Newmarket has a new coffee company trying to make its mark in a bigger market by filling the shoes of what was once a Starbucks.
Dark Horse Espresso Bar has arrived to take the place of the famed coffee chain inside the Indigo in Newmarket at 17440 Yonge St. The Toronto-based café expanded to Newmarket and Stoney Creek this month, bringing it to a total of 12 locations. The expansion represents the location’s first foray outside of Toronto.
Marketing manager Ryan McCabe said it is part of the store’s efforts to form a partnership with Indigo. The store originally filled a spot of a former Starbucks at a Toronto Indigo location.
“It’s gone really, really well,” McCabe said, adding it led to the company wanting to do more such locations. “It was exciting to kind of open up in the Newmarket area, and with lots of people moving out that way from Toronto, we have just found there to be a lot of tight-knit neighbourhoods.”
Dark Horse was founded in 2006 in Toronto’s east end. Since then, the company has slowly expanded throughout the city, offering a rotating menu of brews, including unique brands named after famed Canadian racehorses, like 20 Grand and Northern Dancer. All locations are centrally owned by company founders Deanna Zunde and Ed Lynds.
“It’s more of an independent specialty coffee scene. Dark Horse really values the customer experience. Obviously, it’s very good coffee and (we) really care about the coffee, but in a lot of ways, it really cares almost first about the esthetic and the vibe and the customer experience,” McCabe said.
“It’s a really warm way to experience more specialty coffee.”
McCabe said the company began partnering with Indigo when representatives visited Dark Horse and came to like what it offered.
“They really fell in love with the esthetic and the vibe and the coffee at Dark Horse,” he said. “It resonated with them … Indigo, being a Canadian company, also partnering with other Canadian brands, has gone over really well with people.”
The store has been doing well in its first few weeks in Newmarket, he said.
“People seem to be really receiving things well,” he said, “just getting used to seeing something new in that area.”
Opening new stores took effort for Dark Horse, with the company on the smaller side, McCabe said. Any further expansion will wait until the new locations in Newmarket and Stoney Creek are settled, but it is possible in the future.
“Right now, (we are) just focused on making these as best as they can be,” he said.
