In 2006 I prepared a list of coffee chains in Arizona. Defining a coffee chain is difficult. Is it two shops? Three, or more? I chose two since that increases the list significantly. Starbucks Coffee — 370 The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf — 10 Seattle’s Best Coffee — 10 Coffee Plantation — 2 Coffee Exchange — 7 Gloria Jeans — 3 It’s A Grind — 4 Lola Coffee — 2 Cartel Coffee Lab — 2 Fair Trade Cafe — 2 The Human Bean — 2 Maui Wowi Hawaiian — 3 Java Edge — 5 Dutch Bros. — 4 For a grand total of 426. If you know of any chains I may have missed, or have other corrections, please leave a comment or send me a note.
Psyd I would define a chain differently than just more than one shop. I would define a chain as any place that has multiple owners for one name (a franchisee) or shops by the same name that are not under the control of the person responsible for the original shop’s inception. ‘Chain’ denotes, to me, the concept that it is a selling of the name to proliferate, not an expanding of the original to handle the overflow, or to satisfy requests for a new location. If Jason were to sell me a machine, a bean delivery contract, and the use of the name ‘Cartel Coffee Labs’, it’d be a chain. If he opened a new shop in Tucson and hired me to run it, it’d be multiple locations of the same shop. 0 Reply December 27, 2009
Chris Tingom I just updated it to include 4 Dutch Bros. locations. Apparently they are all independently owned. 0 Reply December 28, 2009
Jerrid You forgot Seattle Espresso (seattle-espresso.com). They have 3 locations in the East Valley. 0 Reply December 29, 2009
Jeff How would you define Coffee Rush? Two stores, soon (2011 or so) three. 0 Reply December 31, 2009
Chris Tingom Jeff, oh right… coffee rush. Forgot about them. I’ll add them to this list. 0 Reply December 31, 2009
Steve Belt I’m late, but I would personally have to include Dunkin Donuts on this list. They’ve got Dunkin Donuts brand coffee on the shelves in super markets, and they sell a LOT of coffee. Far more than McDonald’s, and nearly as much as Starbucks nationwide. 0 Reply January 5, 2010
