Japan’s Doutor Coffee has opened three outlets in Malaysia – in Aeon Tebrau (Johor Baru), Sunway Velocity Mall in Kuala Lumpur and Aeon Bukit Tinggi.
This follows other international expansion in Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
Doutor Coffee was founded in 1980 by Toriba Hiromichi with a 9 sqm outlet in Tokyo’s Harajuku district. There are now more than 900 outlets in Japan.
MD Yasuhiro Yamamoto says Doutor decided to open in Malaysia because it had found a good partner in the Texchem Group, which owns 106 Sushi King outlets in Malaysia. More outlets are being planned, with some to open next year.
All will follow the Doutor Japan formula with a strong focus on coffee and freshly made food.
“We have good-quality black coffee, espresso and cappuccino, and the food will be a Japanese fusion concept,” says Yamamoto.
He says the secret to the brand’s success lies in the quality of its beans and the roasting.
Doutor Coffee master roaster Masahiro Kanno says the beans are sourced from more than 10,000 plantations all over the world, including its own two plantations in Kona, Hawaii.
Kanno personally goes to select the beans, sometimes buying in bulk and sometimes buying just a few, depending on whether they will be featured as single-origin roasts or blends. The beans are flame-roasted.