[enraged_camel]

>>He does very well now

Does he really? That's very surprising. In a previous life, coffee shops used to be a big part of my client-base[1]. Out of all the coffee shop owners I knew, I didn't know a single one who wasn't worried about putting food on the table. It's a very cut-throat business with lots of competition, and even if you're located in an expensive area, the margins tend to be razor-thin.

[1]I learned an important lesson from the experience: it is a horrible idea to have clients with little or no disposable income.

[blue_dinner]

"I didn't know a single one who wasn't worried about putting food on the table"

You can put pretty much everyone that owns a business or works into this category. Unless you are the top 1% or have a VC subsidized lifestyle, you are always worried about putting food on the table.

Most businesses in that industry have thin margins. But it doesn't stop people from being successful. In my hometown there are at least 5 competing independent coffee shops that are all doing pretty well.

[askyourmother]

In London, the coffee scene in shoreditch/the city does very very well.

[petra]

Doesn't the costa coffee machines with their claim to quality strongly affect that business ?

[idiocratic]

Not in the slightest

[petra]

But they have something like 3000 machines in the UK . How do they not impact the coffee-to-go market at all ?

[willtim]

Because the coffee is not as good quality as the smaller independents.

[nojvek]

What is the definition of pretty well? Take home more than 200k after taxes?

[anonbanker]

razor-thin margins on water strained through coffee grounds?

or just razor-thin margins on the stale muffins and biscotti?