native Japanese founder and creative director Kenneth Shoji launched the brand in Hong Kong, where he relocated after his Fukushima Prefecture home was destroyed by the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011.  The birth of % Arabica was almost accidental. Newly arrived in the Chinese territory, Shoji struggled to find the good quality coffee he grew used to in Japan – and as a student in California – so he resolved to create his own brand. He opened his first stores in Hong Kong in 2013, then a flagship in Kyoto in September 2014.  “Back then I had been frustrated that most coffee shops in Japan were copycats of Melbourne or Portland cafes,” he recalls. “The enthusiastic reactions to the Kyoto shop convinced me that I could build a global coffee brand that is uniquely Japanese.”    The response to the Kyoto cafe was overwhelming as he received franchise applications from all over the world. Now the growth comes not just because consumers have fallen in love with his Arabica bean-based coffee, but from the way the cafes “capture the spirit of Japanese minimalism, which advocates for the purging of unnecessary things” in the words of Magazine B publisher Suyong Joh.  Ten years after he opened his first cafe in 2013, there are now more than 140 worldwide, the most recent new market entry being Vietnam early this year, most recently followed by a debut store in downtown Toronto, Canada this month. In Europe, % Arabica is eyeing expansion – especially in France, Germany, Portugal, and Greece – and plans are being made for a Nepal debut as well.  The cafe chain made a return to the Philippines in July, six months after a previous franchise agreement came to an end, leading to the closure of three outlets opened since 2018.  The new store, housed inside the Manila Mitsukoshi department store at Bonifacio Global City, features a roasting space at the entrance adding a dose of retailtainment to the cafe experience. Roasting facilities, once consigned to warehouses, are increasingly a feature of new flagship stores, with one under construction in downtown Ho Chi Minh City as well.   Cafes bearing the distinctive % logo and usually with bold white interiors can now be found in many Asian countries, the Middle East, London and New York – and in Bali, where he moved to with his wife and three sons before Covid to indulge his passion for surfing and beach life. When % Arabica enters a new market – after carefully selecting a local partner – Shoji personally inspects the new locations to ensure it fits with the brand’s minimalist ethos and is known by foreigners.  He told Inside Retail he prefers ‘iconic’ locations. Last year, it launched its first South Korean location in Starfield Library, one of the most popular destinations in Seoul’s Gangnam district, and in Egypt the chain will launch inside a pyramid complex.  In Ho Chi Minh City % Arabica chose a 100sqm space on the fourth floor of the city’s much-photographed ‘Apartment Cafe’ tower, a 1960s building packed with boutiques and small local eateries facing onto the city’s popular walking street which at night is filled with buskers and selfie-taking tourists and locals.  “In Ho Chi Minh City the Apartment Cafe building is iconic and as soon as we saw it we knew we had to be here,” Shoji says.  From Japan to the US, % Arabica cafes all have the same design aesthetic, including tables and chairs in pure white and minimalist glass blocks. In Bangkok’s upmarket IconSiam shopping centre, the entire cafe is surrounded by a transparent glass box, so that the guests inside appear as if they’re in an aquarium. In Ho Chi Minh City, the company commissioned French creative company Cigue to blend the brand’s typical basic, clean design approach with local architectural influences. Sliding doors at the entrance and an open-air deck are constructed from native timber and bamboo rattan.  The entrance floor tiles match the ageing tiles of the building’s street entrance. Low-rise tables are another homage to Vietnamese custom – it is still common to see men squatting on tiny stools streetside sipping a Cafe Sua Da or Phin Coffee served from a nearby cart. A second store in downtown Ho Chi Minh City is imminent, and other locations are being scouted in the capital city Hanoi, and tourist destinations Danang and Hoi An. % Arabica is just a fraction of the scale of Starbucks – which has some 33,000 cafes globally – and Shoji plans to keep it that way.  “We don’t want to be like Starbucks, we don’t want to be everywhere,” Shoji explains.  “I want % Arabica to be like a premium sushi chain in Japan. The sushi menu has not changed for hundreds of years and early every morning the chef goes to the fish market and selects the best seafood and then they prepare the food with care,” Shoji adds. “We want the same [approach] in our cafes.” Shoji ’s outlook on life is simple. As he explains on the company’s website: “I want to live a simple and down-to-earth life. I only need the basics to be satisfied: food, clothing and a house. As my parents did for me, I also want to travel with my children and provide a higher standard of living for them. “And I truly need an amazing cup of coffee every day. This is why I founded % Arabica.” His dream is to grow % Arabica across unique lands and cultures around the world so that he can “see the world through coffee” and bring the best coffee to people.  “We don’t chase money,” he concludes. This story first appeared in the September 2023 issue of Inside Retail Asia magazine.