The FINANCIAL — Coffee is the most popular drink worldwide with 1.4 billion cups consumed every day, according to world reports. Coffee is also the second largest commodity in the world second only to oil. Americans consume almost 500 million cups of coffee every day and the US is the world’s largest consumer of coffee. Although coffee culture in Georgia is not so developed yet, managers of coffee houses say it’s a sphere with much potential for those seeking to do successful business.
Coffee.ge, Latte, Segafredo, Coffee House, Donutstop, Café Parnasi – are all cafés where you can drink coffee of different flavours and for a range of different prices in Tbilisi.
One of the most popular coffee places in Tbilisi is Coffee.ge, which sells about 150-220 cups of coffee per day. Prices in Coffee.ge are from GEL 5-8.
“Georgia, like most other post Soviet countries, was more of a tea culture country (because coffee was considered an imperialistic and capitalistic tradition). However by nature Georgians are more ‘coffee culture’ people. In the district Vake, at the heart of Tbilisi, coffee has always been considered a drink of intelligent and cultured families,” Lika Chlaidze, Manager of Coffee.ge, told The FINANCIAL.
“We Georgians love the situation of a cosy, calm atmosphere, a cup of coffee, telling stories, a circle of close friends, and friendly discussions about everything: politics, family, children, love, music, cinema, weddings and so on. Our country is slowly learning and becoming accustomed to the culture surrounding coffee. We think that the coffee culture will grow rapidly in Georgia and simultaneously the business of this sphere will blossom,” added Chlaidze.
According to Chlaidze, Coffee.ge plans to cover most of the central districts of Tbilisi city with cafés within 3-5 years.
“We don’t want to be overly ambitious, but we really are strong rivals in the coffee business. We offer our customers the best coffee and a delicious, unforgettable taste, different design and cosy, comfortable atmosphere. We care for our customers and their satisfaction is the most important thing for us,” Chlaidze said to The FINANCIAL.
In Chlaidze’s words, Coffee.ge has 3 different format cafés: Deluxe, like on 27 Abashidze Street, which is more of a trendy restaurant; Coffee cafés for professionals, as on 41 Chavchavadze Ave, where 2 business centers and 4 head offices of famous Georgian banks are located (Standard bank, Cartu bank, Basis bank and People’s bank). And coffee kiosk/food court type coffee café/bars inside of shopping malls and business centers.
From 25 February, the Coffee.ge team is starting a new exciting project – Pizza.ge.
Segafredo Zanetti is another popular coffee place in Tbilisi. It’s a brand of coffee produced in Italy, a part of the Massimo Zanetti Group, founded by Massimo Zanetti. Now the brand has spread to more than 20 countries worldwide.
“We bought a Segafredo license and so everything introduced in our café is of the standard of Segafredo. Nowadays in Segadredo we sell 80-120 cups of different coffee,” Tika Dolaberidze, Manager of Segafredo in Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
“Segafredo is an Italian brand. Coffee in our café is imported from Italy. We have 12 different kinds of coffee. For example, for cappuccinos we have short shot; long shot and prices from GEL 12-16. Our coffee is not ‘instant’ and is produced with special machines which are standard of Segafredo,” Dolaberidze said.
Segafredo specially invited Egyptian barmen who trained others in the art of coffee making.
According to Dolaberidze, Segafredo is already a very popular coffee place in Tbilisi with plans for expansion.
Coffee prices in Segafredo:
Coffee Espresso (espresso long shot) GEL 4.00
Ristretto (espresso short shot) GEL 4.00
Doppio (double espresso) GEL 7.00
Espresso Maroccino (espresso, chocolate, milk foam) GEL 7.00
Espresso Macchiato (espresso, milk, foam) GEL 8.00
Cappuccino (espresso, milk foam) GEL 6.00
Latte macchiato (espresso, hot milk foam) GEL 7.00
Vienna GEL 9.00
Lungo (Americano) GEL 5.00
Cold coffee
Cappuccino Freddo GEL 7.00
Segafredo Frappe GEL 8.00
Affogato Espresso GEL 6.00
Coffee with alcohol
Coretto GEL 10.50
Amaretto GEL 10.00
Café Latte sells about 70 cups of coffee a day.
“We called our café Latte, because Latte is a very popular coffee all over the world and we decided to promote it in Tbilisi too. We provide types of coffee which are not available in most other coffee houses in Tbilisi, such as Romano, Corretto, and Ristretto. We are distinguished in particular for our coffee with milk, which is very popular with our clients. We also provide take-away coffee,” one of the shareholders of Latte café told The FINANCIAL.
Turkish coffee is very popular in Georgia today, which costs GEL 3.50. Very often our clients drink cappuccino, which costs GEL 4.50. Over the last week the prices of coffee in café Latte increased by 30-50 tetri.
Prices in Latte:
Latte GEL 4.95
Latte “monte bianco” GEL 6.90
Cappuccino GEL 4.50
Espresso GEL 3.50
Ristretto GEL 3.50
Romano (coffee with lemon) GEL 4.00
Corretto (coffee with reduced levels of caffeine) GEL 4.40
According to Khatuna Saganelidze, manager of Donutstop, the café sells more than 40-50 cups per day. Also, they plan to open a new café in Tbilisi in 2008.
Donutstop prices:
All Starbucks coffees prices in Donutstop GEL 2.50
Cappuccino GEL 3.50
Latte GEL 3.50
Cinnamon coffee and others GEL 3.50
Coffee House located on Kostava St, sells about 40 cups of coffee per day.
Coffee House prices:
Turkish coffee GEL 2.00
Cappuccino GEL 4.00
Espresso GEL 2.50
Irish coffee GEL 3.50
Sicilian coffee GEL 2.50
Brazilian GEL 2.50
In café Parnasi:
Turkish coffee GEL 5.00
Latte GEL 8.00
Cappuccino GEL 6.00
Americano GEL 6.00
The café sells about 50 cups of coffee per day.
As one group of experts in the coffee business say, starting a coffee shop or a coffee ‘drive-thru’ is easy! All you have to do is rent a space, remodel, install the equipment, get the permits and you are in business! As another group of experts say, starting and running a coffee business that makes money is certainly not that easy! In Georgia the managers of coffee cafés say, to start a coffee business in the country, you must truly love coffee and the culture surrounding it, and only then are you sure to be successful!
Discussion about this post