 | |
 Inside a vida store inConstantia,Cape Town | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Coffeehouse chain |
| Founded | 2001; 25 years ago (2001), in Kloof Street,Cape Town,South Africa[1] |
| Headquarters | Cape Town, South Africa[2] |
Number of locations | 320+(2025)[3] |
Areas served | South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius, Ghana, Angola, Zambia, and Eswatini[3] |
Key people | |
| Services | Coffeehouses |
| Parent | Vida e Caffè Holdings (Pty) Ltd |
| Subsidiaries | sweetbeet |
| Website | vidaecaffe |
Vida e Caffè (Brazilian Portuguese:[ˈvidɐikaˈfɛ],Italian:[ˈviːdaekkafˈfɛ]; stylized asvida e caffè, and often referred to simply asvida) is a privately ownedSouth Africancaféfranchise, and supplier ofbeverage products. It is one of the largest café chains in South Africa.
Headquartered inCape Town, vida operates over 320 stores on the African continent, in a variety of formats. The company also operates sweetbeet, a subsidiary health-focused restaurant chain with 10 outlets (most of which are located in Cape Town).[2][3] The namevida e caffè means 'life and coffee', mixing the Portuguese for 'life' with the Italian for 'andcoffee'.[6]
Vida e Caffè opened their first store in Kloof Street,Cape Town,Western Cape, in October 2001. When doing so, vida drew inspiration from street cafés in Portugal, and blended that with an African style.[1]
vida opened its first international store (the first outlet outside South Africa) via a partner, in 2013, when it branched out into Ghana.[6]
Darren Levy became the chain's CEO in 2015.[4]
Also in 2015, vida branched out further afield, entering into a master franchise agreement for stores in Mauritius.[6]
In 2019, vida opened its first outlet in Zambia.[6]
In September 2020, vida opened its first drive-through outlet in Vaalpark,Johannesburg.[3]
In late 2021, vida acquiredhealth-orientedrestaurant chain sweetbeet. The following year, sweetbeet opened four new locations.[7]
Vida announced a partnership with grocery retail chainSpar South Africa in April 2025. As part of the collaboration, full-service Vida outlets would open gradually inside Spar stores across South Africa. Vida's CEO, Darren Levy, stated that 5 such stores were already in operation, and that more would roll out in the proceeding months.[8]
As of May 2020,[update] vida owns over 320 stores, located across 7 countries. The majority of its stores are situated inSouth Africa. The rest are located across Botswana, Mauritius, Ghana, Angola, Zambia, and Eswatini.[3]
vida's store distribution includes:
One of its Cape Town stores is situated at the lower station of theTable Mountain Aerial Cableway, which is part of theTable Mountain National Park - the most visited national park in South Africa.[3][9]
vida also offers drive through facilities at some of its stores; as well as home delivery through their own app (in which customers can also pay, and earn loyalty points),[10] and in the South AfricanMrD andUber Eats apps.[1][5]
A number of the stores are micro-operations located within business office spaces to cater office workers.[11] The presence of the company, its market share, and relatively low franchise costs have been noted as a reason why the American multinational coffee companyStarbucks has had limited success in expanding in South Africa.[12][13]
The company has a partnership with the South African branch ofShell to sell coffee at itspetrol stations across the country.[14] It does this at some Shell petrol stations through the brandTorrador by Vida e Caffe, which was co-developed by Shell and vida, and has a customized menu. There are also Torrador Self Service offerings at some Shell garages.[5][15]
vida operates stores across a number of different formats. These include:
vida is the official coffee partner to South African medical insurance providerDiscovery, and South African book retailerExclusive Books.[16]
It also operates 19 cafes inside various stores of local building and garden supply chainBuilders Warehouse, and supplies coffee to South African airline,LIFT.[16]
Through its model of operating stores inside corporate headquarters, vida has outlets in HQs of businesses in South Africa including those of EY, MultiChoice, Vodacom, MTN, Old Mutual, The Foschini Group, Liberty Life, KPMG, Sanlam,[17] and Standard Bank[5]
vida allows selected individuals to operate franchise stores, via its entity, Vida e Caffè Corporate Services (Pty) Ltd. This setup provides franchisees with training, vending audits, access to a national technical support network, as well as equipment rental options.[3]
vida also operates its subsidiaryhealth-orientedrestaurant chain, sweetbeet. The chain offers a variety of food and beverages, includingsalads, burritos, breakfast items, juices, andsmoothies. As of September 2025, there are 10 sweetbeet locations, 9 of which are inCape Town. Multiple of these restaurants are located alongside vida coffeehouses.[18]
vida offers a range of bespoke, and single origin coffee blends, which are named using anastronomical theme, such as being named after stars and constellations. Examples include Auriga, Estrela, Electra, Devra, and Vega.[19]
The company sells hot and cold drinks at its outlets, and uses barista machines fromGaggia. vida also sells take-home coffee incapsule andbean form,[20] as well as other items, including ready-made food. Some locations offer both indoor and outdoor seating.
Kwa-Zulu Natal-based coffee producer Redberry Coffee (the Redberry Coffee Collective) has partnered with vida to sell its 100%arabica coffee at vida cafes.[21]
vida refers to itsbaristas as Passionistas, and every barista undergoes at least 3 months of training. Passionistas learn experientially, and train in either Cape Town or Johannesburg.[1]
Through its sustainability initiative, Grab Green, and its broader sustainability journey, vida e mundo (Brazilian Portuguese for, "life and world"), vida focuses on making a positive impact on the planet. This includes community engagement, and the use and sale of eco-friendly products, such as fully compostable coffee capsules, reusable travel mugs, reusable coffee cups, 100% hemp tote bags, and used coffee grounds for gardening.[22]