The US coffee shop industry includes more than 35,500 stores with combined annual sales of about $45 billion, according to Allegra World Coffee Portal. Coffee shops are part of the specialty eatery industry, which also includes outlets specializing in products such as bagels, donuts, frozen yogurt, and ice cream. (SBDC NET)
Consumer taste and personal income drive demand. The profitability of individual companies depends on the ability to secure prime locations, drive store traffic, and deliver high-quality products. Large companies have advantages in purchasing, finance, and marketing. Small companies can compete effectively by offering specialized products, serving a local market, or providing superior customer service. (SBDC NET)
Coffee shops compete with businesses such as convenience stores, gas stations, quick-service and fast-food restaurants, gourmet food shops, and donut shops. The US industry is concentrated: the eight largest companies account for about 70% of revenue.” (SBDC NET)
The United States is well-known for producing big coffee shop brands such as Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Caribou and more. Therefore, it may come as no surprise that the market size of the United States coffee shop industry reached 47.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, showing a growth of 3.3 percent from the previous year. However in 2020, the industry was drastically affected by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in massive closures of coffee shops across the country to prevent the spread of the virus. This led to a 24 percent decrease in market value in that year. (Statista)
Coffeehouses come in a variety of forms but, traditionally, they are establishments selling prepared coffee, tea and other hot beverages. More recently, many coffeehouses also compete with other restaurants in the limited-service category by serving baked goods, sandwiches, salads and other snack items. In 2016/17, consumers around the globe drank about 157.38 million 60kg bags of coffee. (Statista)
Starbucks Coffee Company
Founded in Seattle in 1971, Starbucks is now one of the largest coffee companies worldwide, accounting for
over 31 thousand coffee houses
in 2019, a figure that has almost doubled over the past decade. Roughly half of 2019’s Starbucks stores were located in the United States alone.
The city with the largest number of Starbucks coffee houses
in the United States that year was New York City, which accounted for some 240 coffee houses.
RTD tea brands
Another popular beverage in recent times is ready-to-drink tea. In terms of sales,
in the United States that year were Lipton Pure Leaf, Arizona, and Gold Peak. Lipton Pure Leaf’s sales numbers reached almost 795 million U.S. dollars in 2020.
33% of the world’s coffee beans were produced in Brazil. As estimated 49 countries from around the world grow coffee. The following infographic looks at coffee and the global economy of production.
Largest coffee shops in the world
Coffee shop name Country founded in Number of locations
- Starbucks United States 28,218 Dunkin’ United States 11,000 Tim Hortons Canada 4,613 Paris Croissant South Korea 3,558 Costa Coffee United Kingdom 3,401 Café Amazon Thailand 3,000 Luckin Coffee China 1,700 Café Coffee Day India 1,556 Caffe Bene South Korea 1,378 Doutor Coffee Japan 1,300+ Krispy Kreme United States 1,005 Ediya Coffee South Korea 1,000 85C Bakery Cafe Taiwan (wiki)
The most popular coffee shops in the USA : Starbucks accounts for 40% of the entire coffee shop market, with approximately 14,875 stores. Dunkin’ Donuts occupies 26% of the coffee market and has approximately 9,570 stores throughout the United States. Caribou coffee occupies 13% of the coffee shop market and has approximately 4,700 stores in the USA. (World Coffee Portal)