UK Coffee Chain Black Sheep Signs 20-Unit Deal in North Texas

Black Sheep Coffee has signed a 20-unit development agreement with Yoloways Ltd. to build 20 cafés across the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex over the next five years, the UK-born chain announced in mid-February 2026. The deal follows Black Sheep’s first U.S. store opening in Plano roughly 19 months earlier and pushes the brand into a deeper North Texas rollout.

Lewis Blakey, Head of Franchising at Black Sheep Coffee, framed the expansion as strategic for Texas, saying, "Dallas–Fort Worth continues to be an important market as we build our presence in Texas. This agreement allows us to expand thoughtfully while introducing more communities to the Black Sheep Coffee experience." The agreement is described as a multi-unit franchise arrangement with Yoloways functioning as the developer for the North Texas territory; sources variously identify the partner as Yoloways Ltd., Yoloways Limited, and the brand-styled YOLOWAY.

Planned and confirmed municipalities named in the deal include Bedford, Rowlett, Plano, Grapevine and a longer list of potential sites across Richland Hills, Garland, Mobile City, Sunnyvale, Richardson and Sachse. Some reports list confirmed openings in Bedford, Plano, Rowlett and Grapevine, while the Shopping Center Business excerpt named the broader list that includes Preston Road and East Mockingbird Lane as existing local stops for Black Sheep. The presence of an entry labeled Mobile City appears in multiple source lists and remains unclarified in the announcement materials.

Black Sheep traces back to 2013 founders Gabriel Shohet and Eirik Holth and has built its identity on specialty-grade Robusta coffee. The brand markets itself as the first U.K. specialty company to focus on 100 percent specialty-grade Robusta and has said 85 percent of its coffee sales are specialty-grade Robusta. Globally, the company operates more than 130 locations across the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States; in the U.S. the chain currently operates six locations, including four in the DFW area, one in Austin and one in Miami.

The franchise agreement did not include financial terms. Black Sheep and Yoloways did not disclose development costs or franchise fees, and the companies have not released a store-by-store opening schedule beyond the five-year rollout horizon. Black Sheep’s U.S. website lists minimum franchise requirements of a commitment to at least 10 locations, cash or liquid assets of at least $1 million and multi-unit operations experience, but the agreement with Yoloways appears structured as a territory development partnership rather than single-unit franchising.

The deal places Black Sheep squarely in Texas’s competitive coffee landscape, where chains have been expanding aggressively: Dutch Bros has opened more than 220 Texas locations since 2021, Black Rock Coffee had opened 45 stores statewide as of late 2025, and 7 Brew reported at least 48 locations by the end of 2024. With the 20-unit DFW commitment, Black Sheep is betting its Robusta-focused niche and a Yoloways-led rollout can carve sustained market share over the next five years.