How Coffee Companies can stay Competitive
How Coffee Companies can stay Competitive

Summary/Abstract: The coffee shop industry in the U.S. includes 20,000 stores with combined annual revenue of about $11 billion. The industry is highly concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom: the top 50 companies have over 70 percent of industry sales. The U.S. is the world’s largest importer of green coffee beans and the largest consumer of coffee. The main objective of this study is to investigate the competitive strategies that U.S. coffee franchise companies adopt considering customers’ expectations and industry best practices. In order to achieve this objective, a best practice benchmarking analysis was performed taking into account the top U.S. coffee companies. This analysis showed that product and service innovation are necessary in order to stay competitive in the market and attract new or to keep existing customers successfully. Coffee shops have to establish a unique image that prevents customers from buying products from another shop or use home-brewing systems which are also on the rise in American households.

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