A mini analysis: Costa and Starbucks in Qatar.

Even though people associate me with coffee and probably think I don’t look beyond the heaps of speciality cafes, I don’t mind going to coffee chains either. The two chains that I go to often are the world’s largest coffee chain Starbucks and UK’s largest coffee chain : Costa. I coincidentally also buy the same drink at these two places: A Flat White.
The flat white that Starbucks makes is stronger and is also more consistent in comparision to Costa’s version.

Location, Location, Location

I’ve been following the two chains to see how these two competitors are competing in the Qatar. The franchise owner of Starbucks, Al Shaya, is an omni present brand that is a king of retail compared to Costa’s franchisee- Jawad Business group .
Since Al Shaya always bulk leases its stores and Starbucks is a gem in its portfolio, it ends up in all such malls by default. Will it be a surprise if due to its leasing power Starbucks ends up even blocking Costa’s entry? How else would you explain, Costa not having an outlet in one of the most successful malls in Qatar, Villaggio and for Starbucks to have 4 outlets in Doha Festival City Mall ? Costa is only able to gain over Starbucks in places where this multi-brand bulk leasing power is not in play say Lagoona Mall, The Pearl Qatar etc. Costa still trails behind Starbucks when it comes to the number of branches in Qatar each one operates.

Starbucks has also done a partnership with Sidra marts ( part of Woqood) by leasing spaces for its Self-Serving machines. Costa’s self-serve machines though available in the UK have zero presence in Qatar.
Another thing to note here is that despite having no Starbucks staff on site of these self-serving machines, prices of coffee are pretty much equal to Starbucks’ own cafe.

Analysis in an image

Have you read our post about why independent cafes in Qatar are not that special? Here’s a link to it, incase you haven’t.