The coffee industry in Indonesia continues to show a positive trend, reflected in the proliferation of modern coffee shops in various corners of the city. In Surakarta (Solo), this phenomenon is clearly visible along main roads like Jalan Slamet Riyadi up to the Laweyan area. Coffee shops are no longer just places to stop by, but new social spaces that are thriving even in residential alleys.
One entrepreneur capturing this opportunity is the 1956 coffee shop in the Tipes area, Solo. Sporting a slow-bar concept, this shop relies on manual brew coffee. With an initial capital of around IDR 15 million for rent, the owner has managed to sustain the business and attract domestic and international tourists from the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan, especially on weekends.
An academic from the Faculty of Economics and Business at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS), Farid Adi Prasetya, assesses that drinking coffee has now shifted from merely quenching thirst to becoming part of a lifestyle and productivity space. Modern coffee shops have successfully transformed the traditional 90s coffee shop (warung kopi) concept into hubs for social interaction, academic assignments, and remote working.
The scale of this growth is significant. According to Point of Interest data as of May 2026, Indonesia has more than 461,000 coffee shops, surpassing major producer countries like Brazil and Vietnam. The economic impact is also substantial for local coffers. The Mayor of Solo, Respati Ardi, projects that the sector's contribution to Solo's Regional Original Revenue (PAD) could reach IDR 20 billion per year.
Despite this promise, Farid warned that high levels of competition mean the average lifespan of a coffee shop is only around 3 to 5 years. The low barrier to entry often leads to market saturation. To survive, business owners are required to be sensitive to market dynamics driven by curiosity-driven demand and the fear of missing out (FOMO) phenomenon.
Strategic flexibility is key to this business's sustainability. Farid cited the example of shifting the target market from students to families by providing children's play areas. A similar step was implemented by the 1956 coffee shop, which regularly changes its coffee bean varieties and adjusts roasting levels to ensure the coffee remains palatable for beginners and coffee connoisseurs alike.
From a labor perspective, this culinary subsector contributes significantly to absorbing informal labor, ranging from baristas and servers to the supply chain of local coffee farmers. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) notes that the national coffee industry supports the livelihoods of 1.8 million smallholder families. Nevertheless, challenges regarding labor protection and clear career paths for informal coffee shop workers remain shared homework for the future.
