Less than a year after the widely publicized opening of coffee chain Cofix, leader of the “5 shekel coffee” revolution, another chain is seeking to snatch the crown in the fight for fast-food prices, and is offering coffee for NIS 4.
Coffee chain Coffee Express opened for business 5 months ago, and has two branches - one on Ibn Gvirol Street in Tel Aviv, and another in the Diamond Exchange complex in Ramat Gan, and plans to expand to eight branches already this year.
Surprisingly, the company is seeking to position itself as a Cofix competitor - not as a competitor to the truly expensive coffee shops: “There is no reason to sell coffee for five shekels,” says owner Tali Hamdi, “such a high price is unjustified.”
“They beat us to it by a bit,” says Hamdi of Cofix, “The idea came first. What is important to us is a broad range of products, not just coffee and pastries: pizza, sandwiches, jahnoun. We are a few levels above Cofix, with very high-quality coffee.”
For the public, is there a difference between 4 or 5 shekels for a cup of coffee? Isn’t this a bit of a populist endeavor?
Hamdi: “It is a 20% difference, which is significant for people who drink a lot [of coffee]. We are still making a profit, but not greedily. I am also a mother taking out kids where every can costs ten shekels. Every little outing ends up costing hundreds of shekels.”
Coffee Express has announced plans to expand beyond the Tel Aviv area, primarily northward, and has not ruled out establishing a franchise model.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 25, 2014
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