Coffee Stores

Research shows that coffee is ranked as the third most popular drink in the world. The first of course is water, which is followed by soda. The demand has opened business opportunities for various family owned coffee stores and expansion isn't only within the United States but also in other parts of the globe.

One of the most successful of these is Dutch Brothers Coffee, located in Grants Pass, Oregon which was founded almost 17 years ago by the Boersma family.   One of the two brothers had a vision that Grants Pass could support a coffee store simular the Starbucks he had spotted in Seattle.  The brothers started low budget, setting up a pushcart in downtown  Grants Pass with a few coffee urns.  They've evolved into a business that specializes in drive-throughs typically operated by friendly and productive college students. That's a very different concept than Starbucks, which specializes in walk-in coffee stores. Dutch Bros. is appeals to  everyone especially the younger generation.

The system has done well in Oregon.  The friendly, optimistic outlook of the brothers and their employees sells well. They are also savvy marketers. The stands sometimes pass out free bumperstickers, which get some avid customers to advertise them for free. Every once-and-awhile, they'll just up and have an unadvertised free coffee day at a stand. This is a great way to keep customers coming while creating huge tips for the servers. Whenever Dutch Bros. opens a new stand, they provide free coffee for the day and customers know it. When they opened a new stand recently, the traffic jam lasted all day. In more recent years they have started franchising and the family owned stores have opened up all over the state of Oregon.

Bookstores have also caught up with the idea of putting up family owned coffee stores. This allows customers to relax and read a book while sipping a cup of coffee. A good example of this is Barnes and Nobles wherein every outlet has this right near the entrance.
 
But people don’t need a lot of capital to put up a coffee shop. The most important things to have are the machines, the people and a supplier that will provide the ingredients to come up with various concoctions. The only thing the entrepreneur has to now is find a place to rent where there is a lot of foot traffic, fix it up and then reap the benefits that family owned coffee stores can offer.