The company has climbed three spots compared to 2018, after a 50% increase in the number of coffee shops- one of the fastest expansions among the players analysed by the FoodService magazine, which compiled a ranking of the 80 leading coffee shop chains in Europe and the Middle East. The 5 to go chain is the only Romanian company included in the ranking, with 150 units at the end of 2019.
5 to go was established in 2015, when it opened its first coffee in Bucharest. Five years later, the 5 to go chain had more than 150 units in several cities and towns across Romania. The founders say there is room for 400-500 5 to go coffee shops in Romania and only then will they consider expansion.
Romania’s coffee shop market is heavily fragmented, with several thousand units, most of which are operated independently. Romania has 200-300 independent speciality coffee shops, usually, small businesses held by entrepreneurs operating no more than 1-2 units. The market is dominated by coffee shop chains; on the one hand, there is McDonalds with McCafe and Starbucks, and on the other hand, there are Romanian-held coffee shop chains Ted’s, 5 to go and The Coffee Shop.
Of the 25 largest coffee shop chains in Europe and the Middle East, only five are active in Romania, namely, McCafe, Starbucks, Gregoryís, 5 to go and Segafredo.