What coffee and tea chains want in a shop, and how to reach them

Coffee and tea chains want a ground-floor unit that people see before they reach it: a corner or front-row shop with parking for quick pickup, a place for delivery riders to stop, enough power and a clear signage position. To get considered, send the chain's expansion team a one-page site pack, or go through an agent who already submits sites to chains. Brands named below are examples only; none is an MCE client and MCE does not represent them.

The formats differ, so read the unit against the right one.

Two published signals show why the details matter. ZUS Coffee had about 70% of sales from delivery and pickup (Bloomberg via The Malaysian Reserve, April 2025), so stopping space can count for more than the most expensive front row. Chagee's APAC CMO told Retail Asia (10 Mar 2026) that its criteria are "significantly stricter than most beverage brands". Our post on what shop a coffee chain wants covers the coffee side in detail.

ZUS is still opening: it has more than 1,000 stores, mostly in Malaysia, and aims for 1,300 by end-2026, including 200 more in Malaysia (VnExpress International citing Bloomberg, 14 Aug 2026). For a delivery-led brand like this, show the homes and offices within delivery range and where a car or motorcycle can stop for 2 minutes. A middle-row unit with good stopping space can beat a costly corner.

Starbucks had about 320 Malaysian stores against ZUS's 743 in April 2025 (Bloomberg via The Malaysian Reserve). A sit-down coffee brand weighs seating space, visibility from the road and car access more heavily than a pickup brand. If your site has a large corner or land with space for cars to queue, read drive-thru and corner sites before you pitch it, because most shoplots cannot take a drive-thru lane.

Chagee's joint venture with Magma Group targets up to 300 directly managed outlets in Malaysia within 3 years (The Star, 16 May 2025). The brand talks about "1,000% locations" that combine strong visibility, accessibility and enough space (Retail Asia, 10 Mar 2026). A unit you pitch to Chagee should be one of the most visible in its hub; an inner-row shop is unlikely to fit.

Loob, which runs Tealive, has more than 900 Tealive outlets and says it focuses on "high-traffic urban centres as well as underserved suburban markets" (The Edge, 27 Apr 2026). That second part matters to owners outside the prime hubs: a busy township row without a tea shop yet can be worth pitching. For how the tea brands compare as tenants, see the bubble tea war and your shop.

Start with the brand's official corporate or franchise website, which often has a property or site submission contact. Avoid addresses found on forums. If there is no public channel, approach through a registered agent who submits sites to chains regularly, because expansion teams receive many offers and give priority to people who send complete, accurate information. Keep the first message short: location pin, size, frontage, asking rent, availability date and photos.

Send a one-page site pack. Expansion teams screen quickly, and missing basics often mean a quiet "no".

• Address, map pin and unit position (corner, end, intermediate, front row)
• Built-up size, frontage width and ceiling height
• Asking rent, deposit and preferred lease term
• Date the unit is available
• Photos by day and evening, front and side
• Power supply, water, drainage and whether an exhaust can be routed
• Signage positions on the facade and side wall
• Parking in front and where riders stop
• Neighbours in the row and the nearest competing outlets

Then be ready for questions on fit-out time, rent increases and break clauses. Read which chain lease demands a landlord should accept before you reply.