Career
Bobby started his career as an investment banker in mergers and acquisitions at Lehman Brothers Investment Bank in New York. He had been there for over three years when the sudden death of his father in 1993 led him to take a sabbatical to spend time in London, closer to his family. Bobby was considering returning to Lehman Brothers after his sabbatical when he spotted a business opportunity - a gap in the market for coffee drinks in the UK. Bobby saw this as a seed for a new business venture and the idea of Coffee Republic was born.
Bobby formed the Coffee Republic chain with his sister Sahar. Bobby then lead Coffee Republic Plc from its inception to position as one of the best-known coffee bar brands in the UK, a London Stock Exchange quoted company with annual sales of £30 million and 100 stores across the UK. As CEO and then Executive Chairman, he was involved in all aspects of growing and running the business - including strategy, branding, operations, finance and fundraising.
The business was founded in late 1995, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, raised £20 million equity over the following 3 years, and by 2001 when Bobby exited the business, the share price had risen by 5x since its flotation. Then two years later, he re-joined the business from 2003 - 2006 to lead a turnaround of the business and develop the Coffee Republic Deli concept.
From 2007 – 2012, Bobby was a partner and shareholder at Risk Capital Partners, an established private equity investment firm with a £75 million fund investing in growth companies across the UK, where he participated in originating, appraising, executing, and monitoring deals across the consumer sector.
Read more about this topic: Bobby Hashemi
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