
Precision and craft – a conversation with the founders of MAME
From 5THWAVE - The Business of Coffee and Hospitality by World Coffee Portal
March 6, 2026 · 37 min · Episode 202
About this episode
Emi Fukahori and Mathieu Theis discuss their journey in the specialty coffee industry and the principles behind their brand MAME.
In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Emi Fukahori and Mathieu Theis, Co-founders of Swiss specialty coffee business MAME . Multiple-time Swiss competition winners, Emi and Mathieu founded MAME in Zurich in 2016, driven by a shared passion for coffee tasting, sensory analysis and competition craft, combined with Japanese precision. Today, they operate eight coffee shops across Zurich and Geneva and, one most recently, Tokyo. In this conversation, Emi and Mathieu share their guiding principles for tailoring every guest experience and creating memorable coffee moments. They also discuss how they’ve drawn inspiration from Michelin-starred chefs to scale high-quality and maintain a strong brand identity as they grow internationally. Credits music: "Lay on Grass" by Sam Stokes in association with The Coffee Music Project and SEB Collective . Tune into the 5THWAVE Playlist on Spotify for more music from the show Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest coffee news at worldcoffeeportal.com Subscribe to 5THWAVE on Instagram @5thWaveCoffee and tell us what topics you'd like to hear
People in this episode
Guests: Emi Fukahori, Mathieu Theis
Topics covered
- specialty coffee
- entrepreneurship
- customer experience
- brand identity
- international growth
Keywords
- specialty coffee
- MAME
- customer experience
- Zurich
- Michelin-starred chefs
- coffee shops
- international growth
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: MAME, Michelin, The Coffee Music Project, SEB Collective, World Coffee Portal
Places: Zurich, Geneva, Tokyo
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