Mohsen Mobarra, head of the union overseeing coffee shops in Tehran, told economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad that caf\u00e9 operating costs have more than doubled while customer numbers have fallen by as much as 50 percent in recent months, with up to 40 percent of caf\u00e9s shutting down.<\/p>\n
\u201cContinuing operations does not mean profitability,\u201d he said. \u201cThe profits of these businesses are steadily shrinking. As a result, caf\u00e9s that rent their locations or lack strong financial backing are heading toward closure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past two decades, caf\u00e9s became an important part of urban life in Iran, taking root in Tehran before spreading across the country.<\/p>\n
With affordable entertainment options limited, they emerged as some of the few accessible spaces where young Iranians could socialize, work and spend time outside the home.<\/p>\n
Many evolved into more than places to drink coffee or eat light meals. They hosted poetry nights, small music performances, photography exhibitions and informal gatherings, becoming rare spaces for social interaction at a time when few other public spaces remained accessible.<\/p>\n
Until a few months ago, Tehran alone had around 6,000 caf\u00e9s of different sizes in operation. But the collapse in consumers\u2019 purchasing power has hit the industry hard.<\/p>\n
Sanaz, a 28-year-old receptionist at a private company, said she and her friends used to visit caf\u00e9s several times a week. But now, with sharp increases in the costs of food, transportation and housing, even such small pleasures require careful calculation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to calculate every expense, even this simple form of entertainment, just to make it to the end of the month \u2014 assuming I don\u2019t lose my job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I lose my job, after years of financial independence, I\u2019ll have to move back to my parents\u2019 home in my hometown.\u201d<\/p>\n
The closures and downsizing have also eliminated jobs for many workers, most of them young people and women.<\/p>\n
Shana, 26, completed professional barista training before finding work at one of the branches of the well-known Saedi Nia caf\u00e9 chain.<\/p>\n
In January, the chain\u2019s branches were abruptly shut down after the owner voiced support for opposition protesters. Shortly afterward, war broke out.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven caf\u00e9s that have survived the economic downturn are not hiring new staff anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cMany are actually laying off existing employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no hope that even by learning new skills like cooking or other work, I\u2019ll be able to find a job. The economy keeps getting worse every day, and the job market is shrinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coffee itself is also becoming a luxury.<\/p>\n
Tea remains Iran\u2019s dominant traditional drink, but coffee consumption expanded rapidly in recent years. Now, however, the sharp rise in foreign currency prices and disruptions to imports have pushed coffee prices so high that many households are cutting consumption or abandoning it altogether.<\/p>\n
Although global coffee prices have declined, the cost of coffee beans in Iran \u2014 largely imported through the United Arab Emirates before the war \u2014 has nearly doubled compared to pre-war levels.<\/p>\n
The increase has directly affected caf\u00e9 prices. With rents and other expenses also rising, the price of a cup of coffee in some caf\u00e9s has climbed by as much as four times.<\/p>\n
One caf\u00e9 owner told Donya-e-Eqtesad that even caf\u00e9s specializing in basic coffee drinks are seeing falling demand because many people can no longer justify going out even for coffee.<\/p>\n
Tara, the manager of an advertising company with ten employees, said coffee has become so expensive that even buying it for office use is increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time in the past twenty years, I\u2019ve had to stop buying coffee for the office kitchen, where it was always available for employees alongside tea,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just about coffee prices. Since last summer\u2019s war, work has effectively been frozen. Clients have even canceled half-finished projects, and everyone knows the company is taking its last breaths.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this situation continues, we\u2019ll have no choice but to shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mohsen Mobarra, head of the union overseeing coffee shops in Tehran, told economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad that caf\u00e9 operating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[34,67,63,60,61,64,58,62,59,65,49,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-116318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-iran-and-china","10":"tag-iran-covid","11":"tag-iran-economy","12":"tag-iran-government","13":"tag-iran-media-iran-and-the-united-states","14":"tag-iran-news","15":"tag-iran-nuclear","16":"tag-iran-politics","17":"tag-iran-us","18":"tag-middle-east","19":"tag-us-sanctions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116583216209451527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}