The Riyadh-based coffee chain will debut at Baghdad’s Iraq Mall when it opens in the fourth quarter of 2025 and will become the second Saudi branded coffee chain in the market after Kyan Café
Saudi Arabia’s Half Million is set to open its first outlet in Iraq in the second half of 2025.
Founded in 2018, Riyadh-based Half Million currently operates 65 stores across its home market alongside a single site in London, UK.
The premium coffee chain will debut in Iraq with a store at the highly anticipated Iraq Mall in Baghdad’s Al-Dora district. Scheduled to open on 1 October 2025, the major shopping and leisure destination will also host Turkish coffee chain Espressolab, as well as high-end retail brands Massimo Dutti, Hugo Boss, Levi’s, Lacoste and Bershka.
Half Million’s planned Middle East expansion follows fellow Saudi Arabian coffee chain Kyan Café’s launch in Iraq in January 2025 and comes as the country seeks to diversify its economy away from oil towards tourism.
In January 2025, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani highlighted the country’s abundant tourism potential – including six UNESCO World Heritage sites – as key to attracting new foreign investment and boosting international visitor numbers.
The Iraqi government plans to increase tourism’s contribution to national GDP from 3% to 10% over the next few years – matching the sector’s contribution in other tourist hotspots across the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and the UAE.
World Coffee Portal’s Project Café Middle East 2025that report shows that Iraq is the 13th largest branded coffee shop in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with more than 80 outlets. The market comprises domestic chains Ridha Alwan Coffee and Bin Al Beiruti, Gulf State operators, including the UAE’s Shaghf Coffee and Kuwait’s Dose Cafe, as well as European brands such as Italy’s Caffè Vergnano 1882 and Greece’s Mikel Coffee.
World Coffee Portal forecasts that the total Iraqi branded coffee shop market will grow 10% over the next five years to surpass 130 outlets by the end of 2029.
