Seriously Taiwan is hyper competitive .
You’d want balls of steel to step into the coffee and drinks market here.
Vietnam is exploding especially with Taiwan tea chains…Better bet than Taiwan for decent coffee chains . Because they have a lot of coffee places but I think the quality ain’t so good (although ambience is decent).
Philippines also better bet…
Western food market still badly underserved in Taiwan. I remain fairly unconvinced that Taiwanese REALLY like Western food.
You have to realize people do not necessarily go to coffee shops to drink cheap coffee. If you wanted that, you would have gone to 7-11 and gotten a 30nt cup. It would be crap percolated coffee however.
People go for the experience, the social atmosphere, and the friendly bartender. Coffee is a very low part of the overall cost (that 130nt coffee cost 10nt to make). If you’re after cheap coffee and think there are better deals to be had, well nothing stops you… but people don’t open coffee shops without having already researched what’s a reasonable price.
Good coffee beans are worth their price too.
Why do you think Starbucks could get away with charging 200nt for a cup of average (not so great) coffee?
Friendly bartenders in a Taiwan coffeeshop …
Pleasseeee…
It’s a challenge for most of them to utter complete sentences.
Social atmosphere ? I guess if you bring somebody to talk with. Otherwise they are anti social.
Or is social called sitting beside each other but not looking at or talking to each other ?
Miss the old days when people would talk with each other…More at least.
Damn. I’ll get back to my day job.
Philippines business environment is hostile at the best of times, especially so for hospitality businesses. El Presidente’s brilliant wheeze for hiking the tax rate to 8% of gross takings in addition to VAT and ordinary business taxes means that a drinks shop or restaurant is paying an effective tax of about 70% on net profits. The only way around that is to hike your prices to a level which the average punter can’t afford. AFAIK it’s been put on hold indefinitely (along with a similar tax hike on fuel), but it’s only a matter of time before government spending outstrips income and they’ll re-introduce it again.
They don’t, except for the occasional pasta or steak. Oh, crap sandwich if you can call that ‘western’.
Indeed! Calculate all the costs and you’d be stunned!
have you ever been in Melbourne or Sydney ? you know how much you get pay there and you can buy for the same price in here amazing coffee too. Taipei is way to expensive for what you get
not anymore than Americans actually liking Chinese food.
If they ate real Taiwanese food (even Ding Tai Fong) they wouldn’t like it.
Coffee Price Per 1 Kilogram 2.01 USD
For a 1kg bag of coffee beans you should expect to get around 120-140 cups of coffee. So the cost of the beans for 1 cup is like 0.016USD which is about 0.48TWD.
I’m in.
What kind of coffee beans? They have different grades… like how they are roasted, etc. because it makes a HUGE difference.
Also a coffee shop has to pay for other things, like electricity, employees, rent, etc. too. Tea shops is just as bad, their teas cost almost nothing.
Most coffee places have a «theme». Decorations, ambiance, music, all play big part.
Knowing about their coffee is one thing. Getting customers to come back means a hook. In Gongguan area there are coffee shops one after the other, each different, each with a theme.
And they also get away with the 200 NTD a cup, no fake whipped cream.
There is an independant coffee shop in Kaohsiung, near DaShun Road, opposite to the BENQ, where you can have alle you can drink coffee with no time restriction for 150 NT$. They have also a huge coffee list, apparently many imports from several central and south american countries. All included for 150 NT$ (been there once for hours drinking coffee nonstop (and yeah, that following night was well …). Place still exists and I honestly have absolutely no idea how the owners manage to run that shop already for years …
Are you sure that’s not the international commodity market wholesale price for the stuff they turn into instant granules? You won’t find anything close to that in shops, because it excludes roasting, transport, packaging and taxes and what ends up in stores are higher grade beans.
Really?
Wow, and you don’t have a roasting company or chain of coffe shops?
Coffee!
I wouldn’t bet on that!
It’s a hobby! And they probably get the green beans themselves and roast it somewhere, they own the place (not rent).
dat truth. i can recall one staff that had some small talk with me. thats literally it for non mental people talking to me in cafes. oh and i’ve had my chinese mocked (with her co workers not to my face) also by one person who served me.
the youths of taiwan don’t know what a bit of banter is!
If that’s so, Kangarooland is where you need to be.