Coffee drinking in the Middle East dates back to at least the twelfth century. From there the custom of coffee drinking spread to the whole Islamic world. With its introduction to Turkey, coffee has been an important social beverage for nearly the past four-hundred. The first coffeehouses in Turkey appeared in Istanbul in the sixteenth century, at a time when Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Empire had already expanded into parts of Europe and was influencing both the European and Turkish cultures. Istanbul's key geographical location served as a link between the east and west through which customs were filtered. 

Coffee drinking was one eastern tradition introduced into Europe through Istanbul. The coffeehouses of Istanbul, being the first physical settings where coffee was consumed and where socializing and communicating were the prime activities, can be considered the prototype of later versions in Turkey and Europe. They became the first non-religious social settings that brought a new appreciation for recreation, communication, and community integration, forever changing the lifestyle in Turkish society. Although coffeehouses are an essential part of daily life as neighborhood community centers, for a period of time they have lost their importance and are nearly extinct in urban areas between 1980s and early 1990s. During this period only in smaller towns and villages can the traditional Turkish coffeehouse be found. 

Similar to the urban areas of Europe and the United States, life in the large cities like Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara is hectic and time spent outside of work and home is limited. Within the city, older citizens tend to be more willing to frequent the traditional coffeehouse than the young, who often spend their leisure time on more contemporary activities such as frequenting new bars, modern coffeehouses and cafes. In rural areas, where the society is primarily agrarian, people of all ages often visit the traditional coffeehouse as the only place for pastime. Understanding Global Cultures suggested that the primary reasons for the demise of the traditional Turkish coffeehouse and replace them with modern cafes in urban areas were the following:

• The new generation places less emphasis on traditional values and greater emphasis on earning a living.
• Alternative activities have emerged as cities become more cosmopolitan and a more modernized lifestyle is preferred. The middle and upper classes  enjoying the top notch art exhibits, cinemas, theaters, concerts, bars and contemporary cafes, modern and trendy coffee houses where they find verity of menu items from all around the world.
• As social environments in cities are unisex; coffeehouses are highly attractive and smoke-free for a meeting joint.

Even though the problems identified in the past by researchers such as allowing smoking at indoor areas, have affected the coffeehouse tradition, with the recent changes by laws to ban any type of smoking in public they have increased peoples' pleasure of drinking coffee at various social settings. Coffee is still a widely consumed beverage and has especially grown in popularity with the introduction of specialty coffees, such as espresso, cappuccino, and flavored coffees. With the acceptance of a modernized lifestyle the existence of a unique and rich traditional coffeehouse culture in Turkey is now struggling to compete with the emerging new American, French, Italian, or Austrian cafes. The sense of belonging and the need to identify with some activity of a nation's culture is a fundamental component of life. The Turkish coffeehouse is an important cultural tradition that Turks identify with closely and that form the basis for describing and understanding their values and behavior. It is the inability to belong, the failure to identify the character of a place and to recognize it as specifically and essentially one's own, that gives rise to personal worries, and social unrest. The promotion of a concept for a contemporary Turkish coffeehouse which retains its traditional character is an important step towards reviving a centuries old coffee tradition that is slowly ceasing to exist in Turkish cities. An effective way to promote and distribute this concept could be through the marketing method of franchising, which has proven to be a successful format for gaining name, image, and product recognition quickly. The success of franchising primarily depends on the uniformity of an image which requires the design of all graphic components from logo to store layout, followed by a well planned operating system and a continuous financial relationship with business partners.

Although the method of franchising has been successfully implemented in the United States for nearly a century, it is a relatively popular concept for the Turkish market for the last 20 years. The majority of foreign franchises found in Turkey belong to businesses involved in the organic food, natural resources, tourism, fast-food and textile/garment industry. Some of the leading brands such as Starbucks Coffee, Robert's Coffee, Gloria Jean's Coffee, Dallmayr Kaffee, Cafe Crown, Tchibo, Barnie's Coffee, Kahve Keyfi, Dunkin' Donuts, C & C (Coffee and Chocolate), Schiller Chiemsee, Caffé Nero, Pascucci, Testa Rossa, Lavazza are in almost every city where they opened a number of franchised outlets during the last 15 years. Presently, the market has still the potential for accepting franchises from nearly every industry, including coffee. Today the loss of cultural identity portrayed by the demise of historic Turkish coffeehouses  prevented by the contemporary coffeehouse franchises such as Kahve Dünyası, Kuru Kahveci Mehmet Efendi,  Gönül Kahvesi based on Turkish traditions.