“We managed to launch in three markets at once, in one of the most challenging times for an F&B business,” co-founder Sebastian Hannecker boasted to The Edge Singapore in April 2021. Together with co-founder David Brunier, the duo would later expand into Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, reportedly opening more than 250 stores.
Sometimes, the jokes write themselves. When the Rocket Internet-backed Flash Coffee chain abruptly shut its 11 stalls in Singapore last October, reporters were quick to quip about the exit. “Gone in a flash!” read one headline; “Trouble brewing?” read another.
Flash Coffee, with its instantly recognisable bright yellow and electric pink storefronts, came and went with equal fanfare. The chain opened its first outlet in Jakarta in January 2020, before quickly expanding to Thailand that May, then Singapore in September, all within the year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
