Coffee is at every corner, and no one can deny that. Perhaps it’s the most popular drink after water, and that indicates ‘a lot’. Coffee shops or cafes culture have been around for a while now, but it has grown tremendously in the last couple of years. You might have heard a few jokes about Starbucks being at every corner, but there are plenty of other popular coffee chains in the world that have been making noise for the good.
From the largest coffee chains to the best coffee chains, just like the differences from each region of world coffee is grown, the variety of coffee retailers are equally filled to the brim with diversity when it comes to quality, selection, and availability.
We guess you are most interested in witnessing the Best Coffee Chains around. This list will showcase to you the Best Largest Coffee Chains that are also continuously growing and are into becoming the biggest coffee companies all around the world.
The Largest Coffee Chains
You might have visited many of these cafes a couple of times, and already be guessing some of the names on this list. We have tried our best to figure out the very correct facts and figures, but still, if you happen to find some mistake, don’t hesitate to contact us!
Let’s start our list of the most popular coffee chains that love to caffeinate you all the time.
1. Starbucks – The Largest
Anyone would wonder if you’ll say that you haven’t heard about Starbucks. We guess that this won’t be the case. Starbucks is by far the largest coffee chain in America as well as in the whole world.
Starbucks is the titan of coffee shops, with over 30,000 shops around the globe, this Seattle brand, founded in 1971, had a lot of drama involved, as the founder was rejected by several investors that probably got mad at the brand’s success.
The brand is massive, and is, by far, the most successful Coffee chain and among the biggest coffee companies worldwide. Starbucks sells most kinds of coffee drinks along with soft drinks that can be combined with few quick snacks. You can find their own coffee accessories for a little shopping experience inside most of their cafes. They also have some coffee gear for making amazing lattes at home easily and during holiday seasons, you can get great deals.
Today, you know them as one of the biggest coffee companies in the world having a presence almost everywhere. If you are looking for some kind of iced coffee drink, do try Starbucks!
2. Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee is another of the largest coffee shop chains that became popular especially in Europe and the middle-east. This company was founded in 1971 (What a coincidence, this year was perfect for opening coffee shops) by the Costa family over in London. The brand currently has around 3401 stores under its banner, making it one of the most successful and popular coffee café around. Costa Coffee focuses on coffee, but also offers quick snacks combined with some cool soft drinks.
3. Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons is a Canadian-based café that started back in 1964; this company became huge in a short period. It was founded in Ontario, and the fast-food giant Burger King bought it in 2014. Tim Hortons can be found in Canada, the USA, China, and of course Europe, becoming one of the biggest coffee companies in the world, with almost 5,000 shops at the time. Note that Tim Hortons also works as a Donut shop and a Fast-Food restaurant.
4. Dunkin Donuts
Dunkin Donuts is the second biggest chain after Starbucks, with around 11,000 shops spanned across the world. This is another titan and the only one being close to first place among the top 10 coffee companies.
Dunkin Donuts started back in 1950. As the name states, coffee is an added extra to the donuts they are famous for, and of course, they have expanded to other baked goods. The company was founded in Massachusetts, and the headquarters are still located there, although at some different locations. You can also find a few other kinds of drinks than coffee in this café.
5. Peet’s Coffee
Peet’s Coffee may not be as huge as other coffee companies in this list, but it’s one of the finest, offering some of the best coffee sips in the USA. Peet’s may only have around 200 shops in the states and 1 in China but offer a unique coffee blend that is used in over 14000 stores across the States.
Peet’s was founded back in 1966 in the state of California, around the San Francisco Bay Area. Without a doubt, Peet’s still offers high-quality coffee as well as various espresso drinks to those who need something like that. They offer soft drinks, beverages, and some snacks as well along with their various coffee drinks.
For the customers to experience the Peet’s coffee at home, they also have a huge variety of coffee beans which people can buy from their stores as well as online.
6. Tully’s
Tully’s is now a ghost from what it used to be, it was founded in Seattle with their roastery, the same birthplace of Starbucks, back in 1992. Tully has been involved in some turmoil for a while now, but again in 2018, the shops in Seattle and the states overall closed temporarily due to “lack of coffee”. This temporary measure became permanent, as debt increased and landlords evicted the coffee shops due to inadequate funds. What will happen with this brand remains to be seen as the German coffee company: Keurig now owns it.
7. McCafe
McDonald’s is huge, we all know that, and they got into the coffee industry as well with McCafé, a section that can be found in several of their restaurants as a standard now. The McCafé concept was born in Melbourne, Australia, back in 1993. This brand became huge quite fast in this country; it became even more profitable than McDonald’s itself! The estimates for the number of McCafe stores and outlets around the world go from 5000 to 10000. This makes it one of the biggest competitors all around the globe. Of course, McCafe also offers many other snacks, shakes, and drinks to please their customer base for a positive experience.
8. Caribou Coffee
The Caribou Coffee Company is another of the younger companies in this list, founded in Minnesota back in 1992, this coffee shop became popular quite fast and is now among the most successful ones out there, with over 600 shops around the world. Caribou Coffee is owned by JAB holding company at the moment, which is one of the biggest German holdings out there, with Peet’s coffee included in their list. Caribou offers a huge variety of soft drinks and baked goods.
9. Lavazza
Lavazza is one of the old houses on the list. Considering it was founded back in 1895, it has a lot of tradition and renown. Of course, this Italian brand makes excellent coffee and is one of the biggest brands in Europe, Asia as well as the USA. Lavazza also offers education, with around 30,000 people receiving training in the matter each year. It also has the Lavazza foundation that provides aid to different coffee-producing countries. Lavazza strongly focuses on coffee but also offers baked goods as well as soft drinks.
10. Gloria Jeans
Gloria Jeans is another American tale of success, sharing a place with Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, on a smaller scale. Gloria Jean’s was founded in Illinois back in 1979, and it started to have success exceptionally quickly. Nowadays it has over 1000 stores worldwide with a franchising business model that allows quick expansion. It became successful and is now one of the biggest café chains in the world.
Gloria Jeans focuses mainly on coffee and soft drinks. But they are even considered a restaurant in some locations with various dishes available.
11. Dutch Bros
Dutch Bros is a relatively new company, founded in Oregon back in 1992; it has over 300 coffee stands around the west coast of the USA. It has been a fast-growing company and one of the most successful ones in the past years. Dutch Bros has also appeared in Forbes as one of the best small companies in 2017. Without a doubt, this company will continue to expand delivering quality coffee to the west coast, eventually expanding even further. Dutch Bros focuses on coffee drinks and other common drinks.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, the best coffee chains are not always the largest coffee chains. Sure Starbucks, McCafe, and Dunkin Donuts Coffee made the list along with all of the usual suspects when it comes to the biggest coffee companies, but frankly, what matters most is the top quality.
At Fried Coffee, we tried to sort out the top chains for you and list them in order of popularity. Yet, the toppers are not always the best when compared to the smaller ones as small things are easier to manage. It’s no surprise that you like the coffee of a small coffee shop at the corner of the street better than anyone of the above on the list.
