[_dps]

Sure, I elided a bit of complexity. I visit many coffee shops, including Starbucks. Some are owner-operated, some are not. Indeed Starbucks doesn't have a franchise model. And yet the managers both there and at owner-operated shops always seem happy to have me around "taking up space", and often offer me a free something-or-other.

That doesn't change the fact, raised in a sibling comment, that given the fixed cost of rent, having someone in the shop during off-peak hours is in a sense "advertising" the desirability of the place. Trickle revenue + "advertising" using up slack capacity seems like a clear win for them, given the pre-existing real estate investment.

[eru]

Restaurants (and probably coffee shops) seem to have an easier time attracting customers when there's someone already in there. So, at high utilization you'd be a cost, but at low utilization every bum in a seat is an advertisement.

[danellis]

> Starbucks doesn't have a franchise model.

Interesting. Then how come there are so many non-corporate Starbucks outlets? The ones that don't get the same new products and don't take their gift cards -- like airports, for example.

[clearf]

I believe it's a licensing arrangement. Those locations often buy and license Starbucks coffee (though often not their baked goods), but are not run by Starbucks. e.g., Barnes and Nobel, Safeway.

[tonyarkles]

Just to confirm, that's exactly what it is. From what I can tell around here, it's mostly for places that already have a larger unionized food service organization. Two examples that come to mind are the local university and a local hospital. These "Starbucks" use all of the branding and coffee, but are staffed by the organization that hosts the store.

Agreeing with you, I'm pretty sure there's no way for an individual to open their own Starbucks store; the licensed stores pretty much have to exist within a larger organization where it would be impossible to open a store independently (in the local cases, that'd be due to the food service unions).

In Canada at least, there's also instances where Starbucks has worked out some kind of cross-renting deal. Chapters/Indigo Books is a prime example. Every Indigo I've gone into has had a Starbucks, but those are staffed by Starbucks employees and not Indigo employees.

[seanmcdirmid]

All Starbucks out of a few markets are operated by Starbucks. And even the ones that aren't operated by Starbucks are operated by Sodexo, Marriott, or some other big company.