LAP: Start-up Innovator or Local Coffee Menace?

Berlin-based LAP Coffee has quickly gained popularity for its hip branding, quality coffee and low prices, launching dozens of locations nationwide in just a few years. However, the coffee chain’s business model and big investment backings have garnered criticism for competing with locally-owned cafes, attracting protests and vandalism at several of its Berlin branches.

Founded in 2023, LAP–shorthand for Life Among People–quickly rose to fame in Berlin’s start-up scene. Offering a specialty cappuccino at 2.50€ without levying a surcharge for plant-based milk or iced drink options, LAP has become a popular spot for a quick and affordable on-the-go drink. The chain has successfully managed to open 26 locations in just two years after its founding, expanding its operations to include Munich and Hamburg, with plans to open more branches countrywide.

LAP’s rapid ascent quickly drew the eye of venture capitalists, gathering investments from some of the leading early-stage growth investors worldwide, including US-based HV Capital, Foodlabas and Insight Partners. These investments, alongside LAP’s affordability and its aesthetic visual identity, are what allowed the company to skyrocket at such a pace.

What exactly is LAP’s unique selling point compared to other chains like Starbucks or Pret a Manger? The German coffee chain offers high-quality coffee, served in Gen-Z branding at lower price points. By prioritising smaller spaces and relying on a revolving door business model, LAP seems to have cracked the code to offering affordable beverages.

LAP offers specialty coffee–ranging from Americanos to pistachio lattes to collagen matcha–at competitive prices. While a regular cappuccino at LAP costs 2.50€, Pret a Manger charges 4.20€ and Starbucks a steep 4.70€. What may have used to be a cheaper, simpler alternative to sit-down cafés has become just as expensive for the average coffee-goer.

As one TikTok user states, ‘LAP coffee is like any other, just not as overpriced as other shops’. Another notes, ‘it’s a shame that small cafés are being pushed out, but maybe they also shouldn’t be charging 8 euros for a cappuccino’.

What also makes LAP stand out next to other chains is its aesthetically pleasing interior. The brand’s monochromatic International Klein Blue branding–a pure ultramarine colour that was only discovered last century–has become the company’s trademark. The chain’s design choices add a unique, sleek touch to the company, making it stand out both on social media and to passersby.

With new cafés constantly opening and closing in Berlin, people are always on the lookout for the next Instagram-worthy spot. The more dated interiors of Starbucks and Pret A Manger don’t tick these boxes anymore, and in recent years, have been unable to compete against LAP’s eye-catching, urban style.

The issue? Critics argue that LAP is driving out local cafés.

The type of customer LAP appeals to, however, is completely different to that of other specialty cafés. Most specialty coffee spots tend to create a cosy setting for catching up with friends, with interiors that LAP likened on social media to a ‘grandma’s living room’, as well as menu offerings like baked goods or brunch, making it more appealing for customers to spend their mornings or afternoons there.

Comparable phenomena have developed in other major cities. New York City-based Blank Street Coffee launched in 2020 with a branding approach similar to LAP’s, expanding to 58 locations in just two years. With investments from venture capitalists, the company now has a net value of $500 million.

Similarly, despite recent backlash, the United Kingdom-based GAIL’s Bakery aimed to open 40 new locations by the end of 2025, in addition to its current 185 locations. Owned by a private equity group, the chain also opened 36 new stores the year prior. Both have experienced substantial public opposition, with protests and petitions seeking to block their expansion into new areas. Now, LAP Coffee is following a similar path, with an aim to rapidly expand across Germany.

However, LAP does not seek to attract the customers of a regular sit-down café – rather, it rents very small spaces, making it an ideal provider of coffee on the go. Even with a few seats in its locations, it does not aim to create the warm and inviting environment other cafés strive for.

Instead, LAP benefits from a revolving door design, where customers leave as soon as they get their drink, allowing the chain to sell as many cups as possible without crowding out the café itself. Its business model appeals particularly to commuters heading to work or school, or those just looking for something warm on the go.

So if LAP is not ‘stealing’ customers away from local cafés, what causes such stark opposition, protests and, in recent cases, vandalism? One argument is that the contention comes from a deep-seated resentment certain groups have for venture capital, or what some see as the ‘dark side’ of capitalism.

Berlin has a history of widespread political activism and boycotts, such as the boycott of its Kunsthalle in 2022, a response to the institution’s alleged prioritisation of elite and well-connected artists. These boycotts typically target large corporations or high-profile individuals whose actions clash with local moral or political values.

Venture capital-backed businesses, due to their visibility and scale, are more common targets for such political action, whereas independently owned cafés lack the same political influence or public reach. Recognising such activism is important, as boycotts can play a vital role in holding powerful actors accountable. But what makes this matter confusing is that LAP has not been politically engaged, nor has it been involved in a public scandal, per se.

Instead, the backlash reflects how businesses can become symbols of wider social and economic tensions, regardless of their direct acts. In this debate, the underlying issue of increased costs of living remains somewhat unaddressed. As more and more Berliners are unable to afford a simple cup of coffee, the criticism has shifted from questioning extreme menu price-hikes to criticising the one place which has made coffee accessible again. Rather than celebrating this as a success story of Berlin’s renowned start-up scene, LAP has remained the recipient of backlash.

Whether LAP Coffee will continue to grow—despite Berliners’ dissatisfaction—or if the public’s force will succeed in slowing it down is yet to be known. More likely, the German coffee chain will follow the paths of Blank Street or GAIL’s Bakery, continuing to offer affordable drinks on a wider scale that countless customers can enjoy.