Coffee Shops & Snack Bars

The 59,857 coffee shops and snack bars in the US sell non-alcoholic beverages, snacks, and related items for consumption on or near premises. Companies may specialize in bagels, beverages, confectionaries, cookies, donuts, frozen custard, ice cream, yogurt or pretzels. They may prepare food and beverages on site or resell goods purchased from third-parties. Formats include national and regional chains, franchises or licensed shops, and independent operators.

Competition from Alternative Sources

Coffee shops and snack bars compete with various alternative sources, including fast food restaurants, grocery and convenience stores.

Variable Supply Costs

The cost of raw ingredients in food and beverages sold in coffee shops and snack bars can vary according to market conditions and affect margins.

Sep 14, 2026 - Coffee Shops Outperform

• Coffee shops are outperforming many other restaurant segments as consumers continue to embrace cold, caffeinated drinks, customization, and convenience, Restaurant Dive reports. Starbucks, Dutch Bros and Black Rock Coffee Bar all posted same-store sales growth above 4% in the second quarter of 2026. Dutch Bros led with an 8.3% increase, helped by growing brand awareness and an expanded food menu, while Starbucks posted 7.9% growth following investments in labor, store remodels, marketing, and new beverages. Black Rock reported a 4.2% increase and reached 200 locations. Younger consumers are an especially important market because they are more likely to make beverage-only purchases. For coffee shops and snack bars, strong demand creates opportunities to grow sales through cold beverages, customization, food offerings and limited-time drinks. However, rapid expansion by major chains is likely to intensify competition for customers and prime locations.
• Starbucks' 2025 decision to close at least 15 San Francisco stores is creating expansion opportunities for independent coffee shop operators, SFGate reported in July. Local chains, including Andytown Coffee Roasters, are taking over former Starbucks locations, gaining access to attractive, high-traffic retail spaces that may have previously been unavailable or unaffordable. Operators view the closures as a chance to strengthen their presence in downtown San Francisco. Starbucks' plan to end 2025 with 1% fewer stores in North America after openings and closings has created opportunities beyond San Francisco. Well-capitalized regional coffee shops can grow by acquiring prime real estate vacated by larger chains while differentiating themselves through local branding, community engagement, and unique customer experiences. The availability of desirable second-generation retail space could lower expansion costs and support growth for independent cafés in select urban markets.
• Coffee shops face mounting challenges as consumer habits shift from away-from-home consumption, according to new data from the National Coffee Association. High retail prices are pushing customers to brew at home, with 85% of coffee drinkers now doing so, the highest rate since 2012 and up 5% since January 2020. The rise of remote and hybrid work arrangements has further reduced foot traffic at coffee shops, as fewer people commute past cafes daily. Compounding these pressures, improvements in home coffee technology now allow consumers to produce near cafe-quality beverages without leaving the house, making the premium price of away-from-home coffee harder to justify. Together, these forces - rising prices, changing work patterns, and better home machines - are driving a sustained decline in out-of-home coffee consumption, posing serious long-term challenges for coffee shops competing for a shrinking pool of customers willing to pay for the cafe experience.
• Employment at snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars continued to grow in June, extending a five-month growth streak with employment up 5.4% from a year earlier, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Hiring at snack bars is highly seasonal and typically accelerates ahead of the summer months. Meanwhile, the average hourly wage at restaurants and other eating places rose 4.4% year over year to $19.83 per hour, easing from its peak in May. Rising employment and wage growth are pushing payroll costs higher. Despite these gains, restaurant industry employment has increased at an average annual rate of just 0.62% over the past four years, well below the 1.8% pace before the pandemic, as operators increasingly adopt technologies such as mobile ordering and self-service kiosks to improve efficiency and reduce labor needs.

Industry size & Structure

The average coffee shop or snack bar operates out of a single location, employs 16 workers, and generates about $1.1 million annually.

• The coffee shop and snack bar industry comprises about 59,857 companies that operate nearly 78,856 locations, employ about 948,700 workers and generate about $64 billion annually.
• The industry is concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom. The top four firms account for about a third of industry sales; the top 50 firms account for 39% of sales.
• Large companies include Starbucks, Dunkin' Brands (Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins), Dutch Bros, Restaurant Brands International’s Tim Hortons, and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Some large chains have significant international operations.