The company Coffee Island was established in 1999, in the city of Patras by a physician who thought that the city was lacking a good old coffee shop with modern looks and traditional habits. Within some years, the company enjoyed success and a network of 256 stores, employing 1,300 people in Greece alone.

Coffee Island established its own coffee production and processing unit, took lessons from Italian masters, invested in architectural revamping of the sales points and took the risk of expanding abroad. First came Nicosia, Cyprus (2009), followed by a network of shops in Romania, Bulgaria and Albania, then came the UK, while expansion plans include Toronto, Canada. The company has been cooperating with the University of Thessaly (Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology) in the field of food technology, investing in equipment for high quality products.

It also built a training centre dedicated to cutting-edge coffee education. In 2014, Coffee Island became a National Champion at the European Business Awards, and in the same year won a distinction at the European Coffee Awards, as one of the ten best coffee chains in Southern Europe.