Café Jubilee to double its market presence in 12 months

Alex Scicluna has very good reason to be more upbeat than usual. Not only is his long-standing ambition of taking Café Jubilee overseas taking root, the chain's market penetration will double to six operational outlets in the next 12 months.

Earlier this week, it was formally announced that Café Jubilee will open on Budapest's main thoroughfare in November following a joint venture agreement signed with Corinthia.

Mr Scicluna travelled to the Hungarian capital again this week accompanied by Corinthia's project management team to tweak plans for the 400-square metre corner property currently occupied by a Henry J. Beans restaurant.

The first Café Jubilee outside Malta is centrally located in the professional and fashionable Fifth District, just opposite from the Comedy Theatre, and is a stone's throw away from the central square.

Café Jubilee first opened in Victoria, Gozo, in 1998, followed by a second bistro in Valletta in 2000, and a larger one in Gżira five years later.

Mr Scicluna says he knew 10 years ago he would be here - the dream of putting up a Café Jubilee sign in a European or even Middle Eastern city is that old - and Mr Scicluna is determined to go down the franchising road eventually.

A year after Café Jubilee opened along The Strand, Mr Scicluna and his brothers Mario and Anthony put the ideas and concept behind the bistro chain on paper. That alone took two years - a brand guideline was eventually produced and packaged to be presented to enquiring investors. A UK franchising consultancy firm was hired to help with the preparation of the international franchise proposition and to source financial investors.

But a better opportunity was to present itself. Mr Scicluna admits he has been toying with the idea of working with Corinthia for a few years. Last Christmas he met Corinthia Group chairman Alfred Pisani at a public relations party and was promised a meeting in the New Year.

Mr Pisani kept his word and proposed the Budapest site a couple of weeks later. Mr Scicluna returned with a meticulously prepared - and packaged - business plan and an agreement for a joint venture was reached.

"I am truly honoured and grateful for Mr Pisani's faith in Café Jubilee," Mr Scicluna said. "My brothers and I are as excited about the Budapest project as we were when we opened the first Café Jubilee in Victoria.

"We are prepared to give this project our 1,000 per cent. Mr Pisani has been incredibly generous. He has offered support in so many ways - the expertise of Corinthia's project management arm, the group's financial and design consultants, and his own personal knowledge.

"The advantages of this arrangement are important. First of all, we do not have to break down most of the cultural barriers that international business dealings present. We are working with people who already operate in Hungary and know the operational landscape well. We do not have to embark on a learning curve from the very start."

Mr Scicluna, who plans to relocate to Hungary for the medium-term to oversee the operation, is confident Café Jubilee Budapest will get off the ground. All the food and beverage operations in the vicinity are packed out on most nights, so patrons should respond equally well to the new place in town.

In Budapest, Café Jubilee, which will have 87 covers, will target the same market as it does in Malta, and the same price structure and decor concept will be retained. The menu will take a Hungarian slant but with heaps of Mediterranean flavours thrown in.

He admits that the Budapest bistro could be a launching pad for Café Jubilee's expansion overseas, either in partnership with Corinthia Group or else under Plan A - the franchise concept.

"There are pros and cons to both business models," Mr Scicluna points out.

"Obviously, growth through franchising would be faster because the capital outlay would be provided by investors, but the profits would be significantly smaller. On the other hand, the company ownership structure means we retain larger profits. Ideally, Café Jubilee's growth would involve a healthy mix of both."

In the meantime, the Sciclunas have a twin (business) baby on the way. Jubilee Foods, a brand extension project, will open its first store in Ta' l-Ibraġ in September. The outlet will stock all of Cafe Jubilee`s branded foodstuffs including their already popular Nanna's ravioli which are currently available in local supermarkets. The brand's range is also to be extended to include a wide range of traditional and painstakingly home-made foods. Two other Jubilee Foods stores will open in village cores over the next year.

Mr Scicluna's plans for a flagship store at a prime Malta location are still on track but they are taking a bit longer to materialise. In the meantime, the family business energies are channelled elsewhere.

He admits that it pours rather than it rains in his world. Instead of Café Jubilee taking things one step at a time, it is taking quite a few simultaneously - with dreams suddenly being realised in quick succession.

Not bad going for the once carefree waiter who used to wait on Mr Pisani at the Corinthia Palace Hotel restaurant in Attard.