Coffee Franchise Companies

The term “coffee shop” used to be synonymous with a small, quaint little diner establishment. Not really a big business, certainly nothing glamorous or pretentious. Then, the Starbucks era came along. Suddenly, coffee shops were hip, new, trendy, even… sexy! And all the other coffee shops followed suit. What happened? How did a simple cup of coffee transform into a double wet machiato venti caramel creme breve locomotive barbeque deja vu soybean avacado bacon burger gesundheit supreme latte? How did a waitress become a barista? How did the coffee shop end up beating the saloon for the most expensive and exotic drinks around?

We may never know, but now that the 21st century coffee shop has been reinvented as *ahem* the Coffee Bar, it’s all very good business. In virtually the entire English-speaking industrialized world, high-grade coffee shops have become a favorite hangout for young and old alike. But don’t think that it’s all Starbucks; long-established Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds have made some backlash against the new-wave coffee shops, by stepping up the marketing of their own coffee beverages. And other new retailers have followed the coffee-house crowd, including The Coffee Bean, Coffee Heaven, CrimsomCup, Excelente… the list goes on and on.

The coffee franchise is experiencing a huge boom in the market, in other words. It’s up to you whether it’s worth getting into now, or waiting to see if the boom busts and you can pick up a discount. However, considering how passionately the industrialized world loves coffee, don’t expect a bust in the market for a very long time, if ever.

Like any restaurant, you will have to pay attention to sanitation and health code standards. Like any fast food business, expect the usual drawbacks such as low profit margins and the difficulty of training and keeping staff. And you’ll have a lot of competition. It’s kind of tough to find a street corner in the United States that doesn’t have a coffee shop already.

One trend that especially has caught on is the cyber-cafe. These are coffee house establishments which offer a computer lounge and wireless Internet “hot spot” on the side. For the price of anything on the menu, patrons can sit down to a computer and log on.

There’s one particular trend in cyber-cafes that is interesting: for security and convenience, as well as economy, many establishments are using Linux distros running on PCs for this. This is because the Linux operating system is able to run from a live CD or even RAM memory, and can do everything that Microsoft Windows can do, in addition to being free for the download. Simply boot the machine in the morning, take out the CD, and it will run all day with no worries about viruses or hacking. It doesn’t even need a hard drive, so at the end of the day, just shut it off! It already runs the popular Firefox web browser, and the most popular Linux distros, such as Ubuntu or Mandriva, have even gained some “cool” credibility with today’s younger computing audience.

That’s the kind of thinking that goes towards being competitive in the coffee franchise game: be creative and offer something different. Other coffee houses have set themselves apart from the crowd by putting in everything from jukeboxes and a dance floor to offering chess, checkers, and go (the Japanese game) sets to play on the premises, branching out into hot meals, and even booking small independent bands for live entertainment. Not your typical java jive!

The costs of setting up are nominally expensive, but not outrageous. Start-up capital is in the range of a low five to low six figures. Most franchises offer great training and perks packages, since there’s so much competition for franchisees right now.

In fact, your biggest problem will be in narrowing your choice down to one. Coffee franchises aren’t nearly as difficult to run as a full restaurant, and are actually quite fun places to be.