Is i Cafe Still in Business? (2026 Update)
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Look for i Cafe on AmazonFull story →Umer Ashraf pitched an existing Glasgow coffee shop with plans to expand it into a wider franchise, rather than a brand-new idea built purely for television.
The short answer looks to be yes, on the evidence available the brand has kept several Glasgow locations trading.
The Ask And What Happened Next
Ashraf wanted £80,000 for a 49 percent stake, and Duncan Bannatyne is recorded as the Dragon who agreed to back the pitch.
According to earlier reporting, the investment ultimately did not go through on the original terms, and the deal fell apart after filming, a common enough outcome once a Dragon's team takes a closer look at the numbers behind a pitch.
The Brand In Glasgow Today
By previous accounts, the coffee shop has continued running across multiple Glasgow sites, more than a decade after the show aired.
The current business reads more like an established local chain than the countrywide franchise Ashraf described in the Den, but that is still a genuinely solid outcome for a company whose television deal never actually closed.