The launch comes hot on the heels of debuts in the Philippines and India as the Indonesian coffee chain sets its sights on 2,500 stores globally by 2028
Kopi Kenangan has continued its international expansion drive with a first store in Australia.
The fast-growing Indonesian coffee chain, which trades as Kenangan Coffee internationally, has launched at Sydney’s Westfield Myer shopping centre and is planning a second Australian location in Melbourne before the end of 2025.
Kopi Kenangan shares a retail space at Westfield with Indonesian QSR brands Bintang Bro and Sweet Republic as part of the retail hub’s ‘Little Indo Town’, which seeks to showcase Indonesian F&B concepts in Australia.
“We want to take Indonesian coffee even further, and expanding into Australia is a major step toward that goal. We believe our coffee will be appreciated and loved by coffee enthusiasts there, just as it has been in Indonesia,” said Edward Tirtanata, CEO, Kopi Kenangan.
Founded in 2017, Kopi Kenangan became the first food and beverage company from Southeast Asia to attain coveted unicorn status after receiving a $1bn valuation in January 2022. The premium coffee chain currently operates 900 outlets across its home market and has been ramping up international expansion over the last six months with market debuts in the Philippines and India.
Kopi Kenangan’s international presence also comprises 98 stores in Malaysia and seven in Singapore, with the on-the-go brand planning a first store in Taiwan in the second half of 2025. The Jakarta-based coffee chain has a goal of reaching 2,500 stores globally by 2028, including 500 international sites.
Success in Australia has traditionally been hard to come by for international branded coffee chains due to strong consumer preference for artisan independents. US giant Dunkin’ exited the market in the late 2000s, while Danish coffee chain Joe & The Juice closed its last store in the country in September 2023 to focus on more profitable markets.
Seattle-based Starbucks entered the Australian market in 2000 but only turned its first profit in 2023 after amounting significant losses and closing two thirds of its stores in 2008.
However, suggesting Australian consumers could be warming to international coffee chains, Starbucks has since scaled from 24 sites to 80 and expanded to the west coast for the first time in October 2024. Further indicating new opportunities for scaled international operators, small-format Chinese chain Cotti Coffee has opened 17 franchised stores since debuting in Sydney in February 2024 while Japanese specialty coffee chain % Arabica and Vietnamese coffee group Trung Nguyen Legend have also announced plans to enter the Australian market in 2025.
Kopi Kenangan’s Australia debut comes five years after Indonesian specialty coffee operator Jabarano Coffee entered the market with a Melbourne store in February 2020. The Bandung-based café business has since exited the market.
