Introduction of the chain stores of the top five coffee brands in the world

Photo: Huang Wei

Coffee is the most popular drink in the world. at present, the world consumes about 2.25 billion cups of coffee a day, making it one of the most important commodities in the world. Brazil is the world's largest producer of raw coffee beans, with more than 5 million Brazilians working in the coffee-related industry. In the western world, coffee accounts for 80% of hot drink sales in many local restaurants and convenience stores.

While global demand for coffee is growing, competition between coffee producers and coffee shops is increasing, and even the most important coffee chains face the challenge of improving their coffee buying and tasting experiences. New small coffee shops open every day, and big coffee companies are constantly expanding their global business. In recent years, coffee chains have launched their own smartphone apps to make it easier for them to buy coffee.

The future of coffee is bright, but the market competition is more fierce. Let's take a look at the top five coffee chains in the world.

5. McCafe-more than 1300 stores

Although McCoffee is currently the fifth largest coffee chain in the world, it can become the biggest rival of the top four chains at any time, with more than 1,300 stores owned by McDonald's, so it is easy to expand its territory quickly.

McCafe entered the US market in 2001, when it had 300 stores. McCafe is growing rapidly all over the world, especially in Eastern Europe.

4. Costa Coffee-over 1700 stores

Founded by the Sergio and Bruno Costa brothers in the 1970s, the low-key coffee roaster has grown into the largest coffee chain in the UK. Today, it has more than 1700 stores in 35 countries, half of them in the UK. The two brothers sold the company to Whitbread after 25 years of painstaking management.

Costa Coffee uses partnerships to expand its reach, opening its own small coffee shops in bookstores, hotels, theatres and even pizzeria. In the UK, it employs only three Italian bakers. The tongue of one of its cup testers, Gennaro Pelliccia, was insured for 10 million pounds.

3. Tim Hortons-more than 4300 stores

Tim Hortons is Canada's largest food service company, larger than McDonald's. It was founded by NHLer Tim Horton in 1964 and named "Tim Horton Donuts".

Before Ron Joyce bought the company from the Horton family, it had only three stores. Joyce began to expand aggressively after buying the company, and by 1991, Tim Hortons operated 500 stores. Today, Tim Hortons has more than 4300 stores in North America and the Middle East, with 80 per cent in Canada. It has continued to expand over the past 20 years, with record revenue of $3.12 billion in 2012 and employing more than 100000 people.

2. Dunkin Donuts-more than 10000 stores

Dunkin Donuts, considered the world's largest coffee chain for many years, now has more than 10000 stores, even though its coffee sales account for more than half of its revenue under the name Dunkin Donuts',.

In the 1990s, Dunkin Donuts experienced great twists and turns in Canada and Japan and closed many stores one after another.

1. Starbucks-over 20000 stores

Starbucks is the world's largest coffee chain, with more than 20000 stores in 61 countries and more than 150000 employees. 65% of the stores are in the United States.

Starbucks was founded in 1971 as a coffee bean roaster and retailer. In 1987, the original founder sold the company to employee Howard Schultz and began to expand rapidly under the new control, with 46 stores in the United States and western Canada by 1989.

One of Starbucks's means of expansion was mergers and acquisitions. He quickly included Seattle's Best Coffee, Coffee People and Torrefazione Italia under his control, and acquired companies such as Tazo, Teavana and Ethos to expand his product line. Today, Starbucks serves more than 40 million customers a week and sells more than 4 billion cups of coffee a year.

Source: Sina Weibo @ Huang Wei boutique coffee roasting