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Industry | Coffee shop |
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Founded | 2019 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
Founders |
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Headquarters | , Malaysia |
Number of locations | 360 (2023) |
Area served | Malaysia Philippines Brunei Singapore |
Products |
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Website | zuscoffee |
Zuspresso (M) Sdn. Bhd., doing business as Zus Coffee (stylized as ZUS Coffee) is a Malaysian coffee shop chain.
Zus Coffee opened its first outlet in November 2019 at a roughly 19 m2 (200 sq ft) kiosk at Binjai 8 in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. It was founded by Venon Tian and Ian Chua, who had backgrounds in running start-ups and information technology. They developed the associated pickup-and-delivery mobile application even before they opened the first store. [1] [2]
The early years were marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Quarantine measures made customers less inclined to drink coffee in "third places" or settings other than their residence or workplace. Zus Coffee on the other hand compared to most of its competitors would rely on the grab-and-go model. [1]
By the end of 2023, there are 360 outlets in all of Malaysia. [1]
In March 2023, Filipino businessman Frank Lao reportedly bought a 35 percent stake in Zus Coffee with the intention to expand the chain's operations to the Philippines. [3] Zus Coffee opened its first Philippine branch at Eastwood Le Grand Tower 2 in Eastwood City, Quezon City in September 2023, marking their firts expansion outside Malaysia. [4] [5] [6]
Zus was one of several Malaysian coffee chains experiencing a surge in patronage following theworldwide boycott on Starbucks in response to its lawsuit towards the Starbucks Workers United union following the latter's social media communications on 10 October 2023 expressing solidarity with Gazan civilians affected by war waged by the Israeli army 3 days before. [7] [8]
They open their first outlet in Brunei in late 2024. [9] [10]
In 2023, Zus' official communications published a rationale claiming that its logo portrays the Ethiopian shepherd Kaldi and that its name is a portmanteau of the words "zeal" and "us." This was a response to a Malaysian conservative-affiliated Facebook page which called on Muslims to boycott the brand, insisting that the branding resembled the Greek deity Zeus. [11]
Zus Coffee sells coffee-based beverages as well as pastries, sandwiches, and hot meals. It claims to sell Halal-certified products, avoiding haram ingredients such as those containing pork and alcohol. [5] The business has its own dedicated ZUS Coffee app where customers can place their orders for delivery or pick-up. [12] The app was inspired by the app used by Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee. [1]