From Café Owner to Global CEO: How Amelia Discovered the Power of a UK Holding Company

Amelia Novak never thought she’d run anything beyond her cozy coffee shop in Lisbon. With a talent for brewing the perfect flat white and a loyal crowd of freelancers and locals, Bean & Bloom had become a neighborhood favorite. But when an investor offered her the chance to franchise her brand across Europe, Amelia faced a challenge that no espresso shot could fix: how to scale smartly, reduce risk, and keep her finances streamlined.

What followed was a crash course in international business—and the surprisingly powerful world of holding companies.

Brewing a Bigger Dream

The investor’s offer was generous: a €1.2M injection in exchange for a minority stake in each new location Amelia opened across Europe. The catch? Each outlet had to be its own legal entity due to local regulatory requirements. Amelia’s Portuguese accountant could handle the first few, but once Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands were on the table, things got complicated fast.

“Am I going to have to file taxes in five different countries?” she asked her lawyer during a particularly stressful Zoom call.

“Not necessarily,” the lawyer replied. “You might want to consider setting up a holding company in the UK.”

What is a Holding Company?

At first, the term sounded intimidating. Wasn’t that something for billion-dollar corporations?

Not at all, the lawyer explained. A holding company is a parent company that owns controlling shares in other companies—called subsidiaries—but doesn’t directly produce goods or services. Instead, it “holds” the shares of its subsidiaries and manages them from a high level.

This structure lets entrepreneurs like Amelia centralize ownership, simplify management, and even unlock tax efficiencies.

📌 Want a full breakdown? Here’s an excellent guide on what a holding company is and how it works.

Why the UK?

As Amelia dug deeper, the UK emerged as the ideal location for her holding company. It offered:

• Favorable tax treaties with over 130 countries

• No capital gains tax on disposals of qualifying subsidiaries

• No withholding tax on dividends paid by UK companies

• A stable legal framework familiar to international investors

• Access to high-quality corporate services and support

And perhaps most important for Amelia—it was English-speaking, with a strong reputation for financial transparency.

Setting It Up

With the help of a digital corporate services provider, Amelia registered Bean & Bloom Holdings Ltd in the UK in under a week. Her structure now looked like this:

• Bean & Bloom Holdings Ltd (UK) — the parent company
  • Bean & Bloom Lisbon (Portugal) — operational café

  • Bean & Bloom Milan (Italy) — under development

  • Bean & Bloom Berlin (Germany) — planned

  • Bean & Bloom Amsterdam (Netherlands) — planned

The UK holding company owned a majority stake in each subsidiary, while local investors or partners held minority shares.

The Strategic Advantages

Once everything was in place, Amelia began to feel the weight lift. Here’s what she gained:

1. Risk Management

By separating each outlet into its own subsidiary, financial and legal risks were siloed. If one location underperformed or faced legal issues, the rest of the business remained protected.

2. Centralized Control

Amelia could oversee branding, supplier contracts, and executive decisions from the UK headquarters, while allowing local teams to manage day-to-day operations.

3. Tax Efficiency

Profits could be distributed up to the UK holding company without extra withholding taxes, and in some cases, reinvested across other subsidiaries more efficiently.

4. Investor Appeal

With a clear, centralized structure, it was easier to raise funds. Future investors could buy into Bean & Bloom Holdings Ltd and gain exposure to the whole franchise network, rather than negotiating separate deals in each country.

5. Exit Strategy

If Amelia ever chose to sell, she could do so by selling shares in the holding company instead of managing multiple cross-border transactions.

Lessons Over Lattes

One year later, Amelia found herself sipping coffee in a sunlit Amsterdam café—her café—reviewing quarterly reports with her UK accountant and smiling. Her journey from local barista to international businesswoman hadn’t just been fueled by caffeine—it had been powered by strategy.

“Honestly,” she told a curious friend, “setting up a UK holding company was the smartest move I ever made.”

Final Thoughts

If you’re expanding across borders or managing multiple ventures, don’t let complexity hold you back. The right structure—like a holding company—can give you clarity, control, and confidence.

And if you’re wondering whether it’s the right step for your business? Start with research. This guide on holding companies is a great place to begin.