The pop-up was a preview for Coco Safar’s eagerly anticipated global expansion “We were blown away by the demand. It was a surprising success and clearly cements our position and authority in a constantly changing market” said Coco Safar’s co-founder, Wilhelm Liebenberg.
Liebenberg referred to the complex process of partially baking thousands of luxurious croissants in Cape Town and shipping them for finishing to a makeshift kitchen in a construction site in Johannesburg without loss of quality. With demand in the thousands, the pop-up event turned into a military operation of moving containers. Customers were able to pre-order online, but the massive volume was harder to deliver than anyone had expected. Yet, Coco Safar rose to the occasion. In fact, the brand is making a trademark out of defying expectations.
With four locations in South Africa, Coco Safar is an oddity in the luxury café, bakery, and patisserie scene, which explains the explosive demand in Johannesburg. Coco Safar has been consistently racking up accolades, rated by the likes of Forbes, Bloomberg, and others as the world’s best coffee, while Food & Wine USA recognized its croissants among the four best in the world, on par with bakeries in Paris, Tokyo & Melbourne.
