Coffy Invites Independent Cafés to Convert, So Should You Bring Yours Into a Chain?
Coffy, a Turkish coffee chain, has launched “Kafeler Coffy Oluyor” (“Cafés Are Becoming Coffy”), a project that converts independent cafés into Coffy outlets (Perakende.org, 5 October 2026). Owners pay no project fee and no brand-name fee, and they get up to 36 months of financing, construction and equipment support, plus training, operations, supply and marketing support. The project has drawn more than 300 applications, and the target is to convert close to 20 shops by year end.
Here is what it means for you. If you run a café under your own sign in Istanbul or anywhere in Anatolia in autumn 2026, you now have a concrete choice in front of you: stay independent or move under a chain’s roof. That is not a signage change. It touches everything from your menu and suppliers to your customer data and the value of your own name, and key items such as total investment and revenue share have not been disclosed yet.
What exactly does Coffy’s “Kafeler Coffy Oluyor” model offer an independent café owner?
It offers three things: free entry, financing and a ready-made operating system. Look, in a standard franchise the brand-name fee is the first barrier at the door, and Coffy removes it. In return, your café runs under the Coffy sign, the Coffy menu and the Coffy way of operating. The average payback period is given as 36 months.
Which costs and conditions of a Coffy conversion are still undisclosed?
Most of the items that decide the matter are undisclosed. Total investment, revenue share, financing terms and application criteria are not in the report. Let me ask you one thing: would you sign a lease with the monthly rent left blank? Until these gaps are filled, the decision is not complete.
What does an independent café gain and lose by joining Coffy?
It gains a brand, buying power and financing; it loses freedom of decision and its own name. Let’s say you have regulars who have come for years, and there is a dessert on your menu the whole street knows. Once you join a chain, you no longer decide whether that dessert stays. The gain is a system a café on its own could never build.
The gains: brand, supply and system
Coffy sits within DP Eurasia, the master franchisee of Domino’s Pizza for Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The report highlights DP Eurasia’s experience operating 1,000 stores. Bulk buying power, a ready training manual and a known sign are the three things an independent café finds hardest to build. We discussed what a famous face or name brings to a store in our piece on the MR.DIY ad film.
The losses: menu, price and pace
Head office sets the price, the menu, the campaign calendar and often the supplier. When you feel like trying something new on a Sunday morning, your room to experiment is limited. For some operators that is a burden; for others it is a headache they are finally rid of.
Who does the “Kafeler Coffy Oluyor” model affect, and how?
The winners are well-located independent cafés that lack the capital to refurbish, and Coffy, which wants to grow its network fast. The squeezed side is independent cafés left alone on the same street, now competing with a chain outlet. Indirectly affected are suppliers selling beans, machines and equipment to independents, and the landlords of high-street shops.
What does a café gain or lose online by joining Coffy or staying independent?
A café that joins gains a ready app and a registered user base; one that stays independent keeps its own customer data. According to Para Dergi on 3 April 2026, more than 30% of Coffy’s sales come through digital channels, and the brand has 1.14 million registered users. That is distribution power a single neighbourhood café cannot build.
What should a café owner calculate this week before deciding on Coffy?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Put the last twelve months of takings on one page
- Prepare your questions for Coffy in writing
- Build the stay-independent scenario just as seriously
Three things: a breakdown of where you stand today, a list of questions for Coffy and a stay-independent scenario. I ask myself the same question in my own businesses all the time: grow alone, or step under a bigger roof. Here’s what I have learned: whoever asks that question without numbers answers it with a feeling. If you want to measure the value of your own name and strengthen the stay-independent case, we handle that work as part of our brand consultancy.
Put the last twelve months of takings on one page
List monthly revenue, rent, staff, ingredients and equipment costs one under the other. Add your average basket and daily customer count. Without this page, you have no ground to compare Coffy’s offer against.
Prepare your questions for Coffy in writing
Total investment, monthly revenue share, the interest and repayment plan on the financing, supply obligations, contract length and exit terms. Add the application criteria too: floor area, location and expected current revenue. Ask for written answers, and have a lawyer and an accountant read the contract.
Build the stay-independent scenario just as seriously
Work out what would change if you spent the same money refurbishing your own café. Sometimes a simpler menu and the right local visibility setup deliver the same result without changing the sign. My decision line is this: do not sign until the undisclosed numbers are in front of you in writing, and once they are, do not choose until both scenarios sit side by side.
Quick Summary
- Coffy has launched “Kafeler Coffy Oluyor”, a project converting independent cafés to its brand (Perakende.org, 5 October 2026).
- No project fee or brand-name fee is charged, and up to 36 months of financing plus construction and equipment support is offered.
- The project has drawn more than 300 applications, with close to 20 conversions targeted by year end (Perakende.org).
- Total investment, revenue share and financing terms have not been disclosed.
- To decide, put your own takings breakdown, your written questions and your stay-independent scenario side by side.
Short Glossary
- Brand-name fee
- Brand-name fee is the term used for the upfront amount paid at the start of a franchise in exchange for the right to use a brand’s name and system.
- Royalty
- Royalty is the term used for the regular share of revenue a franchise partner pays to the brand owner.
- Master franchise
- Master franchise is the term used for a model that gives one company all franchise rights to a brand in a given country or region.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
If you want to put your café’s join-a-chain and stay-independent scenarios side by side with us, fill in the consult your expert form. You can find more analysis on our retail page, where we interpret the retail agenda for you.
Sources: Perakende.org, 5 October 2026 · Para Dergi, 3 April 2026 · DP Eurasia corporate website
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
The report states clearly that owners pay no project fee and no brand-name fee. That is not the usual way a franchise starts. But “no fee at entry” and “no fees at all” are not the same sentence; later charges are not specified.
The package covers financing of up to 36 months, plus construction and equipment support. Training, operations, supply, marketing and business development support are listed too. On paper, most of the work a café owner carries alone moves into a system.
The first conversion was in Istanbul’s Eyüpsultan district and the second in Başakşehir. Applications are coming from several provinces, including Eskişehir, İzmir and Ankara. Coffy has 200 locations: 199 in Türkiye and 1 in Kyrenia (Girne) in Northern Cyprus. Coffy CBO Feliks Boynuinceoğlu describes the project as “an important part of our sustainable growth strategy”.
Not disclosed. The report says construction and equipment support is provided, but it does not say how much comes out of the owner’s pocket. Whether the support is partial or full is not clear either.
Not disclosed. There is no brand-name fee, but the report says nothing about later charges such as a monthly revenue share, a marketing contribution or mandatory supply. In franchise models the real cost often hides here, so this should be your first question.
Read it as an average, not a guarantee. The calculation method is not in the report. If your sales per square metre, rent and average basket differ from that average, your own payback period will differ too.
The report does not make this clear. Whether you continue as owner, operator or franchise partner is the most important clause in the contract. Verify with the official source; this is not legal or financial advice.
When the sign comes down, the name you built over the years comes down with it. Customers say “this used to be such-and-such”, and after a while even that sentence fades. Changing the sign takes a day; changing a habit takes about as long as winning over the most stubborn regular on the street.
If the till is not ringing and there is no capital for a refit, a financed conversion can be a real way out. But ease on paper is not real relief until the undisclosed costs are clear.
In April 2026 Coffy set a target of 500 stores by 2028, and 74% of its current stores are run by franchise partners (Para Dergi, 3 April 2026). Converting existing cafés is a faster road than opening stores from scratch. Rival chains may consider a similar model, while suppliers selling to independent cafés may lose customers.
The first conversions are happening in Istanbul’s high-street and neighbourhood fabric. For an example of how chain brands balance mall and street locations, look at Shake Shack’s two new Istanbul stores.
Data from orders placed in the chain’s app stays with the chain. The contract should state what happens to customers you collected through your own loyalty card or WhatsApp list. This question decides what you keep if you ever want to leave.
Here’s the thing I see again and again when I look at café and restaurant websites: people do not search for a café by name, they search “coffee near me”. The reviews and photos you collected over the years are what push you up in that search. Whether that profile moves to the new brand or starts from zero is a separate conversation.
Be visible in local search, sit on the map with the right hours and menu, and reach your regulars directly. Skip that, and the customer does not just walk out; they never walk in. An independent café’s strongest weapon against a chain is knowing its customers by name.
The report says no project fee or brand-name fee is charged. Total investment and later fees have not been disclosed, so you need to ask about them in writing.
The first conversions took place in Istanbul, and applications are coming from several provinces including Eskişehir, İzmir and Ankara. Application criteria and regional conditions are not in the report.
No, 36 months is given as an average payback period and the calculation method has not been disclosed. Your own period depends on your rent, revenue and contract terms.