“Our Owners Are So Happy With How It’s Gone”: Leeds Café Takes On Matcha Challenge

The Savvy Baker is an independent café in Leeds Trinity. The store, which opened in December 2025, sits opposite Blank Street, one of the UK’s fastest-growing café chains. To remind locals that “independents are here”, The Savvy Baker has launched a social media campaign challenging itself to sell more matcha than Blank Street.

The Savvy Baker began as a lockdown project before opening a warehouse bakery in 2021 to sell goods online and its first store in 2022. The business is co-owned by Savannah Roqaa and her partner, Jordan Simms, and now has three stores in Leeds, Chesterfield and York. Kelsey, a supervisor at the Leeds and Chesterfield locations, said Savannah was “nervous” and took a “massive risk” when the store moved from Roundhay to Trinity.

Kelsey noted how staff would always see “a queue out the door for Blank Street”. Founded in 2020, the US coffee chain has expanded rapidly, with over 100 UK and US stores, according to its website. Blank Street has shared that matcha makes up 50% of its sales.

Taking inspiration from matcha’s popularity and proximity to Blank Street, the café’s matcha-selling challenge started this September. The Savvy Baker has used social media to update its 162,000 followers across platforms on its progress. The videos have gained attention, with one customer saying they wanted to “try the matcha and compare it to Blank Street”. The business aims to sell 5,000 matcha drinks in a week, with 3,040 being sold in the latest reported week.

The campaign has received a positive response, with employees reporting occasionally having their own “queue out the door”. Kelsey said the café had received support from customers both in-store and online, including people showing interest in other independent businesses. The café is also collaborating with Leeds business Matcha Mascarpone as part of an effort to encourage customers to support independent businesses over larger chains.