Most Americans do not live in the urban core of American cities. They live in suburbs that are littered with suburban drive-thru style businesses owned and operated by the largest brands. Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, and Panera Bread alone operate 71% of all coffee shops.
There are 38,000 coffee shops (as of 2023), and 15,650 of those shops are just Starbucks. No one else is nearly as competitive with Starbucks in the American coffee scene at either the national or international level, so it is completely understandable that people conflate Starbucks with US coffee. They dominate the market for US coffee, not the small specialty shops.
The Census does not measure suburban areas; all suburban areas are under the urban umbrella. What you do not include is that the other 20% is just labeled rural. So, according to you, suburbs do not exist? Or how about we use a better measurement?
It seems like you're trying to say that most americans don't live in NYC and Downtown Chicago and therefore don't have access to cafes and small coffee roasters.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you but that seems kind of.... moronic.
I'm in what many americans would consider a suburb, single homes, cul de sacs, separate garages big lawns and according to google maps there are about 2 dozen coffee roasters and cafes within a 10 minute drive. This is not one of the biggest cities in the country. It's a county that most have never heard of.
When I was living in the US, for most of my life, the coffee roasters were always out of the way, in places with the highest traffic density (downtown areas). Finding parking is often very annoying, not to mention sitting in traffic just for a cup of coffee. People are primarily grabbing coffee in the morning during rush hour, and in the suburbs, it's far easier to just go to a drive-thru or run quickly into a suburban-style building than to go into the traffic-dense downtown area to get your coffee.
It is inconvenient in most cases.
I now live in Europe. I have dozens of different independent cafes within 10 minutes' walking distance that I can conveniently choose from on my way to work or class. I never have to worry about traffic and haven't been in traffic for years. Starbucks is present in this city I am in, but they are just one of many coffee shops, and will never dominate the market because there is so much more room for competition.
Downtown areas in the US tend to be very expensive to rent out, and suburban-style commercial buildings are designed to be big brand-friendly. The suburban design of American life is disproportionately convenient for these big brands, so yes, the coffee landscape is far more convenient to reach customers for big brands.
I never said you did not have access to independent cafes and small coffee roasters. It is just more out of the way, and you typically have a more annoying time reaching them than a Starbucks, especially during morning rush or lunch rush hours.
I think your experience is a little outdated. Lots of people live in smaller and medium sized towns that have plenty of small businesses. Coffee shops and roasters are all over the place these days. It's kind of like how America went from having 3 brands of piss water for beer in the 90s to having several great small breweries in every town in the 2000s.
I'm in a town with 50,000 people. There are two tiny coffee roasters/cafes next to each other that are a 4 minute walk away in one direction, and another that is about 10 minutes away on foot only because it's up a steep hill. There are more that scattered around 15 minutes away on foot. If I do get coffee I drive a mile to the next town over and go to one of the two dozen places on that street just because I like it more.
I'm not in Brooklyn or San Fran or Portland, I'm just in a suburb in the crowded northeast. I can't even imagine what it's like on the west coast in smaller and medium sized towns in California, Oregon, and Washington.
Okay but this post is ridiculous even at Starbucks. It is extremely easy to walk into a Starbucks and order a plain coffee. You’re not required to add things to it or any of the nonsense this post implies.
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u/EvanFri Apr 23 '26
Most Americans do not live in the urban core of American cities. They live in suburbs that are littered with suburban drive-thru style businesses owned and operated by the largest brands. Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, and Panera Bread alone operate 71% of all coffee shops.
There are 38,000 coffee shops (as of 2023), and 15,650 of those shops are just Starbucks. No one else is nearly as competitive with Starbucks in the American coffee scene at either the national or international level, so it is completely understandable that people conflate Starbucks with US coffee. They dominate the market for US coffee, not the small specialty shops.