With its corporate headquarters in London, England, Caffè Nero is a well-known coffee shop business with an Italian flavour. Gerry Ford founded the business in 1997, and it has since expanded to run more than 1,000 coffee shops in eleven nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Cyprus, Croatia, and Turkey. By purchasing and opening its coffee roastery in Battersea, south London, in 2009, Caffè Nero made a big advancement in its growth trajectory. This roastery currently provides coffee to all of the company's coffee shops across the world.

The business has a long history of growth and innovation. Gerry Ford oversaw a small group of investors in 1997 when they bought five coffee shops in London. The Classico distinctive coffee house mix was also released at the same time and is still available in all of the stores today. It has since won honours for its excellence. After being listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2001 with the ticker CFN, Caffè Nero was taken private by Rome Bidco Ltd. in 2007. Since then, the business has spread to several nations, with its most recent expansions occurring in Croatia in 2017, Oman in 2018, and Sweden in 2019.

Caffè Nero has won praise for its dedication to excellence and high standards. In 2013, experts at the independent consumer magazine Which? evaluated the company's coffee as having the finest flavour among five significant UK brands. The Caffè Nero Group completed the acquisition of Tesco's Harris + Hoole company in 2016, and 2019 it expanded further by acquiring the majority of the shares of Coffee#1, a chain of 100 coffee shops. Caffè Nero's dedication to staff growth and training was recognised in 2022 with the Princess Royal Award For Outstanding Workplace Training.