Koasting Into The U.S.
New style anchor tenant WildKoast aims to drive daily repeat business in an extraordinary way.

Combining several micro-businesses under one roof hasn’t been much of a successful retail strategy for most who’ve tried it. But for Wilhelm Liebenberg, a tireless entrepreneur with a background in marketing, advertising, fashion, retail and interior design, the idea makes perfect sense. Liebenberg is the founder and chairman of WildKoast, a coffee/bakery café-lounge experience developed by WildKoast International Corporation Inc., a Montreal, Québec-based retail and entertainment development company. In addition to specialty coffee and a bakery, WildKoast café-lounges incorporate gourmet/take-out food, brand-driven retail, books, music and entertainment under one roof. The strategy is to operate up to six micro-businesses — each with its own profit and loss — versus competitors,  which operate only one or two micro-businesses.

“If you take all of these businesses and make each of them strong enough to be able to compete with the best in the world individually, then combine them and treat them with the same importance, but under one roof and the same brand experience, then you have a very powerful business because you can offer a superior experience at no extra cost,” says Liebenberg.

WildKoast café-lounges are intended to become destinations for consumers who want to relax with or purchase an assortment of marché foods, books, CD/DVDs and other unique products. Each of the planned sites will offer breakfast, lunch, afternoon coffee, dinner, desserts and a late-night lounge experience. The beverage and food menu has been developed with one of the premier restaurant management and culinary institutes of North America, Montreal’s Institut de Tourisme et d’Hôtellerie du Québec, and will feature fresh baked and prepared foods, including gourmet soups, pizzas, sandwiches, artisan breads, cakes and homemade gelatos. A majority of the flagship locations will also include two to four luxury digital screening rooms, where in the evening, guests can enjoy an edgy, independent film, a Hollywood classic or the best of foreign cinema, accompanied by a gourmet meal and glass of wine or cappuccino.

Liebenberg has quietly, but successfully, been combining micro-businesses from one project to another over the last several years. In fact, WildKoast was an evolution of many different concepts that the well-traveled Liebenberg had a hand in, including a project called Club Kyro in South Africa, which combined a café, clothing, magazines and furniture, and similar projects in Montreal. He also developed a successful advertising business, managing large accounts with major retailers and entertainment companies.

“I started looking at the trends internationally and understood that there is tremendous opportunity if you combine micro-businesses under one cohesive brand experience,” Liebenberg says. “Colette in Paris is a good example. They’ve built an international success story from one location just by doing what people seem to have difficulty doing, and that’s combining micro-businesses.” 

The inspiration for the WildKoast design was the late 1950s and ’60s in Italy — the la Dolce Vita era and The Talented Mr. Ripley kind of jet-set life in Italy. Everything is custom designed and hand-made, sourced by suppliers around the world. The goal, says Liebenberg, was to give affordable luxury in an environment that drives escapism.

“I wanted to give people the magic of the late ’50s and ’60s in Italy,” he notes. “So I blended what was part of that time in the ’50s, the African experience, and brought in some bamboo, mosaics, interesting wood finishes and masks, but from an Italian design experience. Clients experience a sense of luxury, escapism, authenticity, quality and timelessness. It’s not a theme at all.”

The first WildKoast flagship location has opened in Montreal and will be followed by a U.S. rollout. The company plans to open two flagship locations, which average 15,000 square feet, in major markets, such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami, followed by five to six WildKoast Express locations, which are roughly 2,800 square feet, have a limited menu and incorporate only the marché concept, some CDs and books.

“Once we hit the major markets, we’ll branch out into the New Jerseys, Atlantas and Houstons,” says Kerry Newman, senior associate for Koniver Stern Group, which is handling the WildKoast rollout in the U.S.

“We’re looking for locations that have a breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night component, in a building that has a lot of curb appeal or a trademark building that will emphasize the uniqueness of WildKoast and has two levels or a basement where we can put the theaters.” 

For the Express locations, WildKoast will select prime high-traffic locations close to Starbucks and other café concept retailers, such as The Cheesecake Factory, Barnes & Noble, Panera Bread and Dean & Deluca. For the flagships, demographics are important, but the company is also going to look to be in the same locations as some of the more upscale retailers, restaurants and nightclubs.

Instead of relying on tourist traffic, WildKoast will principally rely on the visit frequency and loyalty of consumers who work, reside or shop near each of its locations.

“It’s a new style anchor tenant that drives daily repeat business in an extraordinary way,” says Liebenberg, “and Starbucks is a typical example of what can happen when you can offer daily repeat business.”

“There’s a big crisis in that there is so little that is innovative and new,” he adds. “And for landlords, it’s a dream situation because it brings a very authentic experience that people can have on a daily basis, which obviously drives traffic tremendously.”

WildKoast hopes to reach 25 locations in the first two years, including flagship and Express units. Coinciding with the U.S. expansion will most likely be European locations. Liebenberg’s ultimate goal is to take the concept overseas and become the market leader in what WildKoast is doing.

“We are aware of, and have tremendous respect for, the extraordinary success of a concept like Starbucks,” he says, “but we see WildKoast as an international experience. We believe it will be fabulous for the U.S., European and Asian markets. So our objective is to build it into an international success story and create a more modern expansion, keeping the experience a bit more exclusive, but bringing it to any major urban environment.”

— Susan H. Fishman