US specialty coffee chain Blue Bottle Coffee opens Singapore pop-up store, UK-based M&S Café rolls out new coffee blend, South African petrol station retailer Engen opens 365th Café 365, UK coffee wholesaler All Things Bloom sponsors British Cycling race and Germany’s Coffee Fellows plans further US expansion

The Raffles City ‘soft launch’ will sell Blue Bottle branded merchandise and packaged retail products | Photo credit: Madalyn Cox

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California’s Blue Bottle Coffee makes Singapore debut with pop-up store

 

Renowned Californian specialty café chain Blue Bottle Coffee has soft launched in Singapore with a pop-up store at LUMINE’s Raffles City fashion outlet. The ‘gift shop’ site represents Blue Bottle’s first foray into Southeast Asia and will see the coffee chain sell branded merchandise and packaged retail products, including the group’s specialty instant coffee range.

The location is a first step for a ‘broader introduction of the full Blue Bottle Coffee experience planned for Singapore’, Blue Bottle said in a press release. Alongside more than 100 cafés in the US, Blue Bottle operates stores in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China.  

 

M&S launches new Roast & Ritual coffee blend across café​ and self-serve network 

 

UK high street retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has rolled out a new house blend across its 320 M&S Cafés and 50 self-serve coffee machines. Director of Hospitality Alicia Thompson said M&S has been developing Roast & Ritual, a blend of Brazilian, Ethiopian and Peruvian coffees, for 12 months to ‘perfect the flavour, blend, brand and name’. The move is M&S’ first coffee launch since introducing Magic Coffee in January 2023 – beverage comprising ristretto and steamed milk and touted as the next flat white. 

 

South African petrol station retailer Engen opens 365th Café 365 

 

Cape Town-based petrol station group Engen has reached 365 Café 365 sites across South Africa with a new coffee shop in East London, Eastern Cape. Engen launched Café 365 in November 2022 and has rapidly scaled the coffee shop concept across its 1,300 petrol station sites with plans to reach 600 cafés by June 2025. The network serves coffee from Engen’s propriety coffee brand Brazmata – sourced from Brazil, Guatemala and Tanzania. 

 

UK specialty coffee wholesaler All Things Bloom partners with British Cycling 

 

UK specialty coffee business All Things Bloom has partnered with British Cycling to sponsor the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain. The 20th modern edition of the UK’s longest professional cycle race begins in Scotland on 3 September 2024 and encompasses six stages, finishing in Suffolk on 8 September 2024. Specialty coffee from All Things Bloom, launched in May 2024 by The Gentlemen Baristas co-Founder Henry Ayers, will be served at the GAUCHO Lounge hospitality area and fan villages at the end of each stage of the race. 

 

Germany’s Coffee Fellows unveils next outlets in US expansion drive 

 

Munich-based Coffee Fellows has announced plans to open four new outlets in Texas over the next six months. The coffee chain made its US debut in June 2023 with a store in Houston before expanding to the city of Katy five months later. In a press release, Coffee Fellows said it has additional sites lined up in each city – with the new Houston site opening in September 2024 and first stores in Cypress and Pearland slated for early 2025. The coffee chain is planning to open up to 20 stores across Texas before expanding to further US states.