The coffee franchise industry is a lucrative business venture to start in 2025.
Poised to reach USD 2,061.1 million by 2030, the Philippine coffee market is forecasted to grow steadily.
The increasing awareness of specialty coffee and local varieties, combined with the expansion of many international cafe chains and local brands, creates strong market momentum, proving the growing opportunities available to aspiring coffee franchisees.
In this guide, we’ll explore the top coffee franchise trends in the Philippines.
1. Growing Demand for Affordable Coffee Franchises
Low-capital has been an attractive option for Filipino entrepreneurs, especially in the food and beverage industry, where we typically want “sulit” (value for money) as practical consumers.
With more budget-conscious consumers come coffee shops that meet these demands by actually offering more affordable coffee options without compromising taste or presentation.
With that, the shift and coffee franchise trend are driving the popularity of low-cost coffee franchise models, which attract more Filipinos to take part in the business ecosystem instead of taking the risk of starting their own brand (as they rely heavily on the existing franchise system)—overall increasing the demand for the entire Philippine coffee franchising industry.
More local brands popular in the coffee franchising industry have paved the way for aspiring entrepreneurs to venture into business—the likes of Hills and Valleys Coffee, which offer affordable yet quality coffee franchise packages. For instance, their Deluxe Cart option combines low capital with a flexible mobile setup suited for malls, food parks, or high-traffic areas.
With simplified operations, strong brand support, and affordable coffee franchise packages, entrepreneurship in the area of coffee franchising is now more accessible.
2. Shift to Grab-Friendly and Delivery-Ready Franchises
Coffee shops without online operations through food delivery apps will miss out on a large segment of the market. As consumer behavior has shifted toward convenience and on-demand access, being absent from major food delivery platforms means less visibility for the brand, especially among younger, tech-savvy customers (e.g., Gen Z).
In response to that, coffee shop franchisors have embedded these online operations into their systems, having:
- Take-out only stores – optimizing compact locations for speed and minimal interaction – but expecting daily high-volume sales.
- Cloud cafés – delivery-only branches with no dine-in, that are focused on getting online orders, which lessens some overwhelming operational costs
- App integrations during grand openings – easy registration and integration with popular food delivery apps such as GrabFood, Foodpanda, and Ordermo—giving franchisees an additional store-like customer acquisition channel.
The scalable, low-touch formats of online deliveries have become a standard for coffee consumption in the Philippines. While I personally consider it still a trend, expect new players in the food delivery industry and new methods to serve better and more of our digital-first consumers (e.g., students, office workers, and urban dwellers).
3. Expansion in Non-Metro Areas
Coffee franchises are no longer confined to Metro Manila’s prime areas. Many entrepreneurs are starting their own franchise stores in other major places across the Philippines (e.g., Cebu, Davao, Pampanga, and Bacolod).
The beauty of bringing solid coffee franchises to your local region is leveraging the “first-mover advantage,” where the first to start a coffee shop within your area typically sets the tone for the target market.
Other advantages, such as lower competition compared to the tens of coffee shops in NCR and rising spending power in provincial cities (as more job opportunities are being opened in developing provinces), top it off.
Franchisors who offer location-flexible packages and local-specific marketing strategies are more likely to succeed in opening new stores in this trend, as more Filipino entrepreneurs want to bring a new taste of coffee to their hometowns.
4. Rise of Niche and Themed Coffee Franchises
Price is only one part of the equation that sets the stage for coffee franchises. Beyond affordability, many cafés now offer a unique vibe, theme, or story to their stores’ interior design/concept, bringing a holistic experience that connects deeply with their customers.
Here are popular theme trends in coffee shops in the Philippines:
- Taylor Swift-style cafés with pastel interiors, lyric quotes, curated playlists (and other celebrity-themed cafes).
- Korean minimalist cafés with clean aesthetics and soft lighting
- Book cafés, bikers cafés, pet cafés, and plant-themed cafés for people’s interests and targeted communities
- Matcha or single-origin-focused menus catering to more sophisticated consumers
These niche and themed coffee franchises attract many young generations as they can capture Instagram-worthy memories and are designed to bring vloggers effortlessly to the store. And with this trend, it is easier for coffee shops to stand out in the crowded market.
5. Local Brands Rising Against Global Giants
While global players like Starbucks, Tim Hortons, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf still dominate major cities and high-end markets in the Philippines, local coffee brands like Hills and Valleys Coffee are catching up fast, playing into their strengths of affordability, community connection, menu customization, and innovation.
Unlike global coffee giants, homegrown brands understand the local palate and can experiment faster with flavors that international brands may not offer quickly. This helps them freely adapt to social trends and capture a bigger market share even within a tighter geographical area.
The shift toward patronizing local brands continues to gain ground as Filipino consumers become more socially engaged and fanatics of what is local—for instance, they are more fans of beverages where ingredients are locally sourced (e.g., coffee beans).
6. Loyalty Programs and Mobile Apps Are Becoming Standard
In starting a coffee shop business, one of the basic and effective ways to grow a café is by focusing on retaining customers, which means you develop strategies that will entice people to visit your store more often.
One of the effective promotional marketing strategies is using rewards and loyalty programs. It may feel like a basic strategy but I still find many coffee shops do not use this extensively.
Startup cafés usually start with digital stamp cards to encourage repeat orders. Mid-sized and established brands take a more advanced route: creating their loyalty app or user-friendly software.
Coffee franchisees benefit from these customer retention-centric strategies as they get to have:
- Repeat business driven by point systems and member perks (obvious benefit)
- Customer data tracking to improve offers, create new beverages that match customers’ interests
- Push notifications to promote new products, bundles, or promos.
This kind of digital behavior is standard (and rising) due to widespread smartphone use and GCash-linked promos, so localizing any loyalty features will give franchises an edge, especially among younger consumers.
7. Sustainability as a Selling Point
Most consumers now factor in sustainability when choosing coffee shops to stay at. And for coffee franchises who consider using eco-friendly cups, offering reusable discounts, or sourcing locally-roasted beans would find their cafés appealing to Gen Z and socially conscious buyers.
Sustainability is a coffee franchise trend that benefits consumers (who participate in a social cause) and coffee brands (who reduce fixed costs for cups and connect their products to community-based initiatives).
8. TikTok-Driven Menu Trends
Data is the new oil, but only if you know where to use it.
The best part with coffee brands is that they can now leverage social media as part of their research and development effort to ride the waves for new flavors.
Below are a couple of ways where coffee franchises can take advantage of TikTok’s interest in coffee:
- Launch limited-time flavors based on viral drinks with high visual appeal.
- Encourage customers to film drink-making (that are typically based on how visually appealing the new flavors are)
- Use hashtags to promote UGC (user-generated content) that will capture new customers for both new products and best-sellers.
There is a caveat to this: learning how to embrace the culture to create more organic visibility for your brand while still focusing on your core strengths as a coffee shop is a balance of both skills that can help you thrive in the coffee industry.
Ready to Ride the Trends? Start with a Scalable Franchise
Hills and Valleys Coffee is one of the rising coffee franchise companies that offer flexible franchise options – from mobile carts to full café setups – designed to match the needs of future Filipino entrepreneurs.
Learn more about starting your own coffee shop franchise with Hills & Valleys Coffee.
