Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Coffee Hits All The Right Spots

By Michael Stadneck

Coffee is the number one beverage in the world. Gourmet coffees and traditional brewed coffees are enjoyed by people in every city and town, every morning, afternoon and evening of every day. Scandinavia has the world's highest per capita annual coffee consumption, 26.4 pounds. Italy has an annual consumption per capita of only 10 pounds.

Regardless how you like your coffee, whether it is black, frothy cappuccino, latte, espresso, hot or cold, the selections available to whet your appetite are widespread. The average annual coffee consumption of the American adult is 61 gallons, over 525 cups. In fact, specialty coffee sales are increasing by 20% per year and account for almost 8% of the 18 billion dollar U.S. coffee market. Recent statistics show that among coffee drinkers, the average consumption in the USA is around 2.4 cups of coffee per day. Also, studies find that over 55% of the American population now drinks specialty coffees on a daily basis.

There are currently around 38,000 independent coffee shops around the United States, with an average $27 billion a year in sales. Based on market research, there will be approximately 50,000 or more independently owned coffee shops in the US by the year 2011. An aspiring entrepreneur might consider the specialty coffee business as a golden opportunity.

Based on research by the National Coffee Association and The Specialty Coffee Association of America, the average price for an espresso based drink is $2.85, while the average price for brewed coffee is $1.38. The average espresso drive-thru business sells approximately 200-300 cups of sspresso and coffee based drinks per day. The studies show that men drink as much coffee as women; each consuming an average of 1.6 cups per day. Women tend to be more concerned about price than their male counterparts.

The United States imports over $5 billion worth of coffee every year. Juan Valdez and his little donkey must be keeping very busy! Americans drink 460 million cups of coffee every day, which makes the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the entire world.

Some interesting coffee facts: The beans used in gourmet coffee are full of antioxidants that offer protection against the radicals that are present in our bodies, thus reducing risks of heart disease and cancers . Regular coffee drinkers have about one-third less asthma symptoms than those non-coffee drinkers. So says a Harvard researcher who studied over 20,000 people.

More than half of all Americans, 18 or older, drink coffee every day. This equates to approximately 150 million daily java drinkers. 30 million American adults drink specialty coffee beverages daily; such as mocha, latte, espresso, cafe mocha, cappuccino, frozen/iced coffee beverages, and so on.

Coffee sales are continually rising year after year. And so are the pricing modules! Coffee is the second largest commodity traded, next to oil. If you are looking for a business to get into, coffee is probably the best business for you to consider. Can you think of any other product that has such universal appeal, is easy to get into, and is relatively simple to operate?

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