Rising coffee consumption and significant potential for outlet growth were highlighted as key drivers for The Coffee’s planned UAE debut, with stores in Saudi Arabia and Egypt also slated for next year
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A The Coffee store in São Paulo, Brazil | Photo credit: The Coffee
Brazilian specialty coffee chain The Coffee will further expand its international footprint in the first half of 2024 with its first stores in the Middle East.
The brand’s growth in the region will begin with two franchised outlets in Dubai, the UAE, which CEO Carlos Fertonani described as a ‘strategic’ market due to high coffee consumption and ‘possibilities for expansion’.
Curitiba-based The Coffee will also open its first stores in Saudi Arabia and Egypt within the first six months of next year, with its planned presence in the Middle East adopting the brand’s focus on small-format sites which primarily cater to on-the-go trade.
Founded in 2018, The Coffee currently operates 200 stores in its native Brazil alongside 23 outlets across Colombia, Peru, Chile, Spain, Portugal and France.
The Coffee completed a $7.5m investment round in January 2023, and raised a further $10m in October 2023 to facilitate its entry in the Middle East and scale its presence across South America and Europe.
The small-format coffee chain is seeking to open 1,500 stores outside of Brazil by 2028, with a further 12 outlets set to open before the end of the year and a total of 35 stores slated to open in the first six months of 2024.
The UAE is the second largest branded coffee shop market in
the Middle East by outlets with more than 1,400 stores. World Coffee Portal
research forecasts the market will near 1,700 outlets by 2027. The total Middle Eastern branded coffee shop industry is expected to exceed 11,800 stores within the next three years.
