The luxury fashion house opens its debut restaurant and coffee shop in Jakarta, Indonesia. The dual dining establishments take inspiration from the brand’s New York roots—topped with a lifesize replica of the iconic yellow taxi cab.
In New York, taxi cabs prowl the streets. In Jakarta, one hangs from the ceiling at the newly opened Coach Restaurant. It’s a marvel that opens the eyes, and mouths, of curious diners and fashion lovers who find themselves at the debut of Coach’s first dining experience. Opening its doors today, in the west wing of the Grand Indonesia Mall—a shopping complex that boasts luxury fashion houses as well as a miniature theme park—Coach’s eponymous restaurant and coffee shop mark the brand’s venture into the hospitality industry as well as the beginning of its global dining series.
From a classic strip steak to a full caviar service, the Coach Restaurant features an all-American dining experience reminiscent of the brand’s roots in the ‘40s. At the coffee shop next door, diners can choose between quintessential New York items such as a cup of coffee and a slice of pizza. Customers of both dining establishments might temporarily feel as if they had been transported into a standard diner in Manhattan if it wasn’t for the numerous homages to the global fashion house scattered across the space. A letter “C” is singed onto the top bun of a cheeseburger, and the presence of the brand’s iconic Pillow Tabby 26 bag on the dessert menu. Even the clothes donned by the waitstaff are indicative of Coach’s reach, with the uniforms designed by Stuart Vevers, the brand’s creative director.
Coach’s iconic leatherware and archival hues materialize in the restaurant’s bistro-style booths, and its bronze mirror walls and blackened steel staircases reimagine the brand’s distinctive heritage. Vevers, who styled the restaurant with designer William Sofield, expressed his desire to push “the boundaries of what a fashion house can be through experiences that delight all five senses,” in a statement.
Pivoting away from its early 2000s accessible-luxury mantra, it was in 2022 that Coach first announced its desire to cultivate long-lasting customer connections beyond products. Now, it is joining the ranks of Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci among others with its foray into the culinary realm. This new vision, which the brand calls “expressive luxury,” aims to broaden Coach’s Gen Z customer base by leaning into sustainability and self-expression. Due to the predominance of young people in Indonesia—where more than half of the country’s population consists of people between the ages of 18 and 39—the decision to open a restaurant and coffee shop across the Pacific Ocean is a natural, and savvy, progression.
This year, Coach’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region will continue to grow with a series of pop-ups throughout Japan and Malaysia, as well as the spring opening of the Coach Tabby Shop in locations across Australia and Asia. This expansion heralds an exciting new chapter for the brand, beckoning consumers to not only display Coach products but to devour them too.