How the Greek coffee chain Mikel becomes a "citizen of the world"

Germany is the target market that Mikel will develop in the near future. This is a country of strategic interest for the development of the Greek coffee chain, which was temporarily halted by the pandemic, but the company will be back on track as soon as the wider international climate goes back to normal.

Becoming a citizen of the world is not something that relies only on the German market for Mikel, one of the biggest coffee chains in Greece. Despite the fact that this year Mikel announced its first store in that European country, its people see further growth ground elsewhere, something that involves both the United States and Europe in general. Besides, both Spain and France could offer further growth for Mikel's business in the coming period. However, Great Britain is also not missing from the expansion frame. It's a market that shows its own peculiarities, given Brexit, but it does not stop attracting the interest of the company up to this moment. Mikel already has three stores in the United Kingdom. This year, however, it opened two new outlets in Germany and Iraq, which were the first to be set up in these two markets, where it didn't have a presence until recently.

Strong performance in Middle Eastern markets

Strong performance for the company, however, comes from the markets of the Middle East, where it's already active, recording strong growth and therefore positively affecting the Greek company. The vision of expansion for Mikel at the moment includes all five continents. Through moves that have been targeted in recent years and in a way constitute a way out of the fierce competition in Greece, which despite its small size as a country brings together a large number of businesses in the coffee sector. Therefore, the export of Mikel's model abroad could be said in a way to have seemed like a one-way.

The beginning in Larissa

Mikel started its journey in the market in 2008, based in Larissa. Gradually, it began to expand, having reached the point of maintaining a network of more than 350 stores in Greece, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. The particular extroverted attitude that characterizes it, is what gives the opportunity and the necessary experience to spread to other countries in the coming years, opening new stores.

The business development model is based on franchising. Thus, apart from Greece, it operates under the master franchise scheme in countries such as Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and North Macedonia. The expansion plan of course includes Greece in the coming years and primarily the islands, which have their own dynamics primarily because of the tourism driving force.

However, the most interesting part is the way Mikel operates in stores, which reflects the broader philosophy of the company and its executives since the main objective is to offer integrated services to customers. This is why it's one of the rare cases of businesses in the coffee sector that offers dine-in, delivery as well as takeaway services.

100 new shops during the pandemic

Going a step further, Mikel, along with its network, is also growing in terms of financial performance. Its turnover in 2022 reached 19 million euros, up significantly compared to the 16.95 million euros that the popular chain's performance was during 2021. But in order to understand the extent to which Mikel has focused on expanding its network, we have to mention that during the pandemic the coffee chain managed to open 100 stores worldwide.

It's the most compelling proof that the data for one of the most important restaurant chains in Greece is pointing the way to growth abroad, one of its main objectives.