Java Street Coffee's innovative licensing program gets you up and running quickly. The ideal licensee will be a smart energetic can do person who is able to take a hands on approach to getting their business off the ground. Java Street Coffee provides licensees with the seasoned expertise in location scouting, lease arrangements and the permit processes needed to get a shop up and running fast.

Many other licensors and franchisors estimate start up costs to be $200K to $300K! We believe that for the right candidate, who is smart and able, this figure can be as low as $20K.

With our program we provide the outstanding signage for both exterior and interior signs and have varying plans for the interior design aspect of your store. We provide all the supplies, cups, printed material and computer software and POS (point of sale) terminals.

And most importantly we provide the best tasting blends with the most hip and innovative stylings in the industry. Our team consists of the seasoned tastemakers on the New York City scene. We are in touch with the worlds most renowned tastemakers and we throw the biggest parties! We have our fingers on the pulse of the new generation, we know how many beats per minute of the music they listen to and we know what works and what does not.

We allow licensees the flexibility of a DIY approach with specific materials lists and color and texture samples and recommendations so that a shop owner can achieve the look and feel of the interior theme without incurring the substantial costs associated with traditional design and construction firms.

All licensees receive the "Java Street Bible" - our training and operations manual. Plus we have available experts who can come down and assist with your startup on a per case basis.

US Coffee shops still simply too hot to handle

America's unquenchable thirst for premium coffee continues to drive US coffee shop sales, with the market showing no signs of cooling down. Latest research from MINTEL finds coffee shops across the pond will have seen close to a five fold increase in sales between 2000 and 2010.

The market experienced 157% growth between 2000 ($3,258m) and 2005 to reach some $8,372m and despite being a maturing market coffee shops are set to continue full steam ahead. Over the next five years sales are expected to grow by a further 125% to reach an impressive $18,839m by 2010. This is phenomenal growth for such an established market and is well over twice the growth rate seen in the much younger British coffee shops market.

"Driven by the enormous appetite Americans have shown for more inventive, upmarket and premium-priced coffee, coffee shop chains have expanded at breakneck speed. The rise in popularity of this kind of coffee has been driven mainly by the expansion of coffee shops themselves. Every new opening increases demand by pulling in customers who pass by while going about their daily routines and this self feeding cycle of growth has shown no signs of slowing or market saturation," comments Billy Hulkower, Market Analyst at MINTEL.

The total number of coffee shops in the US increased by 70% between 2000 and 2005, bringing the total to a staggering 21, 400 or one coffee house for every 14,000 Americans. MINTEL believes that the number of shops could well continue to rise until there is a coffee shop for every 10,000 Americans.

Starbucks - Can it continue to have its cake and eat it?

Accounting for nearly three-quarters (73%) of the market value, Starbucks is the clear market leader and is the driving force behind much of the growth in this sector.

The chain's omnipresence is unprecedented. Caribou Coffee, the number two in the market, would need 12 years at its current expansion rate to catch up with Starbucks' current US presence, while the number of new Starbucks stores opened in 2005 alone was greater than five times the entire franchise of Caribou.

But despite the dominance and continued expansion of Starbucks the coffee house craze has generated a demand for premium coffee so significant that independent coffee shop sales have also had room to grow at an estimated 5% year on year.

"Many independent coffee shops across America actively seek out those locations where Starbucks operates, as it will have already done the ground work of establishing a coffee shop culture in that area. Starbucks' rampant expansion has created an ever increasing demand for premium coffee, while opening the market up for competitors as well. But Starbucks' growth remains a mixed blessing at best. The chain may be growing the market, but it is also increasingly owning a larger market share. So although Starbucks may afford some opportunity to others, it still prevents independents and smaller chains from growing the market on their own," explains Billy Hulkower.

As such, independents are unlikely to ever present any kind of threat to Starbucks. In fact, the real competition may well come in the form of giants such as Burger King and McDonalds, which completely dwarf the Starbucks chain and which have already started jostling for a piece of the coffee shop action by launching premium coffees. As Americans already visit these restaurants on average seven times a month, they seem perfectly placed to offer a real alternative to Starbucks.   

About Mintel
Mintel is a worldwide leader of competitive media, product and consumer intelligence. For more than 30 years, Mintel has provided key insight into leading global trends. With offices in Chicago, London, Belfast and Sydney, Mintel's innovative product line provides unique data that has a direct impact on client success. For more information on Mintel, please visit their Web site at www.mintel.com.

The Coffee Industry Commodity Chain

Coffee is an extremely powerful commodity, reigning as the world's most heavily traded product, behind petroleum, and the largest food import of the United States. The global commodity chain for coffee involves a string of producers, middlemen, exporters, importers, roasters, and retailers before reaching the consumer.

Coffee is a vital source of export for many of the developing countries that grow it. Some 20 million families in 50 countries now work directly in the cultivation of coffee; an estimated 11 million hectares of the world's farmland are dedicated to coffee cultivation. Arabica and Robusta are the two principle species of coffee harvested today. Approximately 70% of the world's production is the Arabica bean, used for higher-grade and specialty coffees, and 80% of this bean comes from Latin America. Robusta is grown primarily in Africa and Asia.

Most small farmers sell directly to middlemen exporters who are commonly referred to as coyotes. These coyotes are known to take advantage of small farmers, paying them below market price for their harvests and keeping a high percentage for themselves. In contrast, large coffee estate owners usually process and export their own harvests that are sold at the prices set by the New York Coffee Exchange. However, extremely low wages ($2-3/day) and poor working conditions for farm workers characterize coffee plantation jobs.

Importers purchase green coffee from established exporters and large plantation owners in producing countries. Only those importers in the specialty coffee segment buy directly from the small farmer cooperatives. Importers provide a crucial service to roasters who do not have the capital resources to obtain quality green coffee from around the world. Importers bring in large container loads and hold inventory, selling gradually through numerous small orders. Since many roasters rely on this service, importers wield a great deal of influence over the types of green coffee that are sold in the US.

There are approximately 1200 roasters in the US today. Large roasters usually have one blend of recipes and sell to large retailers - the Big Three (Kraft, which owns Maxwell House and Sanka, owned by Philip Morris; Procter & Gamble, which owns Folgers and Millstone; and Nestle) maintain over 60% of total green bean volume. Micro roasters, or those who roast up to 500 bags of coffee a year, offer the product we know as specialty coffee. Most roasters buy coffee from importers in small, frequent purchases. Roasters have the highest profit margin in the value chain, thus making them an important link in the commodity chain.

Retailers usually purchase packaged coffee from roasters, although an increasing number of retailers are also roasting their own beans for sale. The Specialty Coffee Association of America estimated that there are 10,000 cafes and 2,500 specialty stores selling coffee. Chains represent approximately 30% of all coffee retail stores. However, supermarkets and traditional retail chains are still the primary channel for both specialty coffee and non-specialty coffee, and they hold about 60% of market share of total coffee sales. Around the globe, the annual consumption of coffee is 12 billion pounds and in the U.S. alone, over 130 million consumers are coffee drinkers.