Starbucks' Coffee-Market Predominance

New Starbucks cafes are opening in Toledo, Ohio. Today there was a long line of cars waiting at the drive thru of one new store.

There was an article in the news recently about Starbucks and the Ethiopian market. And so I looked up their website. Here in Toledo the only chain competitor is Seattle's Best Coffee - and then I went to their website and see they were bought by Starbucks in 2003.

Is Starbucks' predominance in the coffee market a good thing for coffee? I suppose it probably is... Better marketing means more coffee consumption and that helps coffee growers, as long as they make a decent profit.

Is it a good thing for cafes?

I guess other small-time cafes and roasters are still getting by, or seem to be. However, as even more Starbucks proliferate, that might change.

Though Starbucks doesn't offer live entertainment, which three coffee-serving independent cafes in Toledo both offer, as well as sandwiches and other food.

The only other specialty coffee chain stores that I know of are Peet's Coffee and Tea and Caribou Coffee.

However Peet's only operates about 136 retail stores, and Caribou Coffee 464, to Starbucks' 11,066 (as of Oct 1, 2006) in the United States and worldwide. That doesn't include the two new Starbucks which just opened in Toledo, Ohio.

I've begun drinking the cold Starbucks Frappachino coffee drinks. Reading the Starbucks annual report, these are produced and distributed with a licensing deal with Pepsi and another company.

Starbucks is now generating about $8 billion in revenues yearly,
and net income of $600 million.

Given that Starbucks really just seemed to get going in the 1990s, that's pretty amazing.

Caribou Coffee is losing money, according to Yahoo! Finance.