It marks an expansion for the popular bakery café chain and has created 12 new jobs at Forestside shopping centre in Belfast.
The new kiosk café leaves a smaller footprint than traditional stores, with a focus on food-to-go – a new concept for the brand which is owned by Australian firm FoodCo Group.
The location was chosen as the home of the first venue of its kind due to the significant footfall there and the central location of the kiosk towards the south end of the mall.
Adela Pop, Jay Patel and Prince Pagani at the opening of Muffin Break’s first kiosk concept in Forestside, Belfast.
Michael Johnson, franchise development executive at FoodCo UK said the firm has enjoyed a host of openings in NI in recent years including the franchised Jamaica Blue concept.
“Muffin Break has been particularly well received in central Belfast thanks to our premium coffee offering and freshly baked goods, so, when the opportunity presented itself to trial a new, smaller footprint model of Muffin Break store in a shopping centre that we knew well, the time was right to open our third Muffin Break outlet in Northern Ireland,” he added.
Jamaica Blue has been successfully trading in Forestside for the past three years and is the third location for Muffin Break in the region.
Existing stores are operating in Belfast’s Castle Court and the Buttercrane Shopping Centre in Newry, where customers are offered baked goods, coffee and lunch options.
The first Muffin Break in the UK opened its doors back in 2001. There are now 68 outlets nationwide, including its cafes in NI.
However Mr Johnson has hinted that that number could grow.
“We now have three Muffin Break outlets and two Jamacia Blue cafes in NI, and we’re actively looking for new sites and franchise partners in Northern Ireland,” he said.
“FoodCo is a progressive hospitality franchise business with big ambitions.
“Globally, there are over 550 locations across eight counties, and here in Northern Ireland, we’re keen to grow with the right partners.”
It follows a number of new openings at Forestside including the arrival of US fried chicken fast-food giant Popeyes.
The business’ popularity drew more visitors to the centre than normal with increased demand for car parking space.
Earlier this week the Forestside U-turned on a decision to hike staff parking fees from £1.50 to £5 a day after the Belfast Telegraph revealed plans for a huge increase in costs for workers.
It also emerged that employees were being restricted over what car parks they can use, with staff at one business being informed they can only park at a small council-owned car park on the other side of the road, which only has around 50 spaces.
But within hours of the news being revealed by this newspaper, the shopping centre announced a climbdown.
In a statement, the management said: “Feedback from staff has been taken on board and for the foreseeable future existing car parking charges will be maintained at £1.50 per day for Staff and not the £5 previously proposed.
“To further support the staff, we have secured off-site car parking of c.100 spaces, within a short walking distance of the centre, which will be for the sole use of Staff, free of charge.”