The coffee franchise industry in the U S is one of the biggest in the country .Coffee franchises provide the business owner with instant customer loyalty and brand recognition. They also seem to be doing brisk business and some of the features of the country’s coffee industry are: The second largest commodity traded in the country is coffee with annual sales in excess of $ 18 Billion. There is a high consumption of specialty coffee which accounts for about 8 % of all coffee sales. These are such varieties as cappuccino, espresso, latte. There are close to 50,000 coffee shops in the country. The average coffee shop sells about 245 cups a day with more visible shops selling in excess of 500 cups . Coffee shops tend to be to be highly specialized with well defined niches. There are other related but independent businesses that operate alongside coffee shops such as coffee machine shops. The proportion of coffee drinkers in the country stands at about 49% of the total population which is a sharp rise from about 40% recorded a few years ago. There are many coffee franchises available in the country. We shall list some of the better recognized brands and their statistics. Juice Zone. Currently expanding country wide and has branches outside the country as well. Start up cost $ 50,000. Nestle’s Toll House- Nestle is a worldwide brand. Start up cost $ 150,000. Seattle’s Best Coffee-start up cost $ 125,000. Einstein Bros Bagels-start up capital $ 1,000,000. Coffee Beanery- a global franchise. Start up cost $ 150,000. Maui Wowi Hawaiian-a Hawaiian coffee and smoothie speciality, also a global franchise. Start up cost $65,000. Honey Dew Donuts- located in New England. Start up cost $ 87,500. Fresh Healthy Café –start up cost $ 80,000. All The Perks Espresso Café –start up cost $ 50,000. A very important factor to consider when building a team to run your coffee franchise is to evaluate your core skills and what other talent that you need to hire to ensure your success. Some of these skills include trainers in business skills and servers, public relations people, accountants , lawyers, ICT Expert(internet marketer),coffee and food services suppliers etc. A franchise, despite being more expensive to start than an independent operation, offers the unique advantage of available support from the franchisor to the franchisee, especially in areas such as marketing and sales promotion activities.