ZUS Coffee chief operating officer Venon Tian. — ART CHEN/The Star
Coffee shop operator Zuspresso Sdn. plans to open nearly 200 new stores in Southeast Asia this year, after surpassing Starbucks as Malaysia’s largest coffee chain within five years of inception.
The ZUS Coffee brand owner will open at least 107 new stores in Malaysia, add about 80 in the Philippines, and another six in Singapore, Chief Operating Officer Venon Tian said in an interview. The firm will also start its first stores in Thailand and Indonesia this year.
ZUS overtook Starbucks as Malaysia’s largest-coffee chain in early 2024. It has 743 stores in the country, while Starbucks operates 320 stores. The US chain’s presence in the Muslim-majority nation has recently shrunk after boycotts for the brand’s perceived Israel links amid the Gaza conflict dragged down the earnings of its Malaysian operator.
ZUS currently runs about 120 stores in the Philippines - backed by an investment from Filipino billionaire Frank Lao - and four locations in Singapore. The coffee chain also operates in Brunei under a franchise model.
Tian said ZUS finds its success in tailor-made flavours in each market it operates in - such as palm sugar-flavoured drinks in Malaysia and purple yam-flavoured coffee in the Philippines.
The coffee chain’s rapid growth is seen in its financials, with net income rising threefold to RM37mil in 2024.
The jump in profit comes amid strong investor interest in Malaysia’s mass consumer sector. Mini-mart retail chain 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings Bhd. undertook Malaysia’s largest initial public offering last year, while discount-store operator Eco-Shop Marketing Sdn. will launch their IPO next week - which is expected to be Malaysia’s biggest listing to date this year.
ZUS started out as a kiosk focused on coffee delivery with its own mobile application in late 2019, and thrived during the pandemic when lockdowns forced people to turn to online deliveries for their daily needs.
"Covid accelerated our business model,” Tian said.
The company does roughly 70% of its sales online, through deliveries and pickups. ZUS’ technology-focused business model, coupled with cost optimisation in building its brick-and-mortar shops, has helped it sell coffee over 20% cheaper than Starbucks, growing its mass appeal in Malaysia.
"You’ve got the convenience store, which sells your coffee at RM5 and below. Then you have premium mass coffee selling at RM11 and above. So ZUS positioned itself between that price point,” Tian said. "It’s about how we make quality coffee accessible to most people.” - Bloomberg
