Morocco’s Bacha Coffee unveils first store in Malaysia

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The interior of Bacha Coffee’s store at the Suria KLCC shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Photo credit: V3 Gourmet

Moroccan heritage brand Bacha Coffee has made its debut in Malaysia with a flagship store at Kuala Lumpur’s Suria KLCC shopping centre.   The 7,000sq ft outlet has indoor and terrace seating for up to 92 customers, a takeaway counter and in-store boutique retailing more than 200 whole bean and ground coffee varieties alongside branded merchandise.   Founded in Marrakech in 1910, the original Bacha Coffee café was located in Dar el Bacha palace and renowned for serving prominent figures including, US president Franklin Roosevelt, UK prime minister Winston Churchill and legendary entertainer, Charlie Chaplain.   The ornate heritage site closed after the Second World War and fell into disrepair but was revived in 2019 by Singapore-based holding company V3 Group, which also owns premium Singapore-based tea retailer TWG Tea and luxury restaurant and bar group Le Cabestan via its luxury lifestyle subsidiary, V3 Gourmet.   

In November 2021 V3 Group announced it would invest S$136m ($99m) in V3 Gourmet and in  August 2023 the business unit opened the first Bacha Coffee store in Hong Kong, a move intended to kickstart the brand’s expansion in China’s Greater Bay Area in 2024.

  “Malaysia is one of the stops on our world tour of global openings this year, and an important step in our outheast Asian expansion strategy… There are strong ties that bind Singapore and Malaysia. Customers in Malaysia are already familiar with the brand through interactions when travelling overseas or through our digital channels,” said Taha Bouqdib, President and CEO of V3 Gourmet.   With its new Malaysia site, V3 Gourmet now operates 13 Bacha Coffee stores around the world, including nine in Singapore and single outlets in Morocco, France and Hong Kong.  

Founded in 2016 by Singaporean entrepreneur Ron Sim, V3 Group also controls a portfolio of real estate alongside wellbeing, healthcare and pharmaceutical brands via its V3 Brands, V3 Capital and V3 Assets subsidiaries.