Julius Meinl was founded in Vienna in 1862 as a specialist store selling first green and then roasted coffee. Roasting the green coffee beans on the family kitchen stove was not easy and the beans were often burnt. So Julius Meinl had the innovative idea to sell freshly roasted high quality coffee in his little store.

Buying freshly roasted coffee soon became popular in Vienna. In 1891 he opened a modern roasting plant on the very site where Pasha Kara Mustapha's army abandoned its coffee bags in 1683. After the end of World War I in 1918 the company expanded into many of the new Succession States in Central Europe created from the now defunct Austrian and Turkish Empires. 

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939 over 1,000 company and franchise stores were operated. This war led to most of the company’s assets in Central Europe being lost or destroyed.

With the expansion of Soviet Communism into Central Europe only Austria and its capital Vienna remained outside the Russian Communist Empire. The dissolution of this empire at the end of the "Cold War" in 1991 brought new opportunities for travel and trade among the neighbouring countries of Central Europe.

In 1996 Austria joined the European Union and became part of a large trade area. The previously protected Austrian regional market was opened to new competition. Julius Meinl faced new challenges but was also offered new opportunities. Meinl exited general food retailing and returned to its roots: to be leading suppliers of coffees, teas, jams and other fine foods.

A world class Gourmet store was opened in the year 2000 in Vienna's city center. The little Meinl coffee boy, since 1924 the coffee logo, is today the company's flag carrier for quality and excellence.