Espresso House is the largest

coffeehouse chain This list of notable coffeehouse chains catalogues the spread and markets share of coffeehouses world-wide. This list excludes the many companies which operate coffeeshops within retail establishments, notably bookstores and department stores, or ...

in the Nordic countries. Founded in Lund, Sweden in 1996 by Elisabet and Charles Asker. In March 2018 reached over 460 locations throughout Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Germany.

History

Espresso House was founded by the couple Elisabet and Charles Asker with the coffee bar ''Café Java'' in Gothenburg. The first café bearing the name ''Espresso House'' opened on street ''Kyrkogatan'' in Lund 1996. In 2005 the chain consisted of sixteen different cafes, which in March 2018 had expanded to 430 coffee shops. All bread and pastry served is baked by the central bakery Espresso House Bakery in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...

Organisation

JAB Holding Company JAB Holding Company ("JAB" or Joh. A. Benckiser) is a German conglomerate, headquartered in Luxembourg, that includes investments in companies operating in the areas of consumer goods, forestry, coffee, luxury fashion, animal health, and fast foo ...

, who in connection with the purchase of ''Espresso House'' also bought ''Baresso Coffee'' in Denmark, decided during the fall of 2016 that all 45 cafés in the Danish chain would convert to Espresso House. One thing that's relatively unique for ''Espresso House'' is that all coffee houses are corporate-owned, unlike similar chains, like

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 ...

, that sometimes use

franchising Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...

. Until September 2012, ''Espresso House'' was owned by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including le ...

Palamon Capital Partners Palamon Capital Partners is a London-based private equity firm. It was founded in 1999, and is headquartered at Cleveland House in King Street, St James's, London. It was founded in 1999 by Louis G. Elson, Managing Partner, and Head of Operati ...

, that also acquired the coffee shop chain ''Coffee Cup'' that started in Stockholm 1997. The two brands were united under Espresso House. In September 2012, the chain was acquired by the Norwegian private equity firm

Herkules Capital Ferd is a Norwegian holding company which holds partial ownership in companies within industry and finance as well as a real estate portfolio. The company has 75 employees and is owned by Johan H. Andresen and his two daughters Katharina and Ale ...

that later sold it again in 2015 to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

family business

Locations

As of April 2023, there were 510 stores in the following countries:

Impact

Espresso House has been compared to

in North America in regards to its ubiquity and spread. In Norway, the chain has become a symbol of

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...

and "commercial monoculture". In January 2022 the Finnish investigative journalism show M.O.T reported multiple occasions of mismanagement, hygiene related issues and employees having monthly working hours exceeding lawful limits.

Gallery

File:Espressohouse, Konserthuset, 2017b.jpg, The branch at

Stockholm Concert Hall The Stockholm Concert Hall ( sv, Stockholms konserthus) is the main hall for orchestral music in Stockholm, Sweden. With a design by Ivar Tengbom chosen in competition, inaugurated in 1926, the Hall is home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmoni ...

. File:Stockholm 2285 (3352867027).jpg, The branch at

Västerlånggatan Västerlånggatan ("the Western Long Street") is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching southward between the squares Mynttorget and Järntorget, it follows the course of the city's now demolished 13th-century defe ...

, Stockholm. File:2017 Stockholm attack 05.jpg, The branch at

Drottninggatan Drottninggatan (''Queen Street'') in Stockholm, Sweden, is a major pedestrian street. It stretches north from the bridge Riksbron at Norrström, in the district of Norrmalm, to Observatorielunden in the district of Vasastaden. Composition Form ...

, Stockholm. File:Kirkkokatu 8 Oulu 20201212.jpg, The branch at the Pallas House,

Oulu, Finland Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country afte ...

References

External links

* * (in English via

Google Translate Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, and an A ...

) Coffeehouses and cafés in Sweden food and drink companies based in Stockholm 1996 establishments in Sweden {{restaurant-stub