1. Thinkers has always positioned itself as ‘more than a coffee shop.’ Where did the idea of creating a space dedicated to thinking, creativity, and meaningful conversations come from, and how has that vision evolved since day one?
It came from a feeling, honestly. A feeling that something was missing in the spaces where we were spending our time. Lebanon has one of the most beautiful coffee cultures in the world — the ritual of sitting, the warmth of it, the way a cup of coffee in this country has always been an invitation for something more. But somewhere along the way, that invitation got lost. Spaces became faster, louder, more transactional. You came in, you ordered, you left.
We wanted to bring something back. Not just a space to drink coffee, but a space where drinking coffee was the beginning of something — a real conversation, a moment of clarity, an idea that had been waiting for the right environment to appear. That is where THINKERS was born.
The name carries everything we believe. A Thinker is not a title — it is an invitation. It says: you are welcome here if you come with something on your mind and you want the space to explore it. Whether that is a professional working through a problem, two friends reconnecting after months apart, a student finally finding the quiet they needed, or someone who just wants an hour that belongs entirely to them.
What has evolved since day one is our understanding of how many different kinds of Thinkers there are. When you build a community across Zahle, Jbeil, Jounieh, and now Antelias, you encounter people who remind you that the need for a space like this is not niche — it is universal. That has humbled us and inspired us in equal measure.
2. With the opening of your new Antelias branch, what influenced your choice of location, and how does this new space reflect the next chapter of the Thinkers journey?
Every branch we have opened has taught us something about what a community needs — and what it is missing. Zahle showed us that this concept resonates far beyond Beirut. Jbeil showed us the connection between creative culture and the kind of space THINKERS creates. Jounieh showed us how important it is to have a place that the neighbourhood genuinely adopts as its own.
Antelias — the Demco Tower — felt like a natural next step because of the energy of that area. It is a space with a working pulse to it, but also a social one. People pass through it at different hours, with different needs. Some are in the middle of a professional day and need a moment of calm and a really good cup of coffee. Others are meeting someone they care about and want the setting to feel right. We designed the space to hold both of those people without compromising either.
What excites us most about Antelias is the community we are about to meet. Every branch has surprised us with the people who walk through the door in the first weeks and make it theirs. There is something deeply moving about watching a space come to life — watching strangers become regulars, watching a new corner of Lebanon develop its own version of the THINKERS community.
This opening represents our commitment to growth that does not dilute. We are not simply planting a flag in a new location. We are planting roots — and we intend to tend them the same way we have in every branch before this one.
3. In a market where coffee quality is often the main differentiator, Thinkers has built its identity around experience and community. Why was it important for you to lead with purpose rather than product?
I want to gently push back on the premise a little — because for us, coffee quality is not separate from purpose. It is an expression of it. We are a specialty coffee space. The sourcing, the extraction, the craft behind every cup matters deeply to us. When you sit down at THINKERS and order an espresso, a flat white, or a hand-crafted signature drink, you are receiving something that has been thought about carefully — not produced on autopilot.
But you are right that we have always believed the coffee alone is not enough. Because what surrounds the coffee — the space, the warmth, the quality of the light, the way someone on our team makes you feel when you walk in — that is what transforms a good cup into a memory. That is what brings someone back not once but three times a week.
The community we have built around THINKERS is the thing we are most proud of. In each of our branches, something happens that you cannot manufacture: people start to know each other. Regulars become a kind of family. You see the freelancer who always sits in the corner start having lunch with the entrepreneur who comes in every Tuesday. You see friendships form and collaborations begin. We did not plan all of that. We simply created the conditions for it — and the people brought it to life.
Purpose is what holds all of that together. When you lead with purpose, your product decisions are not random — they are coherent. Everything we choose to put on the menu, in the space, and in our team is a reflection of the same belief: that people deserve better than a transaction.
4. The name ‘Thinkers’ carries a strong message. How do you intentionally design the space, programming, and customer experience to encourage people to slow down, reflect, create, or connect?
The space itself does a lot of the work. We are deliberate about acoustics, about the quality of the light, about the way seating is arranged so that a person sitting alone feels held rather than exposed, and two people having a conversation feel like they have genuine privacy. These are small things individually, but together they create an atmosphere that says: you are not in a hurry here.
Our coffee menu reflects the same philosophy. We offer the full spectrum — from a precise single espresso for someone who knows exactly what they want, to our signature drinks that are designed to be a small moment of indulgence and discovery. Every item on the menu has been chosen or crafted with care, because the quality of what you consume affects the quality of what you are able to do and feel afterwards.
The food menu is something we have thought about very carefully — and this is something I feel strongly about. We wanted THINKERS to be a space where everyone feels welcome, not just in spirit but in what we actually offer them. So alongside our full menu, we have a range of healthy options — items that are sugar-free, gluten-free, lactose-free. Our acai bowls are designed to be genuinely nourishing. We carry snacks and treats for people who are mindful about what they eat. We did not want someone with dietary needs to feel like they had to compromise just to sit with us.
Connection is perhaps the most invisible thing we design for, and yet the most important. We train our team to be genuinely present — to notice people, to remember them, to make them feel that this branch is partly theirs. When a customer walks into a THINKERS branch and someone behind the bar knows their name and their order, something shifts. They stop being a visitor and start being part of the community. That is what we are really building, one cup at a time.
5. Lebanon has one of the region’s most vibrant café cultures. What gap did you believe Thinkers could fill, and how has customer engagement shaped the brand over the years?
Lebanon’s café culture is extraordinary, and we grew up inside it. The long afternoons, the Arabic coffee passed between friends, the way a cup of something warm has always been the reason to gather. We love that tradition and THINKERS was never meant to replace it — it was meant to add a new layer to it.
The gap we identified was in the quality of the experience from end to end. Specialty coffee done seriously. Food that actually nourishes you rather than just filling you. A space that was designed rather than assembled. And a genuine investment in the community around each branch rather than treating customers as footfall.
What we did not expect was how much our customers would teach us. The people who come to THINKERS have guided every significant evolution of the brand. The expansion of the healthy food range — the sugar-free options, the gluten-free choices, the lactose-free alternatives — came directly from conversations with regulars who said: I love this place, but I wish I had more to eat here that suits how I live. We listened. We always try to listen.
The way different communities around our branches have shaped the brand is something I find genuinely moving. The THINKERS community in Zahle has a different energy to the one in Jbeil or Jounieh. They share the same values — curiosity, quality, connection — but they express them differently. That is not a problem for us to solve. It is a richness that we celebrate. It means the brand is alive, not just consistent.
Every city we enter, we try to become part of it — not just open in it. That distinction matters enormously to us.
6. As you expand, how do you plan to preserve the authenticity of the ‘more than coffee’ philosophy while growing the brand, and what can customers expect from Thinkers beyond this new opening?
The thing that keeps me up at night about expansion is not the logistics — it is the soul. Every time you open a new branch, you risk losing something intangible that made the first ones feel special. We think about this constantly.
Our answer has been to invest deeply in the people who carry the brand. The philosophy of THINKERS cannot be put entirely in a manual — though we do take our standards seriously across every detail, from the recipe of every drink we serve to the way we train our team. But the soul of it lives in the people. So we hire slowly and we invest in our team the way we invest in everything else: with genuine care and high expectations.
We also build community differently in each location rather than importing a template. When we open in Antelias, we are not opening a replica of Jbeil. We are creating a new THINKERS — one that will be shaped by the people of that area, that will develop its own regulars, its own rhythm, its own version of what this brand means. The roots are the same. The expression is always new.
In terms of what customers can expect beyond this opening — we are committed to continuing to push the quality of what we offer. Specialty coffee is a field that never stops evolving and we will not stop evolving with it. The food range will continue to grow, with an increasing focus on healthy, inclusive options that allow more people to feel fully at home at THINKERS — whatever their dietary life looks like.
We also want to do more to connect people to each other. That is perhaps the most underdeveloped part of what we do, and the part with the most potential. A coffee shop that facilitates real human connection — not digitally, but physically, in a room, over something delicious — feels more important today than it has ever been. That is the direction we are heading in.
More than coffee is not something we will grow out of. It is the commitment that grows with us.