Exchange Coffee founder Tom Roden has sold the popular Ebenezer Place business but says the decision wasn't related to cost-of-living issues hitting some other hospitality venues.

For Tom Roden, founder of Exchange Coffee in Ebenezer Place, the decision to sell the business came with much deliberation.

He says it “wasn’t an easy decision to come to” as he had spent a “significant proportion of [his] life…building that business”, but it was “time to do something different”.

“I just felt a really strong internal desire for change,” Tom says having sold the business in early September.

“As an owner of a small business, obviously you can’t leave your job. You can’t just hand in your resignation and walk out the door in a couple of weeks’ time. It’s much more complicated than that.

“So once I was comfortable with that decision, we had to act on it.

“I think Exchange had gone through an enormous amount of growth in the 11 years. Even from the size of the team from where we started to where it got to – and two expansions, three fit-outs – it had gone through an awful lot.”

Asked if the decision to sell to new owner PJ Tebyanian had anything to do with pressures related to the cost-of-living crisis, given the current state of hospitality, Tom replies “I don’t think so”.

“Hospitality businesses close all the time,” he says. “And for every one that closes, another one opens.

“Exchange wasn’t in any danger of closing. That’s not what led me to this decision. And, yeah, it’s not an easy industry to operate in, but I think that narrative of an industry in trouble is may be just a little bit overblown.”

Tom thinks “more weight has been given to the spate of closures rather than what is opening”.

“And, look, granted – there have been a number of fairly high-profile closures that were really well established or well regarded. So that’s certainly true. You can’t deny that.” he says.

“But I think the hospitality industry will always exist. It will always be a tricky industry because I think that’s just the nature of it, but it’s always going to be there.

“There’s always going to be venues opening up, just as many as will close, I suppose.”

He says people weren’t “spending a huge amount less than the seasonal averages [Exchange] typically see”.

“It might have been slightly down. But if I think, if I was looking at say our trade over July relative to last July was almost even.

“So year on year, not much – negligible, really.”

Tom says that although he decided to leave the business he opened in July 2013, Exchange was “in the best state it had ever been in, particularly after the recent expansion and fit-out”.

“Leaving at this point, I’ve left it in the healthiest position it could probably have been in, and I am proud of that fact,” he says.

“It’s not like I’m abandoning a sinking ship. That would have been a different scenario.

“To borrow a sporting analogy,  a lot of sports people, if they’re considering when they’re going to retire from their chosen sport, ideally they would like to go out when they’re at the top of their game, right?

“I think it’s just worked out quite nicely for me that Exchange was in such a good position when it was right for me to move on.

“I feel like I gave everything I possibly could to it, and it has resulted in a respected, well-regarded and fully functioning business.”

Tom says PJ Tebyanian will keep the core of Exchange as is and is “looking to make minimal changes,” including leaving the famous Wallace sandwich on the menu.

“There’s a legacy consideration here as well,” Tom says.

“A key part of this was finding someone that just liked Exchange for how it is essentially and can continue down its path.”

The Wallace, from an earlier Exchange in 2018. This picture: Joshua Fanning.

Tom attributes Exchange’s success to its community and not straying from the business’s “core principles” and “clear vision and mission”.

“I really placed a strong emphasis on building strong team culture and workplace culture, and building strong teams of good-natured people and people that care not just about their work, but about each other,” he says.

“There are so many examples where our community, our customers, became more than just customers. They made friendships and bonds with our team.”

Tom says this is “the thing [he] will miss the most” about owning Exchange.

“It was very hard to say goodbye to my team as employees, that was very hard to come to terms with,” he says.

“The community of people I will miss dearly, because hospitality is a people business, and that’s why I had so many good years and enjoyed hospitality so much because I really liked that customer-facing, or the public-facing aspect of it.

“And in turn, that’s what I will miss most, is those people that we see on a regular basis.”

Exchange had one of the best hot chocolates we could find this winter

Tom says he is not “totally clear” on what he will do next, but is open to the idea of another hospitality venture in the future and says “anything’s possible”.

“Hospitality is a pretty relentless industry; I think it’s very taxing running a seven-day business in hospitality,” he says.

“Obviously I knew what I signed up for and I really enjoyed what we were doing, but it still comes with a physical and mental tax.

“So right now, I’m keen to just unwind and not receive so many notifications to my phone on an hourly, daily, weekly basis.”

Exchange Coffee is still running under the new ownership at 12/18 Vardon Avenue and is open from Monday to Friday from 7am until 4pm, then Saturday and Sunday from 8am until 4pm.

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