A FLEDGLING cafe chain based in York is about to launch its third branch, just over two years after the first opened its doors.

Chris Hartley, of Croque Monsieur, said the business's growth was close to the plans they made ahead of their first opening on Fulford Road in January 2015.

The company has signed the lease on 20 George Hudson Street, and at 1500 sq feet the third branch will be a significant expansion on the two shops already operating in York.

Chris, who runs the company with his uncle Colin Mustow, said the new unit would be around three times the size of the Fulford Road and Bootham Bar shops they already run, but with offices like Aviva and City of York Council on the doorstep and a constant flow of people the railway station passing the front door, they are confident of a market for the new branch.

He added: "It's one of the smaller units on the road, but it's nice that we are heading the right way with growth, and being confident that we can fill that space."

It is also something of a return to basics, as the new cafe will rely more on returning customers from the nearby offices, rather than the tourist market.

"If I am being brutally honest, I thought we would have a third branch open within two years. We're about five months behind that, because Bootham took a lot longer to get open than it should have done, and we couldn't get number three open until number two was bedded in."

Unlike Fulford Road, the Bootham branch does not get returning customers from nearby workplaces but instead has to rely on the tourist pound which made the first year's trading hard, Chris added.

"I think George Hudson Street is about to come of age. With the redevelopment of that whole building, the student accommodation, the offices, Malmaison and the other hotels, I think we'll look back in a couple of years and think we got in at the right time," he said.

They have set an opening day for Tuesday, May 2, builders are already on site with an estimated £40,000- £50,000 investment, plus £25,000 for equipment, coming from the existing business.

Their start-up costs at George Hudson Street have been helped by landlord Property Alliance, who have put in the background work to create a new entrance, and install customer toilets.

The new shop should create 10 jobs, Chris said, with manager Alex McDonald moving over from the Bootham branch while the company approached staff from the closed Starbucks on Stonegate about filling some of the other roles.

With a business model based on one core unit on Fulford Road, which supplies the other branches in the city, Chris said they could consider one more unit in York, and beyond that will target expansion into other Yorkshire cities like Leeds or Hull.

"We have always said if we are going to do this, we will do it properly, so we registered the trading name and various websites so we do have the ability to grow if we have the confidence to do so."