The Competition
There are 37 coffee shops in Ufa already, although few offer premium fresh-roasted coffee. Our main competitors will be the Milly chain owned by an Italian, who have 3 locations in Ufa, and roast their own coffee locally; and the Traveler’s Coffee chain owned by an American, who roast their coffee in Novosibirsk (about 1200 miles away). Traveler’s Coffee just opened their third location in Ufa last month.
Here is a list of the coffee shops in Ufa: Coffeeshop Company, Африка, Две Чашки, Карамелька, Coffee Time, КофеИн, Кофейная Чашка, McCafe, Milly, Наша Кофейня, Панетти, Cinnabon, Charlie, Шербурские зонтики, Шоколадница, Ямайка, Bleriot Café, Dessert, Musetti, TiAmo, Traveler’s Coffee, House #50. A number of them have several locations. If you consider that Ufa is a city of over a million population, there is plenty of room in the market for more.
We have visited many of these coffee shops, and have found very few that offer a quality coffee product, and in most cases we have found their service less than desirable. And none of them offer the combination of premium coffee along with social and English-related events that we intend to offer.