AN entrepreneur hopes to double the size of his cafe chain by the end of next year after securing a promise of £80,000 of funding from Duncan Bannatyne on Dragons' Den.
Umer Ashraf opened his first iCafe in 2005 on Great Western Road in Glasgow and has launched two further outlets in the city's Gibson Street and Woodlands Road.
Mr Bannatyne was the only one of the five Dragons to make an offer on the BBC show, with Mr Ashraf giving up 49% of his company in exchange for the investment.
The due diligence on the deal has been completed, although Mr Ashraf said that there are still some "bits and bobs" to be finalised.
At the moment, he has put in an offer on one new shop and is looking at two more possible locations.
He plans to grow the business to nine stores in Glasgow and predicts that would increase turnover from around £500,000 to £5.5 million.
When that level is reached, Mr Ashraf intends to begin franchising based on the model he has built.
He said: "We have looked at one site on the south side which should be happening in spring 2013 and there are two others we have offers in for, but those won't come in until the latter part of next year."
Other locations the company is looking at include Finnieston and the Merchant City.
Mr Ashraf praised the "fantastic" level of knowledge of Mr Bannatyne's team.
He said: "They certainly know all about the ins and outs of multi-site operation."
There are also plans to grow iCafe's wholesale operation, which provides coffee, cakes and sandwiches to a small number of retailers in Glasgow.
Mr Ashraf added: "It is a very small client base and it is certainly something which we are going to promote more."
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