Starbucks, the worlds biggest coffee chain will open its first retail store today called Evolution Fresh.
The grand opening in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Washington is a glimpse into the future of the company beyond coffee.
Starbucks is focused on the $50 Billion world of health and wellness, where it believes the premium juice and vegan dishes it offers will attract a different type of upscale customer. The retail experience includes a an interactive juice wall that displays educational and entertaining digital illustrations of juices and smoothies being handcrafted.
The idea is to bring premium quality, natural juices and foods more readily available, but also offering an extensive variety of choices for customers to select the best options for their lifestyle. Starbucks acquired Evolution Fresh in November 2011. Since then, Evolution Fresh's distribution has expanded to additional grocery channels and will be further expanded in Starbucks company owned retail stores later this year.
Given Starbucks past history with the coffee chain, this is certainly one to watch.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Own your own or buy a franchise?
Buying a franchise eliminates a lot of the hard work of finding a location, negotiate a lease, hiring staff, hiring good local contractors and doing this on time and within budget. When you buy a franchise you are buying a complete turnkey business. It is a proven system with a much higher likelihood of success. Not to mention you have a corporate image and brand behind you, training is most often provided and financing can be easier.
But going it alone can be easier than you think.
Assume you are paying $50,000 franchise fee. Take half of that and with compound interest over 20 years you will have over $200,000 to retire on. Take another $5,000 and hire a business or franchise consultant to help you build out and set up operations.
Take the 5%-7% you would normally pay in Royalty Fees and advertising contributions, assume sales are $400,000 per year, that would be $1666 - $2333 per month and invest on local promotions and media buys to build your own brand awareness. This kind of budget can go a long ways in building your brand.
By cutting out the premium you pay to the franchisor for supplies (that you have to buy from them) you can spend that money on a creative consultant to help with advertising and promotions.
Take the franchise fee you pay to renew your franchise every 5 - 10 years and invest in a consultant to help build your business further, or pay yourself a nice bonus.
A franchise is successful because of the discipline in capital requirements, operations and advertising. If you have the discipline, you can succeed on you own.
But going it alone can be easier than you think.
Assume you are paying $50,000 franchise fee. Take half of that and with compound interest over 20 years you will have over $200,000 to retire on. Take another $5,000 and hire a business or franchise consultant to help you build out and set up operations.
Take the 5%-7% you would normally pay in Royalty Fees and advertising contributions, assume sales are $400,000 per year, that would be $1666 - $2333 per month and invest on local promotions and media buys to build your own brand awareness. This kind of budget can go a long ways in building your brand.
By cutting out the premium you pay to the franchisor for supplies (that you have to buy from them) you can spend that money on a creative consultant to help with advertising and promotions.
Take the franchise fee you pay to renew your franchise every 5 - 10 years and invest in a consultant to help build your business further, or pay yourself a nice bonus.
A franchise is successful because of the discipline in capital requirements, operations and advertising. If you have the discipline, you can succeed on you own.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Next Hot Franchise
Founded in L.A. in 2004 Shelly Hwang, and her partner Young Lee have created the next hot franchise called Pinkberry.
Pinkberry offers yogurt flavors with the customer's choice of fresh berries, granola, even Fruity Pebbles cereal. It's pricey stuff, with the average cheque about $5.50, a large green tea with three toppings costs nearly ten bucks. Stores are doing in excess of $250,000 per month.
The company receives over 3000 requests from aspiring franchisees, willing to pay a $40,000 franchise fee for the rights to sell the treat, then kick in 7% of monthly sales for royalties and marketing.
Pinkberry's success so far is greatly attributed to a hugely successful social media campaign that has skyrocketed the company to one of the top ten Quick Service Restaurants in the U.S.
Pinkberry offers yogurt flavors with the customer's choice of fresh berries, granola, even Fruity Pebbles cereal. It's pricey stuff, with the average cheque about $5.50, a large green tea with three toppings costs nearly ten bucks. Stores are doing in excess of $250,000 per month.
The company receives over 3000 requests from aspiring franchisees, willing to pay a $40,000 franchise fee for the rights to sell the treat, then kick in 7% of monthly sales for royalties and marketing.
Pinkberry's success so far is greatly attributed to a hugely successful social media campaign that has skyrocketed the company to one of the top ten Quick Service Restaurants in the U.S.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Coffee Grinds as a fertilizer
Gardeners have been using used coffee grinds in their gardens for years, Starbucks for example, gives the used grounds away for free. Now an Australian company is taking it one step further. Espressogrow www.espressogrow.com is a sustainable fertilizer that uses waste coffee grounds mixed with a proprietary blend of organic nutrients. In addition to supplying nitrogen, coffee grounds also act as a deterrent to pests and even cats seem to shy away from them.
With your local Tim Horton's location actually paying someone to haul the used grounds away to a landfill, there may be an opportunity to turn someone else's garbage into your gold.
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