Tchibo GmbH

Tchibo GmbH is a family-owned German coffee company and lifestyle retailer, founded in 1949 and headquartered in Hamburg. Its technical work spans coffee roasting and blending, packaging and sealing technology, and single-portion coffee systems, including the Cafissimo and Qbo capsule platforms. Freshness preservation is a core engineering concern: the company holds patented Aroma Protect Technology used in its packaged coffee. Beyond product technology, Tchibo operates national e-commerce stores and offers mobile telecommunications services.

The company roasts and sells coffee through shops, retail depots and online stores, alongside weekly changing non-food collections of clothing and household items - a “coffee plus” retail model. The scale is substantial: annual revenue of €3.36 billion, roughly 900 shops across eight countries, more than 16,000 retail depots and 10,452 employees worldwide. Tchibo describes itself as Europe's number one coffeehouse.

Tchibo was founded by Max Herz and Carl Tchilling-Hiryan and began by delivering freshly roasted coffee to consumers' homes via mail order. The first shop opened in 1955; 77 more followed within three years, with new locations appearing weekly. The company also pioneered the weekly changing non-food collection format. Sustainability has been embedded in its core values since 2006, with commitments to ethical sourcing and sustainable production; Tchibo was named Germany's most sustainable major enterprise in 2016.