“We definitely don’t want to copy Starbucks, we are part of the third wave of coffee shops”warns Carlos Eisler. The message from the operational head of the Japanese coffee shop chain % Arabica comes as no surprise for the American behemoth, the world leader in the sector which is struggling to regain its growth. Since 1is October, an % Arabica camped in Paris a stone's throw from the Cirque d'hiver. The percentage sign present in the brand actually represents two coffee cherries separated by a stem.
A return for the brand, after a first establishment in the capital in 2019. This time, the brand is thinking big. Launched in 2014 from Kyoto by Kenneth Shoji, it already covers 203 salons around the world and is counting on three openings in Paris by the summer. “Coffee lovers, French and foreign, are here”justifies the manager.
Like any good coffee shop – the anglicism that designates them – the brand ticks the right boxes: exceptional coffees prepared by baristas, quality roasting and a fair trade sector. On the menu, a brief menu of coffee or matcha drinks, around 6 euros per cup, and an assortment of sandwiches and pastries. The establishment displays a stylish decoration: café-au-lait front and blond wood inside, lighting in the shape of an hourglass coffee maker… “Kenneth is a perfectionist, he is the one who gives the go for each opening”remarked Carlos Eisler.
Numerous independent brands
The Japanese chain is just one representative among others of the rising wave of coffee shops sweeping Paris and the rest of France. To the point of making the good old neighborhood bars, proud of their zinc, small blacks and Richard coffee beans, out of date. A paradox at the very moment when traditional French bistros have obtained the registration of their “social and cultural practices” in the UNESCO Intangible Heritage inventory. Do neocafés mark the end of the old places of perdition of the triumphant bourgeoisie and the relaxation of the proletarians? The only certainty is that they are booming.
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In Paris, they are called Kapé, The Coffee, Copains, Coutume, Seamer, Phin mi, Jugetsudo or Nuage Café. In Lyon, Vélcroc, launched eighteen months ago, is already an institution. This former strip club now combines a café-restaurant and a bicycle repair shop. The city has also attracted a cohort of small roasters under the Café Mokxa, Loutsa and Bongoo brands as well as a host of lounges, such as Tonka, the Perko Café and the Slake Coffee House. All listed on the Tripadvisor platform. Like those of other cities and metropolises in France. And during Art Basel Paris, from October 18 to 20, a Cha Chaan Teng, a typical Hong Kong café, combining East and West, took the spotlight under the vault of the Grand Palais.
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