Herron 1

Ryan Herron

Ms. Plemmons

English IV

9 March 2017

One More Cup

Coffee shops are rising in the eatery industry, offering brewed coffee and espresso drinks

such as cappuccinos and lattes. Success is driven by taste and income level of the consumer, as

well as location and atmosphere of the shop (Reynolds). Coffee has a strong pop culture presence

in todays world. The overwhelming popularity of coffee means people search for a source for

their addiction. So questions get raised on the origin of coffee shops, and the growth of the

industry.

Coffee shops originally got started as monasteries and inns that offered hospitality to

travelers during the twelfth century. By the 1670s coffee houses had become an important part of

Englands Restoration Period (see illustration), and from 1675 on, a thousand or so coffee houses

thrived during the reigns of Charles II, Queen Anne, and George I. At the turn of the 1700s

England began to abandon coffee by the demands of the East India company, pushing the market

into tea consumption. English working classes in the 1800s kept to pubs, but coffee houses had

not died out in their entirety. By the 19th century coffee houses had been overtaken largely by

immigrants. In 1953 coffee bars started to pop up all over Soho, New York and quickly spread to

other metropolitan areas. In this time period cafes started to attracted all sorts of activists and

became a center for a new British renaissance (Classic Cafes).

Coffee is an ever growing commodity. Coffee dominates in sales of hot beverages,

making up 83.3% of total hot beverages in the U.S. (Coffee Shop 2012). Coffee shops are at a 7
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percent annual growth rate, and represent the quickest growing segment in the food industry

(Reynolds). In 2010 Starbucks had reported owning 5,500 coffee shops outside the U.S. In the

labour intensive environment of coffee shops each employee generates $50,000 in revenue per

year. Ownership of coffee shops featuring single-cup brewers is trending upwards says

Michelle Reynolds. About 70 percent of sales are engendered by the top 50 coffee shop

operators. Studies show that parents are also an important demographic to owners of coffee

shops, especially older parents preferably to those with young children. Owners of coffee shops

find regular customers in younger age groups. Large amount of marketing to people of younger

ages (Coffee Shop 2012).

Coffee drinks are exceptionally popular in the U.S., consumption of coffee represents

75% of caffeine taken in by the country. In recent studies by the National Coffee Association,

people in the age group of 18 to 24, 40% say they drink coffee daily a rise from the 31% of past

years. 54% of adults say they began drinking coffee between the ages of 13 and 19. Other studies

show that 75% of adults in the U.S. drink coffee daily. 54% of adults between the ages of 25 and

39 drink coffee each day, an increase from the 44% of previous years (Coffee Shop 2012).

The Coffee industry has grown quite large since its small start in Ethiopia. Coffee shops

continue to rise in popularity as more and more shops keep popping up all over the world, with

statistics that help explain that explain the place of coffee shops as a titan of the food service

industry.

( Classic Cafes )
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Works Cited

"Classic Cafes: An Intimate History." Classic Cafes: An Intimate History. N.p., n.d. Web.

13 Feb. 2017.

"Coffee Shop 2012." Coffee Shop 2012 Research Report - U.S. SBA SBDC

Clearinghouse. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.

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Reynolds, Michelle. "Coffee Shop Sales and Growth." Coffee Shop Sales and Growth |

Chron.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.