Over the past three years, shoppers have retrained themselves. They now buy coffee on the go not at a coffee shop but in the same place as bread and milk. According to Romir, the share of Russians who buy takeaway coffee in grocery chains and convenience stores grew from 17% in 2023 to 35% in 2026. ACORT estimates that hot-drink sales in retail rose by more than 80% in volume terms in 2025, and in the first half of 2026 X5 reported sales growth of 40% at Pyaterochka and 30% at Perekrestok.
The chains responded quickly. X5 has coffee stations in 88% of its stores and in 92% of Pyaterochka stores: in 2025 Pyaterochka customers drank about 200 million cups, 86% more than a year earlier. Magnit expanded its network of coffee points from 3,000 to 5,000 in a year. Lenta put hot coffee in all 270 of its hypermarkets, and Auchan is developing corners at the checkout line.
The numbers look impressive. The economics of a single point look far less so, and that deserves an honest conversation.
What a coffee corner is and how it differs from a coffee shop
A corner is a coffee zone inside a working store. A counter, a super-automatic coffee machine, a water connection, sometimes a fridge for milk and a display case with baked goods. The area is from one to a few square metres.
The main difference from a coffee shop is not the equipment but the cost structure. In a coffee shop, the coffee carries all the rent, wages and taxes. A store already has its sales floor, staff, logistics and purchasing, and they are already paid for. A corner adds equipment, ingredients and a little operational load. That is why a store can sell a cup for 79-99 ₽ and stay in the black, while a coffee shop has nothing to work with at that price.
The second point, which is rarely said out loud: catering requirements do not apply to stores. A guest toilet, seating, separate rooms: all of that goes into the price of a cup at a coffee shop and not at a retailer. Hence the two- to threefold difference in price with comparable beans.
How much it costs to launch one point
The spread is wide and depends on what you install.
ItemOrder of magnitudeProfessional super-automatic coffee machinefrom 600,000 to 1.5 million ₽ (M.A. Research estimate)Counter, water supply, electricsdepends heavily on the layoutRefrigeration and milk systemincluded in the kit or priced separatelyConsumables and the first load of ingredientstens of thousands of ₽ per pointThe cost of a cup in retail usually stays in the range of 30-50 ₽ against a selling price of 100-200. The markup is high, and with good traffic the investment pays back in 6-12 months. The words "with good traffic" do all the work here.
Where the break-even line sits
The most useful figure on the market comes from Alexander Kuzmin, head of the RusHolts group, who in an interview with RBC Saint Petersburg laid out the difference between fuel stations and grocery retail. At a filling station a point sells 50-100 cups a day (RusHolts estimate), and a cup costs 230-280 ₽. In a chain store it is 20-30 cups at under 100 ₽. The cost of the coffee zone is the same either way, and profit begins at 50-60 cups a day at a price of 110-120 ₽.
An unpleasant conclusion follows for the average convenience store. A typical corner with 25 cups a day is not an earner but an investment in traffic and loyalty. It pays back not through the coffee zone's till, but because the customer comes in more often and adds a bun, a snack or a ready meal to the cup.
That is why a corner has to be calculated in two ways at once. The first is the direct margin of the coffee zone. The second is the increase in the average basket of customers who bought coffee compared with those who did not. For chains the second figure usually looks far more convincing than the first, but almost nobody breaks it out in reporting.
What really drives sales inside the store
Location on the floor
A corner by the exit and a corner at the back of the store produce different revenue with identical equipment. Auchan puts coffee zones at the checkout line deliberately: the shopper already has a full basket, and the decision about a cup is made in seconds. A zone in a far corner requires a separate trip, and most people do not make it.
Speed of preparation
In a store, it is not two coffee brands that compete but scenarios. The person needs a drink on the way, and will choose whatever is faster. If the queue at the machine is longer than a minute at the morning peak, some customers leave without coffee and do not come back to the idea.
Consistency of taste
This is retail's biggest gap. RusHolts described an audit of a chain with 500 machines in which not one fully matched the chain's own recipe card, and not even two machines had the same settings. A one-off customer does not notice the variation. A regular notices it immediately, and loyalty to the chain's coffee never forms at all.
Control of discrepancies
A separate loss item is the difference between drinks prepared and drinks rung up at the till. In some chains it reaches 30%. Telemetry that reconciles the machine's counter with receipts pays for itself sooner than any other upgrade to a coffee zone.
Typical mistakes when scaling
How to calculate a project before launch
The minimum set of indicators to gather before buying equipment:
If this model gives 20 cups for the point, the decision can still be the right one. It is simply made not about coffee margin but about whether the customer comes to you rather than to the bakery next door.
Conclusion
A coffee corner in a store almost never pays back on coffee margin alone. The average point with 20-30 cups a day runs at around zero, and the decision about it is made not about coffee but about whether the customer comes to you or to the bakery next door.
So calculate the corner in two ways at once: the direct margin of the zone and the increase in the average basket for customers with coffee. The second figure is usually what justifies the project.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a coffee corner in a store take to pay back
With high location traffic, 6-12 months. At 20-30 cups a day at a price under 100 ₽ the point runs at around zero and pays back through a higher average basket, not through coffee sales.
How many cups a day does a corner need to be profitable
By RusHolts' estimate, profit appears from 50-60 cups a day at a price of 110-120 ₽. Below that mark the zone works as a service for shoppers.
Does the coffee zone need a dedicated employee
For an automatic station, no: servicing falls to store staff. But someone must be responsible for refilling, washing and responding to notifications, otherwise the point degrades within a couple of weeks.
How does a corner differ from a vending machine
A corner stands on the sales floor and relies on store staff; a machine works autonomously and can stand where there is no staff. Their economics and service requirements differ.
DrinkX designs and services coffee points for retail chains: solutions for retail, telemetry and quality control, payback calculation for a point.
How this works on the under-counter station — on the home page; short answers on installation, water and service are in the Short answers section.
What a station would earn for you
We’ll run the payback on your numbers: traffic, cup price, rent.