Australia has a vibrant coffee culture and our analysis shows that it’s world-leading when it comes to cafe and coffee shop franchises.

The country has many thriving home-grown franchises in the sector, some of which have gone global – which reflects well both on Australia and the franchise business model.

Gloria Jean’s Coffees, for instance, has more than 1,000 locations across Australia, the US, and the Asia-Pacific, while The Coffee Club and Michel’s Patisserie boast several hundred outlets each.

At such scale – and indeed for any chain with just a dozen outlets – franchisees can benefit from economies of scale and therefore offer customers competitively low prices.

Coffee and cafe industry analysis

It’s also worth mentioning a key distinction between cafes and restaurants: as well as sometimes being less formal, cafes tend to focus on breakfast and lunch and close in the early evening – something appealing to aspiring franchisees who want a healthy work-life balance.

There’s a similarly subtle distinction between cafes and coffee shops, with one field comprising food experts with a sideline in coffee, and another consisting of coffee specialists with a sideline in snacks.

There is also considerable overlap with other food service franchises, such as sandwich shops or frozen yoghurt specialists, especially where customers have the option of consuming their food and drink on the premises.

Of course, ‘eating in’ has become a riskier proposition amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Thankfully, the future of cafe and coffee shop franchises looks comparatively bright, considering that some already provided delivery or take-outs before the crisis hit – such as drive-through coffee chain Muzz Buzz – or have been agile enough to start doing so.