11 of the most famous coffee chains explained!

Coffee plays a vital role in our daily lives. Coffee is consumed all over the world. Food and drinks are one of the most evident businesses to invest in, like one the most famous coffee chains Starbucks.

On our blog, we’ve already mentioned that in 1475, there was already some coffee bar in Constantinople.

Nowadays, there are a lot of coffee chains out there, not only Starbucks, profiting from this black gold!

Thanks to various marketing channels and funnels like social media, a lot of those famous coffee chains are well known, and some others are less known. What is the most famous coffee chain and more? Find out 11 of the most famous coffee chains in this guide.

Please note: These numbers aren’t based on some following on various social media channels.

11 of the most famous coffee chains

1. Starbucks

This one won’t be a surprise for most of us. The journey of Starbucks started in 1971 in Seattle with their first store. Their concept was focusing on fresh-roasted coffee beans, tea, and spices. The name was inspired by the classic “Moby-Dick”.

From that moment on, in about 50 years, Starbucks has grown from 1 location to more than 30,000 stores (2021: 33,833 stores), according to Statista. About half of them are located in the US.

2. Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons is a coffee chain that’s based in Canada. It was initially founded as a fast-food restaurant and has about 5,000 locations worldwide. Tim Hortons is also known for other foods like breakfast items, and doughnuts. Thanks to this strategy they’ve been able to grow their chain to where it is now.

3. Dunkin Donuts

When you hear or read the name, Dunkin Donuts, you think it’s all about donuts but that’s not true at all, also coffee! Thanks to these various products, this company has been able to grow its chain to more than 1,000 locations within the United States. They offer a wide arrangement of products like breakfast items, sandwiches, coffee, donuts, and many other products.

4. Lavazza

Lavazza is an old Italian brand. This makes sense because coffee is very popular in Europe. We’ve already referred to the first coffee shop in 1475 in Constantinople. Italy is known for its coffee inventions and innovations, think about espresso.

Lavazza is founded in 1895 in Italy. They’re known for their great coffee beans and equipment, think about their espresso blends.

5. McCafe

McCafe might not always ring a bell but is part of the famous McDonalds chain. Besides the famous branding of the burgers like Big Mac, coffee is also a very important revenue stream.

The McCafe brand was started in 1993 as a way of diversifying and trying to capture other markets. In a way this was a great tactic as Mcdonalds have a lot of locations, in 2021 about 40,031 locations, so they didn’t need to invest in extra locations. McCafe has about 10,000 locations.

6. Peet’s Coffee

Peet’s Coffee isn’t a very known brand when you hear the number of locations: about 200 locations. Don’t be fooled though as they’ve got a share of the market as well. They mainly focus on the US market.

7. Dutch Bros

This one might not be so popular and not ring a bell. Dutch Bros was founded in 1992 by the Boersma brothers, coming from the dairy business. They’ve known a strong rise since then, with over 400 locations worldwide today.

8. Costa Coffee

Costa Coffee is a European chain. They often are referred to as the Europeans Starbucks. Nowadays, we must say that they’re from the UK since Brexit happened.

They’re founded in 1971, the same founding date as Starbucks, they’ve more than 3,000 locations and keep on growing.

9. Tully’s Coffee

Tully’s is also founded, like Starbucks, in Seattle. Unlike Starbucks and other coffee chains on our list, they’ve only relied on coffee as the major product.

Unfortunately, the financial state of the company didn’t allow Tully’s to expand like their closest competitors. Nowadays, they’ve about 300 locations worldwide and are very popular in the US and Japan.

10. Gloria Jean’s

Gloria Jean’s is founded in Australia and has more than 1,000 stores worldwide. They’re not so popular compared to others on our list but are worth mentioning. They’re one of the most popular and best coffee brands in Australia.

Truly, it makes sense that competition in the US market is hard and even harder for foreign brands.

11. Caribou Coffee

Caribou Coffee was founded in 1992 in Minnesota and quickly grew into a popular brand and coffee chain. They’ve about 600 locations worldwide. They don’t rely solely upon coffee but also offer related items like other drinks, snacks, and so on.

Wrapping up

These are 11 of the most famous coffee chains out there. There are many more of course that’ll serve you the precious black gold for you.

Does this mean you’ve got to visit one of these or all of them? No surely not. What we would like you to do is go and explore. These chains can give you great coffee, but local coffee shops and specialty coffee shops can do that as well.

F.A.Q.

What is the most popular coffee chain?

This one is Starbucks. They were founded in 1971 in Seattle and grew to, 50 years later, more than 30,000 stores worldwide and still growing. The inspiration for their name came from the “Moby Dick” novel. They’re known for their Frappuccinos, their different types of latte, and much more!

What is the most famous coffee company?

This is also Starbucks. It was founded in 1971 and they’ve grown to over 30,000 stores worldwide and are still growing. They’re a famous global brand and the largest famous coffee chain.

Who is the largest coffee chain in the world?

This is Starbucks, founded in 1971 in Seattle and grown to about 30,000 stores worldwide.

Enjoy your coffee!