Cukiernia Sowa invests in upgrades to capture more coffee moments
Cukiernia Sowa is redesigning cafés and menus to turn pastry runs into repeat coffee visits, betting on better drinks, longer stays and younger guests.
Cukiernia Sowa is spending heavily to make coffee a reason to visit, not just something that comes with cake. The Polish bakery-café chain has launched a multi-million-euro upgrade push aimed at better store design, stronger menu innovation and a more modern café feel, with the clear goal of winning more of the dayparts that drive beverage sales.
The move puts a fresh spotlight on a company with deep roots. Feliks Sowa and Stanisława Sowa founded the brand in Bydgoszcz in 1946, and it has grown into one of Poland’s oldest and largest branded coffee chains. World Coffee Portal says Cukiernia Sowa now operates 175 stores across 15 of Poland’s 16 voivodeships, and about two-thirds of those locations are franchised. Much of that footprint sits in high-footfall shopping centres, a format that naturally feeds snack, coffee and dessert traffic.
The chain’s recent strategy shows it is not treating this as a cosmetic refresh. In September 2024, Michał Sowa said the network had 164 locations, including 119 franchise stores and 45 company-owned cafés. He also said the 2024-2026 plan, called “Sowa - Rośniemy Mądrze,” targeted at least 180 cafés by the end of 2026, when the business turns 80. At that time, the company said it planned seven new openings and three remodels by the end of 2024, with Kraków identified as a new region that would require dedicated logistics from the production base in Bydgoszcz.
That logistics backbone matters because the brand is trying to sell freshness as part of the coffee occasion. Cukiernia Sowa says selected locations offer breakfast items, drinks prepared on site and a café setting built for coffee or tea, which gives the chain more room to compete beyond the pastry counter. Its own positioning points to a business trying to lengthen dwell time and make the café itself, not just the display case, central to the visit.
A newer example arrived on 18 March 2026, when Cukiernia Sowa opened a refreshed café at Galeria Przymorze in Gdańsk, framed as a concept built around customer experience. That fits the wider playbook: modernize the room, sharpen the drinks offer and make the space feel worth lingering in for younger guests who expect comfort, photogenic interiors and a stronger beverage menu. If Cukiernia Sowa can keep its pastry heritage while pulling more repeat coffee traffic, it could deepen loyalty without losing the legacy that made the brand matter in the first place.
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