Why Cafés Make Such Good Franchises?

Rob Lancit

Date

Feb 24, 2020

Café franchises aren’t exactly a new thing. Cafés have long been established as a successful form of franchise, nearly ubiquitous. And yet, there still aren’t enough of them. At least that’s what the market says.

The Café franchise is merely the latest chapter in a long story about human beings and the coffee bean. This long story is, at its heart, a love story.

Human’s love for coffee is seemingly insatiable. Do we work too much and need caffeine to keep going? Do we stay up too late watching television or scrolling through social media? Do we just love the taste? All the above? To a café franchise, it doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that you have a huge customer base. About 64% of Americans drink at least one cup of coffee every day.

The coffee bean --which is not actually a bean, it’s a seed from berries that grow on certain Coffea plants-- has been cultivated by humans since at least the 15th century, possibly even earlier. Coffee was introduced to the Middle East and Europe in the 16th century. Coffee shops and salons quickly followed. America’s first café was founded in 1676 and most of the more popular American café franchises were founded in the 1950s, ‘60s, and early ‘70s, though at least one dates back to as early as 1937.

“But how can I be successful with a café franchise?”, you might ask. “Surely, there are already too many café franchises.”

You could be forgiven for thinking that café franchises have reached their saturation point. Afterall, there’s a café franchise on nearly every corner of any major American city. And yet . . . we need more! More coffee! Americans love coffee. Just as pretty much all people across the world do. The average American spends $1,092 every year on coffee! Overall, the coffee industry is worth approximately $20 billion worldwide. There’s plenty of room for you to join this booming market.

One of the key benefits of café franchises is that you can combine coffee with other products to sell more products.

A café franchise is, at its heart, a form of fast food franchise, even though the principal product is a beverage not a food. Another key difference between café franchises and most food franchises is that many café franchises allow and even encourage their customers to linger there as long as they wish. Write your screenplay, read a book, or chat with friends. Whatever you do, why not get another coffee? And while you’re at it, why not order a donut, sandwich, or ice cream, too? Whatever else you sell at your café franchise, you want to create an inviting environment to keep customers there as long as possible; long enough that they’ll order another cup. And of course, most café franchises sell tea, as well. The history of the tear leaf dates back to . . .you know what, there’s not time for that now. You can study tea once you start serving it at your successful café franchise.