Coffee Bar Ranking: 3 Brands with Over 1,000 Outlets Each

 
For the fifth time, we present a ranking of the top European coffee bar players. 70 brands with a total of more than 9,420 outlets – and 3% unit growth in twelve months. For the first time, three brands boast over 1,000 units. Two of them, Costa Coffee and McCafé, were last year’s main growth drivers, while market leader Starbucks closed stores throughout Europe. In the past decade, coffee bars were expansion leaders on the European foodservice market. Though store growth was somewhat curbed in 2009, performance was still very positive compared with other market segments.
 
The impact of coffee bars on the entire European foodservice market has been matchless. Since the late ‘90s, an ever increasing number of new names and players has entered the European coffee bar scene. Among them many large corporations with the capacity to expand rapidly. They introduced the concept of public living room and thus added a new dimension to the traditional foodservice market which thitherto mainly focused on dining experiences. And there is yet another transformation under way: coffee shops are becoming favoured WLAN hot spots for (high school) students and business people alike thus gaining in importance as public workplaces. What we see is a new coffee drinking-culture for many millions of European consumers. Coffee bars are part of the quickservice world. They sell ten-minute breaks from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
 
For more and more people they provide a daily treat. Selling an experience, not something needed, is part of the premium price package. Over the past decade, the way people drink coffee has been revolutionized: large bowls and glasses have replaced small traditional cups, but coffee shops have also pushed coffee-to-go thus showing consumers (and other foodservice operators) the way towards on-the-go consumption. Other fundamental shifts included: from beverage to lifestyle seller, from hot drink to a drinkable snack (the borderline between eating and drinking has become very blurred), from breakfast & co. to 24- hour use. When it comes to size and location, coffee bars are incredibly flexible. Solo or in a shop-in-shop format, they can find a place for themselves almost everywhere. However, apart from the current economic crisis, that has slowed expansion in 2009, current coffee bar operators face another big challenge: the ever more competitive market demands differentiation. In order to win and keep customers, brands must distinguish themselves in the perception of the consumer. Uniqueness is key in terms of offering as well as brand design and identity. At the same time, the recession is driving consumers to question their habitual behaviour. They have reduced their luxury spending habits, exhibiting a new price-sensitivity instead. Hence, value-for-money offers have become an inevitable tool for keeping up or increasing footfall.
 

 
Top 70 players
 
● The ranking lists 70 names with altogether 9,429 units in Europe. Exactly 3% unit growth in twelve months (2008: +16%, 2007: +21%). Topping the list are five extremely differently positioned brands from five countries of origin: Starbucks/ USA; Costa Coffee/UK; McCafé/Australia; Tchibo/Ger many, and Segafredo/Italy.
 
● World-market leader Starbucks is also the market leader in Europe with a presence of 1,294 units (-9) in 19 countries. Over half of all their European stores are in Great Britain.
 
● 3 brands with over 1,000 units! Strongest growth comes from Costa Coffee (+195 units) and McCafé (168), who have cemented their positions among the top 3 and are quickly moving up to Starbucks.
 
● Year with mixed expansion trends: 39 brands reported additional store openings, 19 brands with negative growth.
 
● Unit growth: the leader in absolute terms is Costa Coffee with 195 new points of sale, followed by McCafé with 168 new units (117 of them in Germany alone) and Coffeeright (+26). In relative  terms, the Dutch DE Koffie Café (owned by Douwe Egberts) leads with growth of 40%. It is followed by Turkey’s Kahave Dünyasi (+34%) and the Spanish chain Café Café (+32%)
 
● The most widely distributed are Segafredo (35 European countries), Mc- Café (21), and Caffè Ritazza.
 
● The 70 brands originate from 20 countries, which means a very broad spectrum of birthplaces for a top ranking. Spain accounts for 13 of the 70 names, Germany for 12, the UK for 7 and the Netherlands for 5.
 
● Of 70 players 8 are present in ten countries or more. 38 are single-market-players only present in their country of origin.
 

 
| 23 April 2010 |