At the entrance of One Rosebank, a sleek glass tower that houses apartments, shops and restaurants, the scent of freshly ground beans will soon mingle with the scent of polished marble. According to a press release on BusinessTech, Naked Coffee will open its latest restaurant inside the development.
One Rosebank is a mixed-use precinct in Johannesburg’s Rosebank suburb. The project, developed by the Tricolt Group in partnership with Kent Gush Properties, combines apartments, retail spaces and resident amenities such as 24-hour security, biometric access control, electric-vehicle charging bays and high-speed fibre internet. The location is within walking distance of Rosebank Mall, The Zone and The Firs, and a two-minute drive from the Rosebank Gautrain station. The development is marketed as a walkable urban environment that reduces the need for a car.
What the new Naked Coffee outlet brings
Naked Coffee was founded in 2015 by Shaun Els and Victor Barbosa. The brand started as a small coffee hut in Melrose Arch before expanding to a food-and-coffee concept called Naked Kitchen & Coffee Bar in 2017. Today the chain operates six sites, five in Johannesburg (Illovo, Hyde Park, Sandton, Morningside and Melrose Arch) and one in Sea Point, Cape Town, and is planning a seventh in Rosebank.
The Rosebank outlet will continue the brand’s Scandinavian-inspired interior design, with a focus on the colour green, minimalist décor and premium, single-origin beans roasted in-house. In addition to coffee, the menu will feature the brand’s breakfast favourites such as avocado toast on sourdough, buttery croissants and the Naked Benedict, as well as lunch items like wraps, gourmet sandwiches and salads. The Illovo store already trialled a dinner-only menu called Naked After Dark, showing the brand’s willingness to experiment with extended hours.
Barbosa told SA Homeowner magazine that the brand’s vision is to become a global name, with Johannesburg as the starting point. The new Rosebank site is positioned as a flagship that can showcase the brand to affluent residents and office workers who value convenience and quality.
For other small-to-medium food and beverage operators, the move highlights a growing trend: premium coffee concepts are increasingly locating inside mixed-use residential projects that promise a captive audience of residents, shoppers and commuters. The amenities offered by One Rosebank, reliable backup power, water supply and high-speed internet, also reduce operational risk for tenants, a factor that can be decisive in a market still coping with load-shedding and supply-chain disruptions.
However, the upscale setting also raises the bar for pricing and service standards. Competing cafés will need to match the brand’s emphasis on quality beans, seasonal produce and design aesthetics if they hope to retain foot traffic in the same precinct. The development’s security and access controls may also limit impulse visits from passers-by, meaning businesses will rely heavily on resident loyalty and targeted marketing.
From a property perspective, One Rosebank’s ability to attract well-known brands like Naked Coffee adds credibility to the development’s mixed-use model. It demonstrates that developers can curate a tenant mix that aligns with the lifestyle promised to residents, walkable, premium and technology-enabled.
While the announcement does not disclose the size of the lease or the expected opening date, the brand’s track record of steady expansion suggests the outlet could be operational within the next few months. For entrepreneurs watching the South African coffee market, the story underscores the importance of aligning brand positioning with the right real-estate partner.
Readers interested in the broader implications for small-business funding or commercial leasing can explore our SME & Entrepreneurship section and tools such as the Commercial Funding Suite.
businesstech reported that One Rosebank sits at 37 Cradock Avenue and that Phase 2 of the project is currently available for sale, offering additional apartments and retail units alongside the existing mix. The development provides backup power, a dedicated water supply and high-speed fibre internet to all occupants, reinforcing the promise of uninterrupted service for tenants such as Naked Coffee. Security features include 24-hour CCTV surveillance, biometric access control and secure basement parking, while electric-vehicle charging bays support sustainable commuting. These amenities complement the walkable urban concept already highlighted in the press release and give prospective lessees a clear picture of the infrastructure supporting their operations.
In South Africa, a mixed-use precinct like One Rosebank typically negotiates a long-term lease that ties rent to the tenant’s ability to attract resident and visitor footfall. Developers aim to curate a tenant mix that aligns with the lifestyle sold to buyers, while operators benefit from built-in demand generated by nearby apartments, retail and transport links. Lease terms often include clauses on service level expectations for power, water and internet, which can mitigate the operational risk posed by load-shedding or supply-chain interruptions that many small-to-medium businesses face.
The inclusion of biometric access control and 24-hour security means that cafés must adapt their opening hours and staffing models to a gated environment where only residents and authorised visitors can enter freely. This setup reduces impulse traffic but encourages loyalty programmes and targeted marketing to the resident base. Reliable backup power and water supply also allow operators to maintain consistent service during outages, a factor that can influence menu decisions such as offering dinner-only concepts like Naked After Dark without fearing disruption.
Looking ahead, observers should monitor the uptake of Phase 2 units, as rapid sales could signal strong demand for additional retail space and potentially attract more premium food and beverage brands. Entrepreneurs will also want to watch whether Naked Coffee replicates its Rosebank flagship model in other mixed-use developments, which would reinforce the viability of this tenant-mix strategy across Johannesburg’s emerging residential precincts.
