ZUS Coffee’s Tech-Led Revolution: Crafting Southeast Asia’s F&B Blueprint for 2025 and Beyond

In just six years, ZUS Coffee has redefined what it means to build—and scale—a food & beverage brand in Southeast Asia. From a single kiosk in Kuala Lumpur in late 2019, it has soared past global icons, becoming Malaysia’s largest coffee chain, outpacing Starbucks with more than 743 outlets by early 2024 and aiming for 1,000 stores regionwide by late 2025. But the real story behind ZUS Coffee isn’t just its breakneck growth—it’s how its tech-native, data-powered model is setting a new standard for F&B entrepreneurship in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. For founders, investors, and operators across the region, ZUS is both an invitation and a warning: collaboration, digital infrastructure, and local cultural intelligence are now the keys to survival and scale in urban Southeast Asia's fast-moving food landscape.

Why ZUS Coffee Matters: More Than Just a Chain—A Regional Playbook Emerges

Tech-Native Scaling: ZUS Coffee matters because it is the first Southeast Asian coffee brand to prove that a tech-first, app-centric model can outpace legacy giants in both speed and market share. With approximately 70% of its sales running through digital channels—primarily the ZUS app, which powers both pick-up and delivery—it demonstrates how software is fast becoming the operating system of F&B, not just a bolt-on layer. When COVID-19 upended the industry, ZUS was already set up to win, capturing demand through its app and lean, grab-and-go store formats.
Collaboration Magnet: ZUS’s aggressive expansion and capital base (RM250 million raised in September 2024 from major regional investors such as KV Asia Capital, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan, and Indonesia’s Kapal Api Group) make it a natural hub for ecosystem partnerships. It needs local partners for dark kitchens, payment rails, logistics, R&D, and more—and is open to sharing its scale and data to sustain regional momentum.
Template for the Future: In the words of regional analysts, ZUS is a “test case” for whether a tech-native, collaboration-powered brand can dethrone Starbucks and reshape the rules of engagement for food delivery, retail, and digital loyalty in Southeast Asia’s urban centers. [Read more]

ZUS Coffee’s Tech-Stack DNA: What F&B Operators Can Learn and Borrow

Tech-First From Day One: ZUS launched as a delivery-focused kiosk, with its app in operation before its first store was ever opened. This entrenched a culture of digital-first ordering, integrated payments, and unified data from the outset. Today, approximately 70% of ZUS transactions are app-based, leading to rich customer cohorts and lifetime value insights that many legacy chains still struggle to obtain.
Data-Driven Localisation: Unlike the “one menu fits all” approach of global brands, ZUS localises through analytics. In Malaysia, palm-sugar drinks match the *gula Melaka* palate; in the Philippines, the purple yam (ube) series taps into deep national nostalgia. This is enabled by a centralised product stack and rapid digital experimentation: app banners, push campaigns, and loyalty rewards are continuously A/B tested.
Low-Capex Stores, High-Capex Software: ZUS’s economic advantage derives from smaller, efficient outlets focused on pick-up and modular fit-out—often 20% more affordable than competitors—which in turn supports lower menu prices and faster paybacks. The capex invested in the app and data platform is amortised across hundreds of stores, enabling outsized margins even while undercutting Starbucks on price in key cities [Source].

Emerging Patterns: Collaboration Beats Competition in the New SEA F&B Landscape

Structural Trends: Urbanisation and rising middle-class incomes are driving higher away-from-home food and beverage spend across Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. With smartphone penetration and e-wallet usage peaking among 18–35-year-olds, digital channels have become central to everyday food habits.
Converging Models, Local Realities: ZUS, Kopi Kenangan, Flash Coffee, and other regional players all emphasise apps, loyalty, and automation. But cross-border behaviour still diverges on regulation, taste, language, and payment systems. No single player will dominate everywhere—collaboration, not outright competition, is the only rational path as the region’s consumer bases converge yet remain locally distinct.
ZUS as a Platform Partner: With deep capitalisation and a region-wide data lake, ZUS is actively seeking alliances: local F&B brands, payment providers, malls, logistics platforms, and even robotics startups can plug into its operational infrastructure to test new products, share customers, and scale faster.

Country-By-Country Strategic Playbooks: Opportunities for Founders, Chains, and Enablers

Malaysia: The Home Market as Innovation Ecosystem

Multi-Brand Digital Food Courts: Malaysia’s Klang Valley is ripe for super-app style integrations, piggybacking on ZUS’s 70%+ app-based order share. F&B partners can pilot in-app upsells and co-located offerings—imagine adding a local dessert to every ZUS order.
Shared Production Facilities: Delivery-centric chains can co-invest in central bakeries or cold kitchens, sharing CapEx and logistics in Malaysia’s densest urban corridors.
Fintech Testbed: Banks and e-wallets can pilot micro-savings, BNPL, and co-branded cards with ZUS, using digitised transaction data as the engine of new product innovation [Regional Analysis].

Philippines: Building With Conglomerates and Delivery Platforms

Conglomerate-Led Rollouts: ZUS’s partnership with Choi Garden signals an openness to local group expansion—anchoring ZUS as the coffee leader in malls, supermarkets, and cinemas, while cross-promoting Filipino heritage brands through in-app campaigns.
Last Mile Logistics: Food delivery companies in Manila and Cebu can use ZUS outlets as pickup hubs for bundled multi-brand orders, increasing reliability and ticket sizes.
Product Co-Creation: Local dessert and bakery brands can launch limited-time drinks (halo-halo frappes, ube cheesecake) with ZUS, with transparent IP and revenue sharing. Data from app pilots enables national rollouts for successful SKUs [Market Entry].

Singapore: Automation and Product Testbeds in a Saturated Market

Robotics and Operational Tech: With only six new outlets in 2025, ZUS is using Singapore’s high-wage landscape as a lab for F&B automation—robotic arms, predictive ordering, and AI-driven staffing. Local startups and grants (via Enterprise Singapore) encourage pilots.
Premium-Mass Positioning: Competing against Starbucks and dozens of entrenched players, ZUS leverages 10–20% lower pricing and value-driven app bundles for office workers. Partnerships with hawker centers and casual dining chains allow for joint value promotions.
Cross-Border Experiments: Singapore’s diverse population lets ZUS and its partners test regional drinks inspired by Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, then scale high-performers into those countries [Singapore Analysis].

Indonesia: First Stores, Platform Partnerships, and “Coopetition”

Supply Chain Alliances: With investment from Indonesia’s Kapal Api Group, ZUS is positioned to co-brand Sumatra-origin beans and develop RTD coffee SKUs for modern trade—leveraging Indonesian provenance in both regional and domestic markets.
Super-App Integration: Ride-hailing and e-wallet platforms can make ZUS a daily anchor for reward ecosystems and office delivery. Loyalty and cashback bundles can be embedded in commute routines.
Competitive Collaboration: Instead of direct rivalry, ZUS and local chains (like Kopi Kenangan, Flash Coffee) can pool resources on sustainability, delivery fees, and barista talent development, even forming a “Digital Coffee Alliance” to lobby for ecosystem-wide improvements [Industry Trends].

Thailand: Greenfield Innovation and Tourism Integration

Menu Localisation: Thai chefs and dessert brands have opportunities to co-create palm sugar espresso foam, pandan coconut lattes, or mango sticky rice frappes with ZUS, tying launches to Songkran and other national holidays.
Tourism Bundles: Airlines and hotels can embed ZUS vouchers into travel packages, driving both inbound tourist trial and cross-border brand exposure.
Retail Landlord Partnerships: ZUS can act as an omnichannel anchor in high-footfall malls and transit stations, using app push notifications to drive offline traffic and event engagement [Store Milestone].

Comparative Perspectives: The ZUS Model vs. Legacy Chains and Local Innovators

Legacy Chains (Starbucks, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf): These brands maintain premium positioning, slower local flavour adaptation, and heavy investment in store ambiance. They are often limited by rigid global operating systems and smaller digital order shares.
ZUS Coffee: Tech-native, low-capex, high-frequency digital orders, rapid product experimentation, and price accessibility (10–20% cheaper than Starbucks in many cities). ZUS leads on data-driven localisation and is open to ecosystem partnerships.
Local Innovators (Kopi Kenangan, Flash Coffee, Gigi Coffee): These regional brands often mirror ZUS’s playbook on app, loyalty, and delivery integration but face challenges in cross-border scaling and deep local cultural adaptation. ZUS’s willingness to co-build and share infrastructure (from kitchens to fintech rails) distinguishes it and sets a higher bar for collaboration.

The next wave of Southeast Asian F&B will be defined not by who owns the most stores, but by who builds—and connects—the most powerful digital and cultural ecosystem for urban consumers.

Blueprints for Action: Tactical Shifts and Partnership Playbooks

Product & Menu Innovation: Brands should shortlist their hero ingredient or cultural signature (e.g., Thai mango, Filipino queso de bola), co-develop quick pilots with ZUS, and use the ZUS app to run A/B testing on naming, pricing, and limited geography rollouts.
Data & Loyalty Coalitions: By plugging into ZUS’s daily transaction graph, brands can create multi-brand earn-burn schemes, cross-promoting across coffee, food, travel, and entertainment for higher LTV and retention.
Shared Infrastructure & Automation: F&B chains can pool resources with ZUS for central kitchens, robotics pilots, and open API back-end integrations, reducing costs and streamlining procurement—for example, applying for government funding in Singapore or Malaysia to subsidise productivity upgrades.
Community and Content Co-Creation: Quarterly drink contests, region-wide influencer campaigns, and shoppable livestreams can convert ZUS’s user base into a shared platform for rapid market testing and viral innovation.

De-Risking Collaboration: Governance Strategies for Decision-Makers

Data Protection: Clean room environments and anonymised datasets should become the norm in joint pilots, protecting both brand equity and consumer privacy.
Financial Clarity: Rev-share and cost allocation formulas must be specified up front, whether for co-branded drinks, app integrations, or shared logistics.
Pilot-First Approaches: Initial rollouts should be limited to 3–6 months and 10–20 locations, with clear KPIs and measurement criteria. Only after measurable success should partners consider regional scaling or JVs.

Stakeholder Strategies: What Founders, Platforms, Banks, and Landlords Should Do

F&B Founders & Regional Chains: Engage ZUS as a data and distribution partner in Malaysia and the Philippines. Prioritise co-branded menu pilots and consider JV structures for central kitchens, RTD products, or regional IP.
Delivery Platforms & Super-Apps: Position ZUS as a hero merchant with exclusive bundles and logistics guarantees. Build products around ZUS’s morning and evening rush for workplaces and commuters.
Payments & Fintech: Launch youth-focused, low-ticket co-branded payment products with ZUS. Offer data collaboration and joint marketing, using ZUS’s transaction base for credit and savings innovations.
Landlords & REITs: Anchor ZUS at mall entrances or transit junctions. Use ZUS app analytics to optimise tenant mix and drive footfall, negotiating data-driven leasing models for improved performance.

Execution Roadmap: 12–18 Month Plan for Ecosystem Success

Quarters 1–2: Map priority markets and sign non-disclosure/data-sharing frameworks with ZUS. Launch pilots in product, delivery, and shared infrastructure.
Quarters 3–4: Scale successful pilots, negotiate long-term rev-share/JV agreements. Monitor performance across 50–100 outlets per market.
Year 2: Expand the most effective models regionally. Formalise the "ZUS x Partners" alliance for negotiations with platforms and government incentives. Explore co-investments in automation, dark kitchens, and regional brand-building.

Key Numbers: Snapshot for Decision-Makers

Expansion: 1,000 stores SEA-wide by Nov 2025; 743 stores in Malaysia by early 2024 vs. Starbucks's ~320.
Financials: Net income tripled to ~RM37 million in 2024; RM204 million revenue, RM10.15 million net profit in 2023; RM250 million capital raised in Sept 2024.
Channel Mix: 70% of sales online; ZUS prices 10–20% below Starbucks in multiple cities.
Differentiation: Local flavour portfolio—palm sugar and ube as hero SKUs; low-capex, tech-driven outlets enabling rapid and affordable expansion.

Conclusion: ZUS Coffee—The Southeast Asian F&B Platform That Demands a Rethink

ZUS Coffee has rapidly become one of Southeast Asia’s most potent, collaboration-ready F&B platforms—not because of outsized marketing budgets or celebrity endorsements, but because it operates at the intersection of software, local culture, and affordable premium. Its tech-first playbook, relentless drive for data-driven localisation, and openness to cross-vertical partnerships represent a blueprint F&B decision-makers can no longer ignore.

For founders, chains, platforms, and landlords, the era of siloed competition is over. ZUS Coffee’s rise signals the dawn of the connected, modular, and regionally attuned F&B ecosystem—one that rewards those who act fast, innovate with real data, and build coalitions across payments, product, infrastructure, and content. The strategic imperative now is not simply to monitor ZUS’s progress, but to actively plug into the blueprint it offers—on terms that protect your brand and compound your growth. The next year will separate those who adapt from those left behind: in Southeast Asia’s food and beverage future, technology, collaboration, and local resonance are the only game that matters.