Bootlegger Coffee Company
Bootlegger Coffee Company is a privately owned South African café franchise, coffee roaster, and beverage brand.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
Bootlegger Coffee Company is a South African café franchise and coffee business founded in Cape Town in 2013. The company began when Pieter Bloem and brothers De Waal and Antonie Basson sought cafés that opened early enough to serve people before or after morning exercise. They acquired an existing Sea Point coffeehouse called Go Gos and rebranded it as Bootlegger, a name evoking the atmosphere and imagery of 1920s America. From its original Sea Point location, Bootlegger developed into a multi-format hospitality and beverage business. Its main café concepts include the larger All Day Café and the smaller XS Café, both built around coffee, breakfast, lunch, baked goods, snacks, and other daylong food offerings. The company also operates specialist formats, including a grill in Constantia and an ice-cream parlour at Surfer’s Corner in Muizenberg. These formats allow the brand to serve different neighbourhoods and customer occasions while retaining a common coffee-led identity. Bootlegger combines franchised retail operations with in-house coffee production. It roasts its own beans at a Cape Town facility and sources coffee from Central Africa and South America. The company’s product range includes roasted beans, capsules, prepared espresso beverages, filter and other coffee drinks, teas, hot chocolate, and related café products. It also sells coffee equipment, including grinders, kettles, espresso machines, French presses, and capsule machines from brands such as Sanremo, Bialetti, AeroPress, and Nuova Simonelli. In 2017, Bootlegger expanded beyond its standard café format by opening its first Bootlegger Café and Grill, known as BCG, in Constantia. The outlet was designed with a more sophisticated restaurant character and featured a menu developed by chef Eric Bulpitt. The same year, the company opened its first Coffee and Ice Cream Parlour at Muizenberg’s Surfer’s Corner. These moves broadened the brand from a conventional coffee-shop chain into a more varied casual-dining and leisure portfolio. In 2023, Bootlegger relocated its Cape Town headquarters from Sea Point to Ndabeni. The new mixed-use site, named The Coffee Depot, brought together the company’s offices, coffee-roasting operation, a flagship restaurant, and the Central Bakery of sister company Ou Meul. The facility also contains office and retail space for other businesses, giving the site a broader commercial role than a conventional headquarters. By the mid-2020s, Bootlegger had grown to more than 120 stores across five South African provinces, with the largest concentration in Cape Town. The company has stated an ambition to reach 200 stores by 2028. Its expansion model remains substantially franchise-based, while its roasting and supply operations provide control over a central part of the product experience. In 2025, it also announced a partnership with South African airline FlySafair to make selected Bootlegger beverages available to domestic passengers, extending the brand into an onboard travel setting. Bootlegger’s recognition includes repeated success in Kfm’s Best of the Cape Awards, where it was named the leading coffee brand in 2021 and 2022 according to the cited reference material.
History
Bootlegger Coffee Company originated in Cape Town in 2013 when Pieter Bloem, De Waal Basson, and Antonie Basson opened a café in Sea Point. The three founders were motivated by the difficulty of finding quality coffeehouses that opened early in the morning, particularly for people starting the day with exercise. Rather than building the first outlet from an empty site, they acquired an existing coffeehouse called Go Gos and converted it into the first Bootlegger. The new name drew on the cultural associations of 1920s American bootlegging and helped establish a distinctive identity for the fledgling café. The initial business developed as a neighbourhood café chain with coffee at its centre and food available throughout the day. Bootlegger’s growth model became franchise-oriented, allowing the brand to expand beyond its original Cape Town base while maintaining common operating and product standards. The principal formats became the larger All Day Café and the smaller XS Café. The larger stores are designed as full dayparts businesses, serving coffee, breakfast, lunch, bakery products, snacks, and other casual meals. The XS format provides a more compact footprint for locations where a full-size café is not practical. Bootlegger broadened its hospitality offer in 2017. In Constantia, Cape Town, it opened the first Bootlegger Café and Grill, also referred to as BCG. This format was intended to have a more refined restaurant atmosphere than the standard café. Its menu was developed with chef Eric Bulpitt, who was associated with FABER in Paarl. During the same year, Bootlegger opened its first Coffee and Ice Cream Parlour at Surfer’s Corner in Muizenberg. The two launches demonstrated an effort to adapt the brand to different consumption occasions, from everyday coffee and meals to restaurant dining and leisure-oriented desserts. Coffee production became an important part of the company’s vertical operating structure. Bootlegger roasts beans in Cape Town, with supplies sourced from Central Africa and South America. The cited reference describes the roasting site as one of South Africa’s larger micro-roasteries, with annual production of approximately 350 to 400 tonnes. In addition to serving coffee in its cafés, the company sells beans and capsules under its own name and offers equipment for home and professional preparation. Its equipment assortment has included products from Sanremo, Bialetti, AeroPress, and Nuova Simonelli, covering espresso machines, grinders, kettles, French presses, and capsule systems. In 2023, the company moved its Cape Town headquarters from Sea Point to Ndabeni. The new location, called The Coffee Depot, was redeveloped as a mixed-use facility rather than a conventional office. It combines Bootlegger’s headquarters, its roasting facility, and a flagship restaurant with the Central Bakery operated by sister company Ou Meul. Additional office and retail tenants occupy parts of the building, giving the site a broader commercial and operational function. By the mid-2020s, Bootlegger had expanded to more than 120 stores in five South African provinces, although Cape Town remained its primary geographic centre. In July 2025, the company announced an ambition to reach 200 stores by 2028. In September 2025, it announced a beverage partnership with FlySafair, under which passengers on domestic flights would be able to purchase selected Bootlegger drinks, including Colombian freeze-dried coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate, and Dilmah Ceylon and rooibos teas. The brand has also received local recognition. According to the cited material, Bootlegger won the Best Coffee category in South African radio station Kfm’s Best of the Cape Awards in 2022, following a win in the same category the previous year. Its overall development reflects a South African café brand that has combined franchised retail growth with roasting, packaged products, foodservice diversification, and partnerships outside the traditional café channel.
- 2025
Expansion target announced
[1]The company announced an ambition to grow its network to 200 stores by 2028.
- 2025
FlySafair beverage partnership announced
[1]Bootlegger announced that selected beverages would be sold on FlySafair domestic flights.
- 2023
The Coffee Depot opens in Ndabeni
[1]Bootlegger moved its headquarters and roasting operation into a new mixed-use facility in Ndabeni, Cape Town.
- 2022
Second consecutive Kfm coffee award
[1]Bootlegger again won the Best Coffee category in the awards, according to the cited reference.
- 2021
Kfm Best of the Cape recognition
[1]Bootlegger was reported to have won the Best Coffee category in Kfm’s Best of the Cape Awards.
- 2017
First Bootlegger Café and Grill opens
[1]Bootlegger introduced its BCG restaurant format in Constantia, with a menu developed with chef Eric Bulpitt.
- 2017
First Coffee and Ice Cream Parlour opens
[1]The company opened its first combined coffee and ice-cream format at Surfer’s Corner in Muizenberg.
- 2013
First Sea Point café opens
[1]The founders acquired and rebranded the Go Gos coffeehouse in Sea Point, Cape Town, establishing the first Bootlegger location.
Products and positioning
A Cape Town-founded, coffee-led hospitality brand combining neighbourhood cafés, franchised expansion, in-house roasting, all-day food, and specialist restaurant and ice-cream formats.
Packaged coffee
Bootlegger roasted coffee
Bootlegger roasts coffee in Cape Town using beans sourced from Central Africa and South America. The roasted coffee is served across the café network and is also sold for preparation outside the stores.
Packaged coffee
Bootlegger coffee capsules
The company sells coffee capsules under the Bootlegger name as part of its packaged beverage range, extending its café coffee offer into at-home and office preparation.
Café format
All Day Café
The larger Bootlegger café format serves coffee alongside breakfast, lunch, baked goods, snacks, and other food throughout the day. It is the brand’s full-service neighbourhood café concept.
Café format
XS Café
XS Café is Bootlegger’s smaller-footprint format, designed to bring the brand’s coffee and food offer to sites that cannot accommodate a larger All Day Café.
Restaurant format · 2017
Bootlegger Café and Grill
The BCG format is a more restaurant-oriented Bootlegger concept. Its first outlet opened in Constantia in 2017 and was designed with a more sophisticated ambience and a menu developed with chef Eric Bulpitt.
Dessert and café format · 2017
Coffee and Ice Cream Parlour
This specialist format combines Bootlegger coffee with ice cream and was first introduced at Surfer’s Corner in Muizenberg in 2017.
Coffee accessories and equipment
Coffee equipment
Bootlegger sells coffee-making equipment including grinders, kettles, espresso machines, French presses, and capsule machines. Referenced equipment brands include Sanremo, Bialetti, AeroPress, and Nuova Simonelli.
Brand decisions
2025
Store network expansion targetStrategyBackground
Bootlegger had grown to more than 120 stores across five South African provinces and sought further national expansion.
Action taken
The company announced an ambition to reach 200 stores by 2028.
Aftermath
The target indicated continued reliance on the café franchise model, although the eventual outcome is not established here.
2025
FlySafair onboard beverage partnershipOtherBackground
Bootlegger sought distribution beyond its physical cafés and packaged retail channels.
Action taken
The company announced a partnership with FlySafair to provide Colombian freeze-dried coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate, and Dilmah Ceylon and rooibos teas on domestic flights.
Aftermath
The partnership extended Bootlegger’s beverage presence into airline food and drink service.
2023
Creation of The Coffee DepotStrategyBackground
The company needed a larger and more integrated base for headquarters functions, roasting, hospitality, and related operations.
Action taken
Bootlegger moved from Sea Point to a mixed-use Ndabeni facility combining offices, a roastery, a flagship restaurant, and Ou Meul’s Central Bakery.
Aftermath
The new site consolidated core operations and added commercial and retail space for other businesses.
2017
Diversification into grill and ice-cream formatsStrategyBackground
Bootlegger was expanding beyond its original coffeehouse model and seeking formats suited to different dining and leisure occasions.
Action taken
The company opened its first Café and Grill in Constantia and its first Coffee and Ice Cream Parlour in Muizenberg.
Aftermath
The launches broadened Bootlegger’s hospitality portfolio beyond standard cafés.
Recent events
- 2025
Bootlegger announces a target of 200 stores by 2028[1]
Other
Bootlegger announced an expansion ambition to increase its South African store network to 200 locations by 2028.
- 2025
Bootlegger partners with FlySafair for onboard beverages[1]
Other · Product launch
The announced partnership would make selected Bootlegger coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate, and Dilmah tea drinks available to passengers on FlySafair domestic flights.
- 2023
Bootlegger relocates its Cape Town headquarters to The Coffee Depot[1]
Other
The company moved its headquarters from Sea Point to a redeveloped mixed-use facility in Ndabeni that also houses its roasting operation, a flagship restaurant, and Ou Meul’s Central Bakery.
- 2022
Bootlegger wins Kfm’s Best Coffee category[1]
Other
Bootlegger was reported as the winner of the Best Coffee category in Kfm’s Best of the Cape Awards for the second consecutive year.
Sources1 sources
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