VS Series
Grind v WatchHouse
London's speciality coffee chains, cup for cup
WatchHouse leads on 3 of the five measures that matter most: turnover, pre-tax profit, profit margin, growth and net assets. Grind is the biggest by turnover at £35m, against £23m at WatchHouse. Both lost money; WatchHouse lost the least, £12.43 of every £100 it took.
The year ends are close enough to compare like for like.
Accounts compared: Grind to Apr 2025 · WatchHouse to Jul 2025
Who they are
Grind
Grind Holdings Ltd · 12812342Grind is a London coffee company that runs its own cafés, roasts its own coffee and sells coffee beans, pods and instant coffee.In brief: coffee shops and roaster · compostable pods · online, subscriptions and supermarketsFull profile →WatchHouse
WatchHouse Coffee Holdings Limited · 10135302WatchHouse is a coffee company that runs its own coffee shops and roasts the coffee it serves and sells.In brief: coffee shops and roaster · beans, pods and subscriptions online · LondonFull profile →The Numbers
| # | Company | Turnover | Change | Pre-tax profit | Margin | Employees | Pay per head | Turnover per head | Net assets | Bank and cash | Accounts to | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GrindGrind Holdings Ltd | £35m | +18.5% | -£9m | -25.5% | 328 | £33,000 | £108,000 | £6m | £2m | Apr 2025 | Group |
| 2 | WatchHouseWatchHouse Coffee Holdings Limited | £23m | +48.3% | -£3m | -12.4% | 408 | n/d | £56,000 | £5m | £1.4m | Jul 2025 | Group |
Ranked by turnover. Click any column to sort. The leader on each measure is highlighted. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).
Category winners
The Takeaway
- WatchHouse loses the least. Of every £100 it takes, it loses £12.43, against a loss of £25.53 at Grind.
- Grind is the largest on the top line, £35m of turnover, 1.5x WatchHouse's £23m.
- WatchHouse is growing fastest, turnover +48.3% on its own prior year.
- WatchHouse is the biggest employer with 408 people; Grind pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £33,000.
- Grind has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £6m.
Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?
Every company here made a loss. WatchHouse lost the least, £12.43 of every £100 of turnover. Grind does worst, losing £25.53.
Financing bites hardest at Grind: £2.28 of every £100 goes on interest.
Every profit figure here is the one the company filed.
The chart splits each company's turnover into £100: what goes on people, on interest and on everything else, and what is left as profit.
Out of every £100 of turnover
Each column is £100 of that company's own turnover, so companies of any size compare on one scale; the figures are pounds out of each £100, not millions. Companies run from the best margin to the worst. Payroll is staff costs, financing is interest paid, other running costs are everything else, and profit is pre-tax profit, filed or estimated as marked in the table. A loss is not an extra cost: it is the part of the costs that runs past the £100 line, marked with a red bracket. Hover over any segment for its figure.
Who is the biggest, and does the comparison hold?
By turnover the order is Grind (£35m), WatchHouse (£23m).
By headcount, WatchHouse leads with 408 employees.
The accounting periods all end within 3 months of each other. All are on the same filing basis.
Turnover on the latest filing
Who is growing fastest?
WatchHouse grew fastest, turnover +48.3% on its own prior year, ahead of Grind (+18.5%).
Turnover change on each company's own prior year
Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?
WatchHouse employs the most, 408 people, against 328 at Grind.
Grind has the highest average staff cost, about £33,000 a head.
Grind brings in the most turnover per employee, about £108,000, against £56,000 at WatchHouse. It says as much about the business model as the workforce: a marketplace or a wholesaler needs far fewer people per pound than a restaurant or a gym.
Who owns each one?
Ownership as recorded on the Companies House register of people with significant control, in the bands the register uses.
Held by Mr Richard John Koch
An individual recorded as a person with significant control. 1 outstanding charge on the register.
Who owns Grind →
WatchHouse Coffee Holdings Limited · 10135302No controller recorded
The register shows no person with significant control. 2 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns WatchHouse →
What does the full ledger show?
| Measure | Grind | WatchHouse |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name | GRIND HOLDINGS LTD | WATCHHOUSE COFFEE HOLDINGS LIMITED |
| Company number | 12812342 | 10135302 |
| Incorporated | 2020 | 2016 |
| Accounts filed | 31 January 2026 | 28 April 2026 |
| Turnover, prior year | £30m | £15m |
| Pre-tax profit, prior year | -£6m | -£4m |
| Staff costs | £11m | n/d |
| Payroll share of turnover | 30.9% | n/d |
| Employees, prior year | 296 | 365 |
| Dividends paid | n/d | n/d |
| Charges outstanding | 1 | 2 |
A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d; a zero in a filing is treated as not disclosed. Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, above that to the nearest million.
Grind v WatchHouse: common questions
Who is the biggest of Grind or WatchHouse?
Grind, with turnover of £35m in the year to April 2025.
Which makes the most profit?
WatchHouse: the smallest loss, -£3m pre-tax in the year to July 2025.
Which employs the most people?
WatchHouse, with 408 employees in its latest accounts.
Grind or WatchHouse: which is bigger?
Grind, with turnover of £35m against £23m at WatchHouse on their latest filings. On margin, WatchHouse keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →
Where do these figures come from?
Each company's latest accounts filed at Companies House. Each links to its full Spark Intel profile, which names the filing it comes from.