re: Uh....Community Coffee opens "office" in Frisco, TX

I've always felt like their CC's Coffee House business could do better if they just had the balls to expand. It's hard to do that and maintain good employees, but it's not impossible. They need to add locations in newer developments in outlying suburbs the way Starbucks does - and move into neighboring metros like Lake Charles, Houston, Memphis, Mobile, etc. CC's has a decent product with decent prices - better than Starbucks in many cases. They just need convenient retail locations. And that requires aggressive location scouts and a little risk taking. And expand into prime locations before Starbucks does.

Same for PJ's. You PJ's leaders (if you post here) need to grow a sack and expand. Starbucks is beating you with inferior product on your own home turf because they have more/better locations. Hell in PJ's case even CC's is eating their lunch, and CC's is terrified of their own shadow. Take some risks and expand. The people want good coffee, and you want good customers.

I don't know much about this 7 Brew place, but Kudos for them for having the guts to expand into an area that inhales coffee and loathes tea (south Louisiana).

Starbucks coffee honestly isn't very good. It's not that difficult to beat them. But in so many markets, they are the only player. And they are within pissing distance of every Target or Chick Fil A because they have an aggressive expansion plan and they know their customers well. You can't manage expansion of retail stores passively and expect to truly compete with them. Too much of this formula for success hinges on companies identifying the right real estate and moving quickly to procure it.

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There so many other good brands that’s are here in the state. I know ppl will downvote the hell out of me for saying this but in all honesty Community just isn’t all that great to me!

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I do like Community, but Independence Coffee out of Bryan area is damn good. I alternate between them and Community at home.

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Didn’t BR lose Canes HQ too?

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Cane's HQ is still in the IBM building in Baton Rouge.

Walk On's and Amedysis are still in BR too.

But they all have at least some operations in other states. Those are jobs that could be here in La.

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Bro, this isn’t about coffee.

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Exactly.

Even if CC was HQ'd in Texas the product would be readily available in LA. It's the fact that one of the largest private label brands in the marketplace (one that generates nearly $50M in revenue) that was founded and has been located in LA (BR) for over 100 years is apparently taking steps to leave the state.

Texas, Florida, and Tennessee are exploding with business. Even (to a lesser degree) Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas are attracting business...while Louisiana continues to trend downwards because of our absolutely abhorrent business climate.

It's not a case of a national business simply moving around chasing the state with the best incentives at the time, then quickly leaving once they go away (or don't increase). It's a homegrown company and one the biggest in the city saying even we have had enough with our home.

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It's not a case of a national business simply moving around chasing the state with the best incentives at the time, then quickly leaving once they go away (or don't increase). It's a homegrown company and one the biggest in the city saying even we have had enough with our home.

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They haven't announced that they are moving their HQ ops from La. But it's clear that they are going with the Cane's model of having a foot in both states.

Now the big risk is if they get bought by another company who does consolidate everything elsewhere. That's an outside risk given that they are family owned for so long, and I think the owners are satisfied with how the business is doing. But it's not unheard of for family companies to sell out. That would suck - La would lose the HQ too, and CC's would probably eventually lose their identity.

Now I've long suspected that Rouses will eventually sell out to Kroger or Publix. But that hasn't happened yet. Would hate to see it happen but you know that Kroger and Publix are both grocery juggernauts who happen to be fairly flat footed in the exact markets where Rouses competes well.

The next one is H&E. This company has grown a lot by acquisition lately. I don't know their debt situation, but they are becoming massive and quite valuable. If the economy goes south, they might run into cash flow issues and have to seek a partner. Oddly enough their big competitors aren't really located in massive cities either. Not sure what happens with this one, but companies in that business seem to merge with and acquire competitors all the time.

Cane's is HQ'd here in name only. They have a small office in BTR but their "Restaurant Support Office", i.e. HQ is in a massive building in Plano

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Bro, this isn’t about coffee.


Louisiana needs to invest in itself. Schools, hospitals, roads, highways, flood control, etc.

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building more prisons too

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Cane's is HQ'd here in name only. They have a small office in BTR but their "Restaurant Support Office", i.e. HQ is in a massive building in Plano

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They've got the 8th floor of the IBM building and some offices on Corporate. It's not nothing. But you know the moment Graves steps away or retires, Cane's is getting bought by some conglomerate or investment company the way Whataburger did, and said buyer will change things. And it will lose a little bit of its identity when it does. Definitely the Baton Rouge HQ will go and the only thing that Cane's has left in Louisiana will be the fancy houses of their early investors who won't have to work anymore and some restaurant locations with LSU posters in the dining room.

I think the only way to really fight this trend is to become a place that focuses on start ups. Louisiana has been the founding place for a lot of successful businesses like Cane's, Walk On's, Shaw Group, Lamar, a bunch of industrial service companies, etc. They stay for at least some time before they either leave or change hands. Maybe eventually we keep a few of them around and we actually have some white collar jobs here outside of advanced engineering or industrial tech.

Community Coffee - all about family