They don’t make it if everyone thinks as you do. Some people are really into coffee and would appreciate a ‘special’ bean brew. Louisa is a run-of-the-mill chain, it’s your choice.
Or so you think!
they don’t make money, their dad or husband foots the bill.
if they have 200 shops and every shop makes about a 40000 profit a month thats still a bunch of money in profit. Do the math.
If you run a single store and need to live of that profit it’s not going to be a big business. Maybe it’s a lifestyle choice, which is fine.
That’s why you need to branch out. And then it starts to add up really good.
Expensive coffee is one of the things I splurge on in life. Why do I do it? I don’t really know. I just love great coffee.
When I lived in Taiwan I’d go to Louisa and Cama frequently, I’d go to lots of the similarly priced takeaway indie ones (there were some really good ones), and I’d go to the 150 NT places but only if I was going to sit and study or read for a few hours. Hell, I even went to Starbucks once or twice!
So yeah, they all got my money.
The prepared coffee market in Taiwan has had some insane growth the last 5 or 10 years. People are making the business work at all price points (and of course some also fail at all price points).
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This plus a nice latte at coffee shop near my house: 200 NTD for tea time
They also have speciality coffees. I am glad to report the old country sells for 160 NTD a cup.
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There seem to be very few independent coffeeshops that sell coffee at CAMA and Louisa prices. Now there are a few local spots for smokers I know that sell at around 75 or 80 but then most of them start at 110 I think.
Dont they grow coffee there?
This is outrageous ! 
Only for export, dear.
I mean the coffee exported from the old country is sold in this coffee shop at 160, which is cheap as it is usually around 200. If you compare to a usual bag of coffee at 350, it is rather expensive to get a cup of coffee from the old country here. A bag, if you find it, goes for 800 up.
But to be honest I have no idea how much a cup of coffee costs down there. I only know locally, like with all agricultural products, we only get rejects.
It’s probably imported from Vietnam.
Same way that vast majority of tea in Taiwan is imported.
That’s unbelievably expensive comparing to the 40NTD a bag that @sampomixer is able to get.
No wonder he doesn’t want to share where he gets this great deal!
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Actually I have bought bags from the old country at 1200. And them ain’t Costco size.
I just pity the franchise stores, if they have a lot of ‘ass parkers’ @NT40 a cup … not much profit for them after paying all dues.
hmmm … wonder if there’s a market for an ‘all you can drink’ coffee shop where the coffee is free, but the seat is, say, NT$150 for 90 minutes. Similar to all-you-can-eat restaurants, except with WiFi and power points. I reckon there’s a fairly modest limit to the amount of coffee one person can drink.
Anyone who wants to try it can send the royalties to my Patreon account.
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Isn’t it basically the same as getting one of those giant coffees in Starbucks ?
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I’ve been thinking about that one for a while, but there are other places that fill that need I guess, like shared day offices.
Some US chains did that, buy a coffee free refill, hey even Ikea does that, pay for the cup and slurp as much as you can.
Yea, the co-working spaces have that available.
Bikini coffee from container stores, you know it makes sense. Only Taichung down…
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