The franchised coffee chain will seek to open a mix of kiosks and flagship stores in major Polish cities
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An Aroma Kava store in Poltava, Ukraine | Photo credit: Aroma Kava
Ukraine’s Aroma Kava has debuted in Poland with a store in Warsaw.
Aroma Kava will seek to expand its franchise model across the Central European country by opening both small to-go kiosks and larger flagship sites across the country’s major cities, according to Forbes Ukraine.
“The first partners are Ukrainians who have been living in Poland for a long time,” co-investor Gennady Gaydabura told the publication.
Founded in 2013, Aroma Kava currently operates more than 350 stores across 45 cities in Ukraine, according to its website.
The coffee chain made its international debut in neighbouring Belarus in 2020 but closed the Minsk outlet after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Aroma Kava opened a second international site in Sofia, Bulgaria, in January 2023.
Aroma Kava is the second Ukrainian branded coffee chain to enter Poland after Lviv Croissants, which has opened 10 stores since debuting in Warsaw in October 2022.
World Coffee Portal’s Project Café Europe 2024 report forecasts that the 1,770-store branded Polish coffee shop market will exceed 2,150 outlets in the first quarter of 2029. The market is currently led by 540-store McCafé, ahead of domestic bakery chain Cukiernia Sowa and UK-based Costa Coffee, which have over 160 and 110 outlets respectively.