on listening to customers and getting to know on a personal basis, and looking after their employees by paying them all the standard living wage.
Looking towards the future, Sam has stated his desire for Koffee Pot to expand past their Manchester home:
“We would like to open another one, possibly in Sheffield, Sheffield’s kind of a small town, and in some respects is quite similar to Manchester. We’re proud of the work we’ve done here – we’d like to be proud of our work somewhere else too.”
If you want to find out more about Koffee Pot, find them on their Twitter at @thekoffeepot
If you want to hear more of the interview with Sam – you can find it here.
By Dan Willis
Recent Comments