Morocco’s Bacha Coffee to kickstart expansion in South China

A Bacha Coffee store at Changi Airport, Singapore | Photo credit: Bacha Coffee

Morocco’s Bacha Coffee will open its first store in Hong Kong in August 2023 at the IFC Mall. 
 

Speaking to South China Morning Post, CEO Taha Bouqdib said Hong Kong is a strategically important market for the brand as it seeks further expansion into the Greater Bay Area (GBA) in early 2024. 
 

The GBA comprises nine cities from China’s Guangdong province, including Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. 
 

“Hong Kong is always ahead in the gourmet market. You cannot be an international brand without being in Hong Kong,” Bouqdib said. 
 

Bacha Coffee will also launch an e-commerce platform tailored for the Hong Kongese market in the third quarter.  

In November 2023, the café chain and retailer launched on Tmall, an online business-to-consumer retail site operated by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Bacha Coffee’s sales on Tmall increased more than 200% year-on-year in the first half of 2023, according to Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. 

Other specialty coffee chains operating in IFC Mall include Hong Kong’s Nodi Coffee, Japanese brands % Arabica and Omotesando Koffee and US-based Blue Bottle Coffee.  
 

Founded in Marrakesh in 1910, Bacha Coffee currently operates single boutique stores in Morocco and France alongside nine outlets in Singapore. 

In July 2023, Bacha Coffee announced plans to open its first store in Malaysia at the Suria KLCC shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur. The outlet is set to open in August 2023. 

Bacha Coffee is part of food and beverage retail group, V3 Gourmet, which also owns the Tea WG and Le Cabestan brands. The group currently operates 13 Tea WG outlets in Hong Kong since making its debut in 2011.