JOHOR BAHRU — Forget marble countertops, designer interiors and reservations weeks in advance. One of Johor Bahru’s most distinctive cafe trends is being built beside highways, inside car parks and on patches of gravel — often with little more than a coffee machine, folding tables and rows of camping chairs.
Across the Malaysian border city, a growing generation of late-night roadside cafes is turning once-overlooked spaces into social destinations, drawing young Malaysians, night-shift workers, motorists and an increasing number of Singapore visitors looking for something very different from the polished cafes of downtown JB.
The trend has become particularly visible since around 2024, according to a CNA Lifestyle feature published on August 22, 2026. Many of these businesses operate well into the night, combining speciality coffee, inexpensive food, outdoor seating and the relaxed atmosphere Malaysians often describe as a “port lepak” — essentially a place to hang out.
But behind those seemingly simple camping chairs is a story that began years earlier.
From Pandemic Escapism to a New Cafe Culture
The aesthetic traces part of its popularity to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When movement restrictions kept people closer to home, images of Malaysians sitting outdoors in portable camping chairs began spreading across social media. The chairs eventually became associated online with the idea of “healing” — escaping daily pressure by sitting somewhere quiet, drinking coffee and spending time with friends.
Malay Mail reported as early as October 2024 that so-called “healing chairs” had moved beyond beaches and camping trips and were appearing at roadside stalls and cafes across Malaysia.
Roadside cafe operator Mohd Adha Mohd Idrus told the publication that the chairs offered people a simple way to relax and enjoy their drinks, with the trend partly reflecting the desire for escape that grew during the pandemic.
In Johor Bahru, however, the concept found particularly fertile ground.
JB’s sprawling geography provides operators with something expensive downtown cafes rarely enjoy: space.
Instead of paying heavily for prime commercial interiors, some entrepreneurs can operate from trailers, containers, vans, residential compounds or relatively open roadside locations.
That has helped produce cafes that feel less like conventional restaurants and more like spontaneous neighbourhood gathering places.
Some Cafes Are Literally Operating From Cars
One of the clearest examples is J’Beans Coffee in Taman Perling.
Owner Norazdi “Didi” Nordin operates his mobile coffee business from a customised Toyota Vellfire.
After the pandemic forced the closure of his two restaurants in the Klang Valley, he moved to Johor and started a roadside coffee stand in July 2023. About six months later, the business moved into the MPV.
What began as a mobile setup has since been equipped with Italian-made coffee equipment, demonstrating how the roadside model does not necessarily mean sacrificing speciality-coffee ambitions.
That flexibility is one of the defining characteristics of the movement.
Renjana by Kafenatik owner Mohd Redzuan similarly turned toward roadside coffee after losing his kitchen job during the pandemic. He experimented with delivery work and bottled coffee before eventually operating alongside a roadside burger stall.
The camping setup, he explained, was attractive partly because it could easily be installed and packed away. Renjana has since developed into a more established hybrid cafe offering both indoor seating and the outdoor camping-chair experience.
Singapore Customers Are Already Part of the Equation
The roadside cafes may feel intensely local, but their customer base does not necessarily stop at the Malaysian border.
At Brewtiful Coffee in Taman Perling, owner Farid Shahbudin estimated that roughly 25 to 30 per cent of customers are Singaporeans, many travelling toward the Second Link.
Farid, who had run a catering operation since 2018, opened the cafe at its current location in June 2025.
Its location illustrates an important advantage enjoyed by some roadside operators.
Rather than asking customers to enter a shopping district, find parking and walk into a commercial building, cafes positioned near major roads can become convenient stops for drivers moving between neighbourhoods — or even countries.
That could become increasingly significant as Johor Bahru undergoes another wave of commercial development.
The Business Times reported in August 2026 that entrepreneurs are already repositioning cafe businesses around neighbourhoods expected to benefit from increased activity associated with the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link. Some operators are deliberately seeking unconventional locations rather than conventional city-centre shoplots, hoping that the setting itself becomes part of the experience.
JB’s Night Owls Are Driving Demand
Another reason roadside cafes work is simple: they stay open when much of the city is winding down.
At Buzz & Bean in Taman Molek, operating hours were extended from midnight to 2am after staff noticed customers were still lingering late into the evening.
Then there is Kopi 3 Pagi in Sierra Perdana.
Its name translates roughly to “3am Coffee”, and it lives up to the branding.
The cafe operates until 3am on regular nights and until 5am on Fridays and Saturdays. During CNA’s visit, more than 80 customers occupied about 25 outdoor tables on a Tuesday after midnight.
Owner Abdullah “Mus” Musab said he and his friends created the cafe partly because they themselves wanted somewhere to hang out late at night.
Some of its earliest regulars were workers from the food-and-beverage industry finishing late shifts around the Aeon Tebrau area.
That detail may explain why these cafes have developed into something more durable than another social-media aesthetic.
They are filling a genuine gap in JB’s nighttime economy.
From Folding Chairs to Hundreds of Customers
The biggest indication that the concept is evolving may be Santai Camp.
Opened in 2023, the venue represents what happens when the camping-chair formula becomes a large-scale commercial operation.
CNA counted roughly 50 tables, large tents for groups and approximately 250 customers during a late-July weekend visit.
Its kitchen stretches across three containers.
The result is considerably more polished than the improvised roadside stalls that helped shape the scene, but the visual language remains familiar: open air, casual seating, night skies and the idea that customers are there to stay rather than simply buy coffee and leave.
Johor’s Coffee Boom Is Bigger Than Camping Chairs
The roadside phenomenon is also unfolding alongside a much broader transformation in Johor’s cafe and kopitiam industry.
Johor businesses have increasingly combined food with atmosphere, nostalgia and highly photographable interiors.
The Straits Times reported in 2025 on the expansion of Johor-born or Johor-associated kopitiam concepts built around traditional Malaysian dishes, coffee and retro aesthetics, attracting older diners through nostalgia while appealing to younger customers through visually distinctive spaces.
At the opposite end of the design spectrum are bungalow cafes and concept-driven spaces.
Recent reporting has highlighted entrepreneurs converting older residential properties into cafes, while new openings across JB continue competing on ambience almost as heavily as food and beverages.
Roadside cafes are effectively the grassroots version of the same shift.
Customers are no longer paying only for coffee.
They are looking for a place to belong.
The Business Model Still Comes With Risks
The apparent simplicity of the roadside model should not be mistaken for guaranteed success.
Operators still face questions over permits, land use, weather, insects, parking, sanitation, traffic and how extensively tables and chairs can occupy outdoor areas.
Brewtiful’s Farid told CNA that inspectors had visited while permit applications were being processed, illustrating the regulatory uncertainty that can accompany businesses operating in unconventional spaces.
Popularity can create another problem.
Mohd Rasif, now behind Kopi Kampung Kak Cer, previously operated Mood Degil, which became viral but eventually struggled to cope with its popularity before closing.
He subsequently returned with a new roadside concept near his home.
That experience offers a warning for a cafe culture built partly through TikTok, Instagram and word of mouth: going viral can fill tables overnight, but sustainable operations require much more than aesthetic appeal.
Why the Camping Chair Matters
It would be easy to dismiss JB’s camping-chair cafes as another internet trend.
But their staying power suggests something more interesting is happening.
The humble folding chair represents a business model with relatively low physical barriers, a social culture centred on lingering rather than rushing, and a generation increasingly willing to turn unconventional spaces into commercial ones.
For customers, the proposition is equally uncomplicated.
Coffee. Friends. Music. Open air. No dress code. No elaborate dining ritual.
And sometimes, no need to go home until three in the morning.
What started as a few chairs beside cars and roadside stalls is now producing businesses capable of attracting hundreds of customers — including visitors crossing over from Singapore.
The bigger question is whether JB’s roadside cafes will remain a distinctly grassroots culture or gradually become commercialised into the very polished cafe scene they originally offered an alternative to.
Either way, Johor Bahru’s next major cafe destination may not be hidden inside a mall.
It might be sitting beside the highway.
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