South Africa has seen a surge in coffee shops and chains in recent years, but the often high drink prices leave people wondering which one is the cheapest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coffee is the second-most-consumed drink in the world, behind only water, and its popularity is just as strong in South Africa as it is globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globally, an estimated 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed each day, and in South Africa, over 6 million people enjoy the beverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The high demand in the country has been reflected in recent years by the fast growth of several coffee chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brands such as Vida e Caffe have a presence of over 400 stores in the country, despite only being founded 25 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This would mean that Vida has opened an average of 16 coffee shops per year since it started, more than one every month for 25 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plato Coffee is another major coffee brand in South Africa, which was founded in 2019 and now has over 140 stores in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By opening 140 shops in seven years, Plato has averaged 20 new coffee shops per year, demonstrating the industry’s rapid growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To find the brand with the cheapest cup of coffee, BusinessTech analysed several local and international chains operating in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The analysis compared the prices of each brand’s americano and cappuccino \u2013 two commonly served coffee drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comparison looked at the smallest size of these drinks which each of the brands offered, meaning they may not necessarily be the same size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While some brands may offer drinks that are cheaper by volume, the comparison was made based on what a person can buy from each chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prices for each brand were compared based on in-store prices in Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brand name<\/strong><\/td>| Cappuccino price<\/strong><\/td> | Americano price<\/strong><\/td> | Size name<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> | Xpresso<\/strong><\/td> | R14<\/td> | R14<\/td> | \u2013<\/td><\/tr> | Abantu<\/strong><\/td> | R32<\/td> | R26<\/td> | Small<\/td><\/tr> | Vida e Caffe<\/strong><\/strong><\/td> | R36<\/td> | R31<\/td> | Solo<\/td><\/tr> | Plato<\/strong><\/td> | R39<\/td> | R33<\/td> | Small<\/td><\/tr> | Seattle<\/strong><\/td> | R39<\/td> | R36<\/td> | Short<\/td><\/tr> | Netcafe<\/strong><\/td> | R39.90<\/td> | R36.90<\/td> | Short<\/td><\/tr> | Bootleggers <\/strong><\/td> | R42<\/td> | R36<\/td> | Medium<\/td><\/tr> | Woolworths<\/strong> (WCafe)<\/strong><\/td> | R42<\/td> | R37<\/td> | Short<\/td><\/tr> | Starbucks<\/strong><\/td> | R47<\/td> | R37<\/td> | Tall<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div> | The cheapest coffee brand in the comparison is Xpresso Cafe, costing half as much as Abantu, the second-place brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Xpresso started, it offered every item on its menu for R10 and kept these prices for roughly five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The brand was forced to raise its prices in 2021 to R12 and again in 2024 to R14 \u2013 its current price for all products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The founders of Xpresso, Nicolene and Tomer Elhadad, said the brand’s goal is to make coffee which is affordable for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Everything in life does not have to be expensive, and yes, we do not make a lot of profit, but in life, giving has always been better than receiving,” they said on the brand’s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second-cheapest brand on the list, Abantu, is also a smaller group, founded in 2020 by Protea cricketer Rassie van der Dussen and his manager, Chris Cardoso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The chain does not have permanent outlets but rather operates movable coffee shops, similar to shipping containers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This method lets the coffee shops easily fit into unorthodox areas, and the company said its goal is “to use unwanted or open spaces in a creative way” on its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rapid growth in the coffee sector has prompted some established retailers, such as Woolworths, to enter the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Woolworths operates WCafe in numerous stores, offering a coffee shop alongside its other retail offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoprite has also eyed an entry into the market through its acquisition of Vida e Caffe earlier this year, calling the industry a “fast-growing market.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The acquisition is currently subject to regulatory approval from the Competition Commission, with Shoprite expecting it to take effect in its next financial year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa’s coffee industry has exploded in recent years, raising questions about which brand is the cheapest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":661097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2106701125663461730","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2226117364875329","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26614,20812,4836,11363,949],"class_list":["post-876747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-abantu","tag-plato","tag-seattle","tag-vida-e-caffe","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876747"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878134,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876747\/revisions\/878134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |