The Market

Were you aware that over 1.4 BILLION cups of coffee are consumed every day worldwide? Four out of five North Americans are coffee-consumers with one-third of the world's coffee exports destined for the United States and Canada alone. That, by anyone's standards, is a market to look at.

market statistics

• In 2006 alone, the specialty coffee market racked up an estimated $12.2 billion in sales, up from $8.3 billion in 2001. (according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, a trade group based in Long Beach, CA) Of that total, about $8.5 billion comes from "coffee cafes, or beverage retailers with seating."
• The number of coffee retailers -- which includes chain and independent stores -- has risen from only 1,650 in 1991 to 23,900 by 2006.
• The annual coffee consumption worldwide in 2003 was estimated to be approximately 400 billion cups. That's over 1.4 billion every single day - with more than 400 million of them consumed in the U.S. alone!
• The large Venti Latte (or extra large latte) at Starbucks now costs about $4 a cup. Some wealth and money mavens such as Finish Rich author David Bach offer a "cappuccino strategy" for start-up investors whereby people can save up to $1200 a year just by not getting their daily morning fix at Starbucks.
• The average American consumes about 10.5 pounds of coffee per year with the average Swede, Dane or Norwegian consuming well over twice that much (nearly 22 pounds per year).