Why Consider a Coffee Franchise?

Statistics has shown that almost half of the American population drinks four (or more) cups of coffee per day. And apparently, that is still on the increase. This means that selling coffee, especially under the umbrella of a well known franchise, can be very profitable. Let’s take a closer look and see if owning a coffee franchise would suit you….

The good part:

You will not be alone, or left to your own devices. The franchise group want you to be successful, for various reasons. Firstly for making more money off you, and secondly to have a good track record to present to prospective franchise buyers. You will have access to constant support, guidance and training (for your staff and yourself). You will be trained on the products and business operation, staff management, and possible pitfalls to avoid.

You will be assigned a franchise manager, or coach, helping you to get set up, iron out the bottlenecks, and get your shop running smoothly. After having visited a successful, established coffee franchise branch, you will be given one to two weeks of training, to ensure you will be able to continue on your own afterwards. The actual franchise manager will be on your premises for a few days, or even the first week.

Afterwards you will have access to support and advice anytime you may need it, since your continued success is their financial gain.

The bad part:

Every opportunity comes with a downside. In this case, you will have to accept that your new coffee franchise comes complete with its own set of rules, regulations, and operation prescriptions. Things will have to be done “by the book” - literally. Having proven the business model, the franchisor will expect you to copy it to the letter.

The biggest single disadvantage, however, is the rather large amount of capital needed to acquire the coffee franchise. You will be laying out a large amount of money before you start doing anything, and then (unless included in the franchise agreement), you still have to start shop fitting, according to their expectations.

On top of that you will still have to pay your regular franchise fees as well, while only being allowed to deal with approved suppliers, sometimes costing you more than you would prefer to pay.

Lastly, the franchisor will have open access to your books, and enforce shop standards, including the minimum required amount of staff.

In conclusion:

Although there will be times when you feel you are paying too much, and having too much interference in your business, you should keep in mind that, if you did it all by yourself, a number of things would be different. Yes, you would have laid out less money, but you would have no support or guidance, or access to the proven business model of the coffee franchise. Not to mention the fact that you would have had to build your own brand, and do your own marketing to eventually attract the same amount of customers.