Cooks Coffee Company New Zealand executive chairman Keith Jackson and chief executive Aiden Keegan: According to Mr Keegan, there is significant capacity for growth in the UK, and the company also intends to expand internationally.Irish coffee business veteran Aiden Keegan has been named chief executive of New Zealand-listed Cooks Coffee Company, described as “the biggest coffee company you’ve never heard of”.
Mr Keegan started his career working with Harry O’Kelly at the Insomnia chain in the early 2000s before moving to work with Tony McVerry who had the master franchise for the Esquires chain of coffee shops in Ireland. Esquires is owned by the Cooks Coffee Company and Mr Keegan and Mr McVerry built the chain up to 15 stores in Ireland by the time of the financial crash in 2008.
He also managed the company’s transition through Covid-19 and said that in the early stages of the pandemic Esquires’ growth matched that of Greggs, the bakery chain that for a time had the strongest growth of any food and beverage business in the UK.