Flash Coffee, a tech-enabled coffee chain based in Indonesia, has appointed former Fore Coffee executive Bardon Matthew as its new CEO.

Matthew brings over two decades of experience in Southeast Asia’s food and beverage industry to his new role. At Fore Coffee, he served as the vice president of operations. He previously held key positions in brands such as Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, and Indofood.

Bardon Matthew, Flash Coffee’s new CEO / Photo credit: Flash Coffee

Meanwhile, Flash Coffee founders David Brunier and Sebastian Hannecker will no longer hold operating roles in the firm and focus on a new venture, which is currently in stealth mode. The company said they will remain as strategic advisors to Flash Coffee.

Matthew will be reporting to Jakob Angele, who was hired as Flash Coffee’s executive chairperson last August, nearly a year after the liquidation of its Singapore operations.

Going big in Indonesia

The appointment follows strategic shifts Flash Coffee made in the past few years to focus on the Indonesian market.

In 2023, it shut its operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. That year, it also sold its Thailand business to Turn Capital.

Under the new leadership, Flash Coffee aims to expand its footprint to 130 stores by 2026, targeting the underserved medium-to-premium segment. As of October 2024, the company had 67 branches.

In comparison, Starbucks had around 603 stores in Indonesia as of September last year, while Fore Coffee had 232 branches at the end of 2024.

Matthew tells Tech in Asia that Flash Coffee’s new strategy is to position it as a contender between large chains like Starbucks and its coffee startup peers like Fore Coffee and Kopi Kenangan.

As part of this strategy, it introduced a new store model last May. With this, Flash Coffee is swapping its signature bright yellow aesthetic and grab-and-go emphasis with a more community-focused in-store experience.

Photo credit: Flash Coffee

According to Matthew, this has been performing well for the company, as Indonesian consumers appreciate the larger and more comfortable spaces.

While this shift increases expenses – each store has expanded to around 120 square meters from 40 square meters – Matthew says the larger locations can earn around double the revenue per branch.

Fore Coffee, which listed on the Indonesian stock exchange in April, employed a similar strategy of opening larger stores in a bid to hit profitability.

See also: Fore Coffee defies IPO playbook in bid to revive Indonesian tech

Flash Coffee says its average sales per store increased by 60% throughout 2024, followed by an additional 46% growth so far in 2025. All 67 existing stores are profitable, the company adds.

In April, Flash Coffee said in a previous press release that the average EBITDA margin across its stores stood at 22%, while locations under its rebranded store model are hitting 36%.

The company uses per-store EBITDA margin to measure the success of its operations. “If a store performs above 30%, it’s excellent,” Angele adds.

But store performance is always going to be varied, the executive points out. That is why the company does not have a “rigid playbook” when opening stores and remains “humble and cautious” as it scales, he says.

More of the market

Flash Coffee is on track to reach 80 stores by the end of 2025. This includes expansion into two new cities, adding to its current presence in Jakarta and Bandung.

These changes helped pave the way for the company’s recent US$3 million fundraise led by TA Ventures, which is earmarked for Indonesian expansion.

Indonesia’s coffee retail market is projected to reach US$16.5 billion by 2028. And according to Matthew, coffee stores in Indonesia – including international players like Starbucks – currently only capture 10% of that market.

“I don’t believe in the status quo,” he says. “When teams are empowered and systems are structured in the right way, you can iterate and improve to build for excellence and resilience.”