Blank Street Coffee

History

Blank Street was established in May 2020 and launched in August 2020 with a location near Wythe Diner in Brooklyn. Founders Issam Freiha and Vinay Menda began selling coffee from a battery-powered mobile coffee cart, in partnership with EV Foods and industry team Jai Lott and Laura Simpson. Menda, from the UAE, and Freiha, from Lebanon, came to New York to study at NYU and Columbia respectively. They cited inspiration from small-format, mobile-first food retail businesses in Asia, such as Hey Tea in China and Kopi Kenangan in Indonesia.

In February 2021, Blank Street opened its first static location on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. The chain obtained $25 million in Series A venture capital funding in October 2021, raising $67 million overall that year from investors including General Catalyst and Tiger Global. Expansion continued in 2022 with its first overseas location opening in March in London's Fitzrovia district. By August, 40 locations operated across Brooklyn and Manhattan, and the chain opened its first Boston outlet in Beacon Hill that month, followed by a Washington, D.C. location at Dupont Circle in October.

In early 2025, stores opened across Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland. As of April 2026, the company operates 40 stores in the UK. In April 2026, the Financial Times reported that the company was in talks to raise more than $100 million, with a valuation possibly exceeding $1 billion.

Identity

Blank Street Coffee goes head-to-head with Starbucks in the U.S. and UK, and with Dunkin' Donuts in Boston. Its rise has been linked to influencer marketing, with writer Li Goldstein pointing to partnerships with "it-girl" brands like those of Kendall Jenner and Emma Chamberlain. The Wall Street Journal found that matcha drinks drive about half of sales, while also noting that beverages can contain up to 25 grams of sugar—the American Heart Association's suggested daily limit for women—and that the chain leans heavily on teenage customers.