Aroma Espresso Bar

Aroma emerged during the expansion of Israeli coffeehouse chains in the 1990s; its first opening preceded those of Arcaffe, Café Joe, and Café Hillel.[4] By 2020, it was described as Israel’s largest coffee chain.[5] Its operating model combines fast self-service with extensive in-house production through a roastery, bakery, and fresh-food facility.[2][3]

The business developed into two separately operated chains, Aroma Israel and Aroma Tel Aviv, before their owners announced reunification in December 2021.[6] International expansion included cafés in North America and other overseas markets, with franchisees playing a central role in operating branches abroad.[7] A 2024 account recorded more than 190 cafés in Israel and 40 branches in Canada.[8]

Brothers Yariv and Sahar Shefa opened the first Aroma café on Jerusalem’s Hillel Street in 1994.[1] The original location was at 18 Hillel Street in the city center and introduced a coffee-shop format without table service.[9] By 2006, that café had undergone renovation, and the chain had grown to approximately 70 branches.[9]

In 1999, a dispute between the founders led to the division of the business into Aroma Israel, associated with Yariv Shefa, and Aroma Tel Aviv, associated with Sahar Shefa.[6][10] The two businesses subsequently operated separately, with Aroma Israel active outside Tel Aviv and Aroma Tel Aviv concentrated in the city.[6] An early domestic expansion milestone was the opening of a Herzliya branch in 2001, the chain’s first location outside Jerusalem.[2] In 2004, the chain established a bread-and-pastry plant in the Ela Valley.[2]

Aroma’s first overseas branch opened in New York’s SoHo neighborhood in July 2006, when the chain had 72 branches in Israel.[11] Fifteen Israeli employees temporarily traveled to New York to staff the new café and train local workers.[11] The opening was intended as the beginning of an international franchise operation.[11]

The first Canadian branch opened in Toronto in 2007 with a reported investment of $1.5 million.[12] Anat Davidson, who had trained with Aroma Israel, was to run the café, while Canadian businessman Earl Goldman received the franchise for future Canadian branches.[12] By 2009, Aroma had locations on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and in SoHo, offering salads, bourekas, sandwiches, and iced coffee.[13]

In February 2009, the chain opened its first cafés in Kyiv and Limassol, shortly after adding second locations in New York and Toronto.[7] These openings brought its overseas total to seven, including a branch in Constanța, Romania.[7] Overseas franchisees operated the cafés, with Aroma holding a small direct stake in each; further New York and Toronto openings were planned.[7] At that point, the business had 96 cafés in Israel and estimated annual sales of NIS 450 million.[7]

By December 2016, Aroma Canada had opened 39 locations, 35 of them in Toronto.[14] Its franchise-based operation provided training and support to franchisees, who were expected to maintain brand standards.[14] Approximately 80% of the Canadian menu matched the Israeli menu, and coffee, bread, and most pastries came from Israel.[14] A 2018 account subsequently recorded 46 Canadian branches.[15]

A 2018 profile reported 145 branches in Israel serving more than 130,000 customers daily.[2] That year, Aroma introduced an app for ordering, payment, and pickup without waiting in line, alongside coffee capsules produced at its Ela Valley roasting house.[15] By 2023, its American presence included three reported Miami-area locations: Miami Gardens, Miami Beach, and Downtown, with brunch dishes and blended iced coffees among their offerings.[16]

In December 2021, Aroma Israel and Aroma Tel Aviv announced plans to reunite under a common Aroma Espresso Bar brand and management.[17] Aroma Israel was to operate the combined business, Yariv Shefa was to lead it, and Golan Einat, then Aroma Tel Aviv’s owner, would become a shareholder.[17][10] The announcement projected a nationwide network of 187 coffee shops.[17] Reported component counts, however, were 153 Aroma Israel branches in Israel and 37 Aroma Tel Aviv branches, totaling 190; Aroma Israel also had 57 branches abroad, most Aroma Tel Aviv branches were franchise-operated, and the companies did not disclose the new ownership structure.[6] Aroma Israel’s overseas locations included the United States, Canada, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.[10]

The two chains had maintained distinct production and retail systems before reunification.[18][8] In 2019, products made at Aroma Israel’s facilities—including coffee, bread, pastries, soups, and freshly squeezed juices—were sold only in its own branches.[18] Before integration, the businesses also differed in pricing, resources, franchisees, technology, and branding.[8]

Aroma Israel purchased Aroma Tel Aviv in March 2022, and operational and organizational integration continued through 2023.[8] The conversion included renovating approximately 20 former Aroma Tel Aviv branches and reopening them with Aroma Espresso Bar menus, branding, and design; early locations included Dizengoff Center, Azrieli Center, and Ramat Aviv Mall.[8] The company’s website terms likewise describe a merger process beginning in 2022, during which website information applied to Aroma Israel branches rather than those of Aroma Tel Aviv.[19]

A separate renovation program beginning in 2022 covered approximately 24 cafés at an investment exceeding NIS 20 million, while 13 new cafés opened during the year preceding a 2024 profile.[8] That profile recorded more than 190 cafés across Israel and 40 branches in Canada.[8]

Aroma produces most items sold in its cafés and operates a bakery, coffee-roasting plant, and fresh-food facility making sauces, spreads, soups, juice kits, and drinks.[3] Food is prepared on site and to order, with freshness and ingredient transparency described as operating priorities.[3]

The production system comprises a coffee roastery, a bakery, and a fresh-food facility.[2] By 2024, the Ela Valley complex produced juice kits, smoothie bases, sauces, spreads, antipasti, cooked legumes, soups, and stews, alongside bread and coffee.[8] Earlier descriptions also included roasted vegetables and juice-preparation kits among its output.[2]

The roasting house was established in 1999 and receives beans from Central and South America, East Africa, and India.[20] Beans are combined into blends developed over time and roasted daily, using methods and temperatures suited to the different coffee types.[20] Immediately after roasting, they are cooled and packed with a valve designed to release carbon dioxide while limiting exposure to oxygen.[20]

The facility roasts and packages coffee for cappuccino and espresso, decaffeinated coffee, black coffee, and Aroma capsules.[20] Its reported monthly roasting volume increased from approximately 30 tons in a 2018 account to approximately 50 tons in a 2024 account.[2][8] The company’s roasting-house page also lists monthly distribution of 50 tons of coffee beans in Israel and Canada.[20]

Aroma’s bakery operation dates to 2002 and produces most of the dough used for the chain’s breads, pastries, and cookies.[21] Frozen dough is delivered to cafés, where breads and pastries are proofed and baked throughout the day.[21] Its bread range includes white and whole-wheat varieties; the whole-wheat bread is made with 100% whole-wheat flour and is described as low in sodium.[21]

Fresh-produce sourcing has included a partnership with farmer Ivey Attia in Moshav Pri Gan, who supplied tomatoes and cucumbers daily.[3] Toward the end of 2019, Aroma moved all its branches to fresh avocado.[3] The company links its in-house production to greater control over ingredients and freshness, as well as flexibility in developing products.[3]

Alongside coffee, the menu has included salads, bourekas, sandwiches, and iced coffee.[13] A distinctive hot-chocolate preparation places a milk-chocolate praline at the bottom of the mug, pours steamed milk over it, and finishes the drink with cocoa powder.[5] Brunch dishes and blended iced coffees were also documented at its Miami locations in 2023.[16]

Kosher certification became an explicit part of the Jerusalem operation in 2006, when six of Aroma Israel’s eight branches in the city received certification from the Jerusalem Rabbinate.[22] Those cafés were to use the name Aroma Kosher Espresso Bar.[22] They had previously closed on Shabbat but had not held that certification.[22] The initiative was intended to meet the dietary needs of religious customers in Jerusalem; management also stated at the time that branches nationwide served kosher food.[22] The chain then had 63 Israeli branches and had opened its first overseas location in New York earlier that year.[22]

Digital ordering became another component of the service model after the app’s introduction in 2018.[15] By the 2019–2020 feature, the app had received hundreds of thousands of downloads, supported pickup without queuing, and offered a 10% discount for orders paid through Aroma Credit.[3] The app also provides nutritional values for menu dishes.[15]

Aroma’s growth formed part of the development of nationwide Israeli coffeehouse chains during the 1990s.[4] Its international operation also carried a substantially Israeli menu and Israeli-produced ingredients into overseas cafés: by 2016, approximately four-fifths of its Canadian menu matched the Israeli offering.[14] Coffee, bread, and most pastries for the Canadian operation came from Israel.[14]

The cafés have hosted cultural projects as well as food service.[3] Aroma Art displayed work by young artists in dozens of branches, while a Hebrew Book Month initiative printed short stories on café placemats.[3] Participating writers included Etgar Keret, Eli Amir, and Eshkol Nevo.[3]

The chain has offered Braille and enlarged-print menus in all branches, along with text-message notifications and induction loops for customers with hearing impairments.[2] RightHear devices provide spoken navigation directions through an app for blind and visually impaired customers; installation across the cafés was completed in 2023.[8]

After the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, a Beit Shemesh branch closed to customers and became a volunteer-run sandwich assembly point.[23] By November 2023, Aroma Israel was supplying 10,000 sandwiches a day to soldiers through an effort initiated by Yariv Shefa.[23] Volunteers prepared cheese and omelet sandwiches, and drivers carried them to distribution points and Aroma branches for free distribution to soldiers.[23] The company’s primary bakery and goods factory was also in Beit Shemesh.[23]

Volunteers added personal messages to the sandwich bags, including one reading in Hebrew, “Bon Appetit, our hero.”[23] The branch served as a volunteer hub for approximately four months, preparing thousands of sandwiches daily for military units.[8] Other wartime initiatives included millions of shekels in donations and free special menus for security forces at cafés in northern and southern Israel.[8] The chain also donated approximately NIS 1 million to the Michal Sela Forum.[8]

Some Toronto Aroma locations were targeted by pro-Palestinian protests, and a local boycott, divestment, and sanctions website accused the brand of complicity in alleged Israeli transgressions against Palestinians.[14] These were activists’ allegations, rather than established findings about the company.[14] Aroma Canada co-founder Anat Davidzon maintained that the protests had not substantially affected business.[14]