One of the largest coffee shop chains in the world is Starbucks, an American brand with more than 15,700 establishments. Every day millions of people drink coffee here with pleasure, and, of course, such a business does not require special advertising - everyone already knows how good it is.
Not surprisingly, many entrepreneurs are interested in what constitutes a Starbucks-related franchise. Is it possible to open your own coffee shop under this brand in Russia, how much it will cost, and what may be required additionally - read this article.
The story of the first Starbucks
Talking about whether Starbucks has a franchise, one can not help but mention the incident that happened to the first coffee house. The fact is that on the territory of our country the American brand officially began to work only in 2007. However, the first coffee shop opened back in 2004. Everything is explained simply - domestic entrepreneurs decided not to bother to respect intellectual property rights and simply created Starbucks LLC, which started managing the clone coffee house.
It is clear that they soon learned about this at the central office of a company from the USA and filed a lawsuit for violation of intellectual property rights. The case gained a rather high level of resonance and attracted a lot of attention. Even without being a lawyer, one can understand that Russian businessmen have done something stupid by working under identical logos and names.
The Americans, in turn, quite reasonably began to fear working with Russian counterparties. This led to the fact that the Starbucks franchise (conditions whose price so interests potential buyers) does not work in our country.
Company policy
In fact, in Russia Starbucks coffee houses can be opened either on the initiative of a directly parent company controlled by the United States; or based on private agreements of entrepreneurs. Judging by the world experience of the network as a whole, about 30% of coffee houses belong to the company itself (without involving outsiders). The remainder is a kind of franchise analogue, a form of cooperation in which both Starbucks and the second entity take part in the management equally. As you might guess, this form differs from the transfer of brand rights to a higher degree of regulation of the network. That is, the conditions for those who enter into such relations “from the side” are more stringent than for franchisees.
Establishment of private arrangements
Generally speaking, frankly, it’s not so simple to even start working with a cafe under the guise of Starbucks (a franchise has nothing to do with it) on an equal footing. Firstly, as in the case of the transfer of rights to the brand, it is necessary to comply with various requirements regarding both the products served in the coffee shop and the premises themselves. Secondly, there are a number of requirements to the reputation of a company or entrepreneur who has decided to work with Starbucks. As experience in other countries shows, the American parent company agrees to work exclusively with successful or well-known partners who already have some business experience. Therefore, even if you have the means to equip the institution in accordance with all the requirements put forward, your candidacy for the role of partner in Starbucks (the franchise in Russia is not available for the company) will be considered with particular care.
Estimated Costs
However, despite all the difficulties, over 60 coffee houses of this brand are currently operating in the country. Some of them belong to the company itself, while there are institutions whose owners are third-party entrepreneurs.You may also be one of them if you fulfill all the conditions prescribed by the contract. Unfortunately, more detailed information about what Starbucks should be, the franchise for which is not available, is not freely available. It is only known that the approximate cost of organizing 1 square meter of space for working under a brand popular all over the world is 2-2.5 thousand dollars. Thus, with the entire cafe area of 70-80 meters, we get a figure of more than 140-150 thousand dollars. In addition to these costs, it is also necessary to attribute contributions to the benefit of the company. That is, you can talk about working under the guise of Starbucks if you are willing to pay at least 200 thousand dollars for one establishment. In addition, you should have an excellent reputation and a number of successful projects where you have shown your entrepreneurial abilities.
Profits of coffee houses and payback
Again, we do not have data on how much one coffee shop in Russia brings. The only thing that can be called obvious is the great demand for the services of each such institution. Actually, everyone understands this, for this reason the Starbucks franchise is already popular. The price of coffee in each of them, by the way, is also far from the lowest, which plays into the hands of the owner.
The information materials indicate that the institution pays for itself in 2-3 years. In Russia, if you take it “with a margin”, you can be sure that in 4-5 years your investments will return, after which the cafe will begin to make a profit.
How to apply?
If you think that you have enough money to start your business - launching a Starbucks coffee shop, and also that you have the necessary knowledge, experience and skills - you just need to write a letter on the official website of the company. To do this, go to the Contact Us section, then click Franchise (the section where the Starbucks franchise is considered). The cost of cooperation will be announced to you based on specific data - your city, location of the institution and other things. The main thing is to present yourself and your company as beautifully as possible. Then all the chances that you will soon have your Starbucks will be quite high.
