It's love at first bite at XS Espresso Kotara
Look out Novocastrians because XS Espresso has now opened their second store in Newcastle at the Homemaker Centre Kotara.
Officially launching their space on the 6th of December Franchisee Nathan says,
“The night before we had everything opened, we were installing the coffee machine and this group of girls were walking past the window and they started screaming OH MY GOD XS is here. So, they know us from our other locations. We didn’t realise how quickly we became well known in Newcastle."
Quickly becoming a local favourite, the open till late venue has become a popular stop for late-night dessert cravings.
Tantalising our tastebuds with a large range of desserts sit back and let your tummy rumble when you cut into the fluffy pancake centre of the Lotus Range and watch as the creamy Biscoff melts out.
Nathan regards the Kotara store as their ‘flagship’ store in Newcastle, it’s bigger than Jesmond and sits in more of a centralised location amongst other larger retailers as well.
Having two stores open has now left Nathan with less sleep.
“Double the stress, but it’s great. Our first store in Jesmond was a learning experience we learned a lot from that as it was our first store outside of Sydney.”
Hoping to have around 5-7 stores across Newcastle and the Hunter spreading down to the Central Coast, Nathan’s favourite store at the moment is Kotara.
“Operationally we turn, and everything is at our fingertips where we inherited the kitchen at Jesmond, it’s a smaller footprint in regard to how many chairs and tables we can fit in where this layout at Kotara is the blueprint of what an XS store should look like.”
Since Jesmond has been opened, the menu has undergone a refurb across all stores, adding more healthy components, vegan options, and more desserts at night.
“We are starting to now become in Newcastle the go-to late-night dessert bar. We find our busiest time across both stores is between 9pm and 10pm. Everyone thinks we are a traditional café, late at night people will walk in and ask, are we still open? So, we are trying to get the word out that we are open and cook right through to 10.”
For anyone that is yet to visit XS Espresso, Nathan recommends the big breakfast after a big night out or if you have a craving for something sweet the go-to dessert at the moment is the oven-baked cookie dough.
Expanding outside they have just gotten approval for outdoor seating and are also looking into bringing on a liquor license.
When asked about how he picks locations Nathan says,
“We try to pick places that you can either drive in and easily grab a coffee and go or come in and sit down and have a meal or even at night there’s literally nothing opened in the centre and you drive in and there’s literally 15 cars parked in front of our shop. We are here by ourselves, but the word is getting out pretty quickly.
“This store has created its own little market and the habits are different as well, what we sell here is completely different to Jesmond. A lot of families come here as well as large bookings. We have a table of 27 booked and 19 and we have had at least 10 kids’ birthdays already. Last week we had a young girl’s 6th birthday and they all turned up wearing angel wings and they all had XS surprises and they just loved it. I think the mums enjoyed it more than them.”
The word is well out about the quality of food and experience at XS and whether you're heading down for a quick coffee, a date with your girlfriends, or checking out their desserts XS has it all.
