1. Starbucks vs Mugg & Bean ?
The road to the African continent is via South Africa. Grand Parade Investments brought Burger
King recently and now coffee giant and Seattle based Starbucks is brought to our shores by Taste
Holdings, causing an obvious stirr in the coffee industry. Good news for the consumer, probably
not so good for Famous Brands and their well-known Mugg & Bean. It will not be easy though.
Starbucks experienced some stormy coffee waves in Australia for example. But with 22 000 stores
worldwide they will be ready for fierce competition. The most well-known coffee shop in South
Africa is most probably Mugg & Bean. Bottomless coffee, free Wi-Fi and delicious food will be
hard to beat. But you can't open your own Starbucks while Mugg & Bean for example offers
franchise opportunities under the Famous Brands umbrella. But we've got to look at the bigger
picture don't we. I mean China is investing like crazy in South Africa so they've got us on a leash.
“Jump Cyril and Zuma!” And our president responds with “how high?!” So it depends on how we
look at this influence from abroad. Rather spend your money at a proudly South African coffee
franchise ? At a coffee shop where you know the store owner ? Or at a Starbucks where your
money goes into Taste Holdings...Going to shareholders who are…?! And who cares by the way.
Anyway. Employees will receive their training in Seattle and stores will be designed by the
Starbucks team based in London. The point is Starbucks will be opening in Johannesburg in 2016
and we will have to wait and see how the reception will be from the coffee community.