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Hungry Ghost Coffee

Coffee · 12+ locations · NYC

Hungry Ghost Coffee reads like a typical scrappy Brooklyn coffee shop, and it actually is one. Founder Murat Uyaroglu has grown it to 12 NYC locations without ever taking outside investment. In a category increasingly rolled up by private equity, that kind of independence is the exception, not the rule.

Founder-run

The Big Picture

Genuinely Independent

Murat Uyaroglu has grown Hungry Ghost Coffee from a single Brooklyn shop into 12 NYC cafés since 2012 without ever taking outside investment, and still runs it himself. As a chain that size that has never drawn labor or environmental enforcement attention, it also has limited public wage or environmental data beyond a confirmed minimum-wage floor and a verified exclusive sourcing relationship with Stumptown. Accountability here runs to one person: the founder who still owns and operates every location.

Let's Get Critical

Local ownership
8/10
Founder involvement
9/10
Worker pay & benefits
6/10
Environmental impact
6/10
Sourcing & labor
7/10

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Company data last updated July 2026

How does one person build and research all this? They don't: here's how it actually works. Verdicts are our opinions, based on the public sources cited above as of July 2026. Spotted something off? or learn more.