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The tradition of working or socializing in a café is far from dying out, despite the tough economic climate. According to several café owners in Quebec, cups of hot or cold beverages, pastries and sandwiches remain an affordable treat for many people, despite a tighter budget.
“Coffee is the third place in life. There’s home, work and coffee,” says Maxime Mayant, President and CEO of Columbus Café & Co Canada.
Columbus Café, does that ring a bell? It’s a name you’re likely to see more and more on major thoroughfares and in the aisles of shopping centres in the coming years. It is the Canadian branch of a popular French brand, which has nearly 280 branches in Europe. Its manager, of French origin, opened his first café on Quebec soil in 2021, in the Plateau Mont-Royal, where his bear head logo was likely to be recognized by his compatriots. Since then, he has opened 20 others in Quebec and Ontario, through his franchise model.
Mayant believes warm, welcoming coffee shops are still a business of the future. Although not all major retailers agree. During the pandemic, Starbucks closed many locations in Canada, including in downtown Montreal, as part of a shift to takeout and drive-thru service. Columbus seized the opportunity, moving into at least five of the giant’s former locations, including at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Crescent streets and on Parc Avenue near Laurier Avenue.
Another Columbus will open soon, in Mont-Tremblant, and it will once again replace a Starbucks. Mr. Mayant has the ambition to be at the head of a network of a hundred cafés by 2028.
Yet we have the impression that there are already a lot of coffee shops in Quebec. The competition is fierce. Isn’t the market saturated, at a time when consumers have less money in their pockets?
“People who can no longer afford to take their families to restaurants will favor this outing. It’s cheaper and it’s still a pleasure. We taste products prepared on site and it’s delicious,” says Mr. Mayant, who claims that his sales are increasing month after month.
It’s a small pleasure to have a coffee. It’s an opportunity to meet your neighbors or chat with a barista. And the cost is not significant compared to a restaurant.
The traffic is there
Owner of the chain of 14 Café Morgane establishments, mainly located in Quebec City, Trois-Rivières and Drummondville, Michel Dagenais also notes that traffic is there. A fifteenth branch is due to open in December, in Quebec City.
“We offer beautiful spaces. These are places where you can eat a sandwich, a cake and stay for a long time without being disturbed,” says Mr. Dagenais. “More people work elsewhere than in the office, and that helps us.”
Maxime Richard, owner of the three Café Pista locations in Montreal, has a similar message. “It’s a small pleasure to have a coffee. It’s an opportunity to meet your neighbours or chat with a barista. And the cost isn’t significant compared to a restaurant.”
Mr. Richard notes, however, that the time is more for consolidation than expansion in the specialty coffee category. This type of small neighborhood business, focused on the unique and refined nature of its coffee offerings, has exploded in number in the last ten years in the metropolis. The entrepreneur believes that large chains like Starbucks have lost ground to smaller businesses. But the latter must now share this new clientele, while juggling inflation of products and salaries.
“Things are going well, we have nothing to complain about. But we have to stay creative,” says Mr. Richard.
A middle ground
The head of Columbus Café & Co Canada, for his part, is convinced that he has found his niche—or rather his den, as the company likes to call its stores. It positions itself as being halfway between the neighborhood café and the big chain.
“We work with local products, we have offers for local merchants. But we are not picky about coffees. We have selected two blends, one for lattes and one for espressos. All of this is 100% organic and eco-responsible, but it is made to please as many people as possible,” he says, specifying that his prices are generally 20% lower than Starbucks’. His profit margins are relatively thin, he says, but the company benefits from purchasing power enhanced by the weight of numbers.
Mr. Mayant intends to be in constant reinvention, banking on the brightly colored atmosphere and the quality of the food offering, whose menu is renewed each season. Muffins are the specialty of his establishments, the offer being made up of about thirty recipes, including original flavors like speculoos, raspberry matcha or brownie and hazelnut.
For all cafés, controlling costs is a challenge. To tackle it, Café Morgane opened a central kitchen with a small distribution centre, which also allows them to “offer innovative products,” says Dagenais. Because even if customers are attached to the local café, they could hesitate and even pass on their turn if prices ever increase too much.