Competition is Fierce in The Crowded Coffee Market
In Jacksonville and northeast Florida we have just about all of them—McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Dunkin Donuts; I am talking about the major franchises in the growing business of selling specialty coffee drinks. Recently, I posted a blog on succeeding in difficult economic times by finding a niche (Lucrative Niches +Established Marketplaces =Better Chances for Franchise Success). In that blog I explained that one way to be successful in a tough economy is by finding a niche that separates your company from the other businesses in the same market.
In this blog I would like to show you how the few franchisors I already listed, along with Tim Hortons and Caribou Coffee, a couple of the other major players in the specialty coffee market (neither of which have locations in Jacksonville), use their niches in the coffee and food chain restaurant business to compete. Here is a brief explanation of what helps each of them succeed in garnering a portion of the market share.
McDonald’s, the largest franchisor, uses its buying power to provide the product at a slightly cheaper price and sells it along with its wide array of breakfast and burger meals.
Starbucks is probably the originator of the specialty coffee boom, so it can rely on the fact that it was the first in the market and that it is primarily a high-end coffee business.
Dunkin Donuts combines its primary product, donuts, with coffee to reach its particular market, and prior to Tim Horton’s entering the marketplace, Dunkin Donuts, was the only one of these businesses offering its customers a wide array of donuts. Dunkin Donuts has recently added breakfast sandwiches in order to compete with McDonald’s and Tim Hortons.
Tim Hortons, like Dunkin Donuts, sells a wide variety of donuts, but it also sells breakfast sandwiches and other foods, including soups and lunch sandwiches.
Caribou Coffee, the only other primarily high-end coffee focused chain besides Starbucks, competes by selecting smaller unexploited markets to locate its stores, avoiding direct competition with Starbucks.
Whatever your business is, you can still find a way to compete in a crowded market by finding your niche. Drop me an e-mail and let me know what you think. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.
