The company, whose machines have fast become a common fixture in motorway service stations in particular, currently has a presence at 320 UK sites. Founder and chief executive Martyn Dawes hopes to increase this figure to around 500 by spring 2006 and believes that there is potential for this figure to then triple within three or four years.

With plans to trial the concept in Europe also on the agenda, Dawes is now considering a range of funding options. He admits he is yet to rule anything out, whether it be a further tranche of private equity finance – Primary Capital supported the group to the tune of £4 million back in 2000 – or even a stock market flotation.

Coffee Nation, which most recently announced a deal to pilot its gourmet self-serve coffee bars in a number of Odeon/UCI’s cinemas, generated sales of around £12 million last year.