Coffee Shops & Snack Bars NAICS 722515

Oct 14, 2025 - Coffee Shops Reimagining Nightlife

• The rise of “coffee shop DJ parties” is creating new opportunities for cafes to expand beyond traditional morning service and tap into the growing demand for alcohol-free social experiences, Sprudge Media reports. With Gen Z and younger millennials drinking less, but still seeking connection, music, and energy, coffee shops are reimagining nightlife through caffeine-fueled gatherings. Events like Toronto’s sold-out Coffee Party series and Atlanta’s tea-fueled DJ sets transform cafes into vibrant “third spaces” where patrons can dance, connect, and celebrate without alcohol. For coffee shops, the trend offers multiple opportunities: extending business hours, attracting new audiences, collaborating with local artists and DJs, and strengthening brand identity through experiential events. Viral social media buzz around these sober parties further amplifies visibility, positioning coffee shops as leaders in a new cultural movement.
• Coffee shops are struggling to remain open amid soaring prices for coffee beans that are driving up retail prices, WRAL News reported in October. Both megachains like Starbucks and small, independent operators are feeling the inflationary effects as tariffs hit US coffee prices. As of Sept. 29, more than 400 Starbucks locations have closed across the country and the company is laying off workers. While Starbucks says the closures are part of its turnaround plan, they come amid slumping sales and steep increases in coffee bean prices, driven largely by import tariffs on Brazil, Colombia, and other coffee producing nations imposed by the Trump administration. Consumers have reached their breaking point with $6 iced coffees and lemonades at Starbucks, CNN reported this summer.

• In January 2025, coffee shop and roaster Methodical Coffee launched a profit-sharing program covering all of its 85 employees, Fresh Cup reports. After reading “Profit Works” (Freytag and Bouwer, 2023), CEO and co-founder Marco Suarez was inspired to launch a profit-sharing program at the privately-owned company and test its impact on his team and its sustainability as a business model in the cost-heavy coffee business. “The goal is to shift the behavior of our team to being more disciplined in controlling our costs and impacting revenue where they can in order to more easily hit our profitability goals. And the way we do that is by sharing in the upside,” Suarez told Fresh Cup, adding “We want our team to feel the same investment as a stock-holding employee of a large company.” While still new, Suarez says Methodical Coffee hit its mid-year profitability goals, and recently cut employees their first checks.
• While Starbucks struggles, smaller upstart coffee chains are succeeding by offering a more premium, coffee-centric experience, founder of the Australian-style coffee chain Bluestone Lane Nicholas Stone said during an interview at the National Restaurant Association Show in June. One reason legacy brands are struggling may be because they’ve pulled back from coffee, focusing instead on refreshers, energy drinks, and other beverages. “I don’t see that demand for more premium coffee going anywhere,” Stone said, adding smaller chains offer an affordable luxury experience that encourages customers to linger, as opposed to fast in-and-out service. Small coffee chains have seen visits grow recently, according to Placer.ai, with much of that growth concentrated in longer 10-plus minute visits, suggesting consumers are looking for something other than speed at many cafes. Matcha and cold brew are other strong opportunities for coffee shops, Stone says.