'harness the potential'

Orlen petrol station chain opens its first standalone, fully automated Stop Cafe

De onbemande Stop Cafe van Orlen biedt klanten zeven dagen per week, 24 uur per dag een assortiment aan eten en drinken, inclusief een koffiehoek. Foto: Orlen Duitsland, 2026

The German petrol station chain Orlen has expanded beyond its petrol stations by opening the first standalone, fully automated Stop Cafe shop in the Czech Republic, located next to a Park & Ride facility in the capital, Prague.

The unstaffed Stop Cafe offers customers a range of food and drink, including a coffee corner, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Access and age verification are handled via ČSOB’s DoKapsy mobile app, which links the shopping experience to the user’s bank identity. “Revenue from non-fuel-related activities is now on a par with that from fuel sales,” says Agnieszka Bobrukiewicz, a board member at ORLEN Unipetrol, who presided over the official opening. “Orlen also wants to capitalise on this potential outside its petrol stations, following the example of the successful model developed in Germany.”

The location near Praha-Braník railway station was deliberately chosen because of the high footfall. “The aim is to bring the Stop Cafe brand closer to customers at other busy locations too,” said Rostislav Moravec, director of the Orlen petrol station network in the Czech Republic.

At petrol stations

Orlen is also active in Germany with unstaffed shop concepts at unmanned petrol stations. For example, in the spring of 2026, the company opened a fully automated convenience shop selling food and drink in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. This shop is integrated into an unmanned Orlen Express petrol station. The ‘smart store’ has no till, no cashier and no opening hours.

Diversification

The launch marks a new step in Orlen’s strategy to diversify beyond traditional fuel sales, combining quality coffee, fresh food and everyday essentials in a self-service concept. For the wider retail sector, this is intended to underline the new impetus behind the transformation of traditional shops into unmanned technology-based concepts.

The Orlen Group operates approximately 3,400 to 3,500 petrol stations worldwide across seven different countries in Europe. Under the Orlen and Star brand names, it has over 600 petrol stations in Germany.

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This article was automatically translated from the original Dutch text into British English.

Author: Paul Blonk

Source: Mobility Energy

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