Australian coffee industry sets off a trend of consolidation strong growth in the retail coffee market

The strong growth of Australia's retail coffee market has spurred major coffee brands to consider asset consolidation, expand their operations and increase their market share, Australian Finance Online reported.

Reported that Australia coffee industry overall size of more than 4 billion Australian dollars, of which retail coffee sector size of about 3.2 billion Australian dollars, but there is no single industry giant in the market, but by 6,700 coffee merchants equally divided, the overall annual profit of more than 250 million Australian dollars. However, with the growing market, many coffee companies consider expansion-oriented development strategies, through the acquisition of stores, all-round purchase of coffee roasting, processing equipment and other measures, unified control of quality and cost, in order to expand market share.

Australian listed retail food group RFG (Retail Food Group) took the lead last year, spending 164 million Australian dollars and 47 million Australian dollars respectively to acquire Australia famous coffee chain Gloria Jean s and Brisbane coffee brand Di Bella. After the acquisition, RFG Group will continue to adhere to the "farm to coffee cup" principle, directly purchase coffee beans, process in the group's roaster packaging plants in Australia, the United States, new Zealand and other countries, expand international markets, and plan to distribute to the Middle East and China.

The fast-food industry followed closely with the advantage of outlets, and the global brand action was eye-catching. McDonald's, which has A$4 billion in sales in Australia, also intends to continue expanding its coffee business. McDonald's currently has 750 McCafes across Australia, and plans to open a hipster cafe called The Corner in Sydney in the near future.

Convenience store brand 7-Eleven has 600 chain stores in Australia, and its Australian subsidiary, Withers Group, said that hot drinks business (including coffee and chocolate) grew by 30% last year. In order to meet market demand, 7-Eleven plans to launch "$1 coffee" and expects hot drinks sales to reach 40 million Australian dollars in the coming year. Withers bought Starbucks Coffee Australia last year to grab market share and opened a 200-square-metre Starbucks in Brisbane's Garden City.

Australia's coffee industry is unique in that a large number of coffee shops do not buy their own coffee grinding equipment, but prefer to lease these equipment from coffee bean suppliers, usually for 3-5 years. As the coffee industry grew, many large franchisees began buying equipment and vertically integrating the industry. Dan Gallo, CEO of Australia's Coffee Club Melbourne branch, also said that Coffee Club Group is also continuing industrial consolidation and vertical integration, is considering abandoning the use of contracted roasters in favour of buying its own coffee roasters, and intends to launch bagged coffee in stores and online at the same time.