Second Cup attempts to differentiate their products from their competitors: environmental and fairtrade consideration.

Their loyalty program: Second Cup tries to keep their loyalty program within their gift cards by telling customers if they buy a gift card for $30, they receive a free latte . Free wifi starts with the highest quality coffee beans you can buy. Most of the coffee beans we use for our coffees or sell to our customers are exclusive to Second Cup. We search the world looking for the best of the bestfrom the lush mountains of Costa Rica and Colombia, to the distant lands of Central Africa, to the exotic and enchanting island of Sumatra. Our exclusive coffee supply agreements link us to the nest estate coffee growers in these, the best coffee growing regions of the world.
For our guests, the utmost in comfort and service underscore the Second Cup experience. Warm, comfortable yet modern and contemporary, rich and textured, familiar yet global create the relaxed atmosphere of our Premium Global Cafe". Second Cup is anchored by the barista station where our experienced baristas create the premium coffee and specialty beverages which proudly define our reason for being. Each cafe is uniquely designed to create a warm, inviting feeling in a contemporary setting that maximizes traffic flow and function, and complements the local culture. Our disciplined design and concept allow for modest customization to reflect the local culture and tastes of the host community that it serves. We are a guest-focused company! We recognize that convenience and comfort are key drivers in hospitality retailing today and we offer the convenience and speed of counter service.
In addition to coffee-based products and other beverages, Second Cup cafs carry a variety of complementary products, including pastries, muffins, cookies, coffee accessories and coffee-related gift items, with some cafs also offering sandwiches. Full leaf teas and tisanes Second cup uses baristas to handcraft and service their coffee while starbucks/mcdonalds/tim hortons uses machines that are exactly the same each time.

COMPETITION
The Canadian specialty coffee market is highly competitive and highly fragmented, with few barriers to entry. Management estimates that independent specialty coffee retailers constitute approximately 50% of specialty coffee cafs in Canada as measured by number of locations. Three specialty coffee retailers have a significant presence in Canada: Second Cup, Starbucks and Timothys. Starbucks and Timothys operate approximately 1051 and 94 locations in Canada, respectively, based on information obtained from the websites of these retailers as at February 16 2010. The remainder of the branded specialty coffee chains in Canada consist of smaller, mainly regional, participants such as A.L. Van Houtte, Blenz, Caf Dept, Caf Suprme, Caf Presse and Williams Coffee Pub. Management is not aware of any reliable third party comparable data on the trends affecting the Canadian specialty coffee market during the year or the performance of Second Cups competitors in the Canadian specialty coffee market during this period. In addition to specialty coffee retailers, there are a number of mainstream coffee retail chains, such as Tim Hortons, Coffee Time and Country Style, who compete with Second Cup in the Canadian coffee market and a growing number of quick service restaurants such as McDonalds who have also added premium and specialty coffee to their service offerings. With 347 cafs as at December 26, 2009, Second Cup has the second largest number of specialty coffee retail outlets in Canada.

Trends: Health concerns: trend towards healthier alternatives with less full cream milk and sugar, whether it is being replaced by skim milk, soy milk, or just shortened to a mezzo mezzo (piccolo latte) or espresso. I am seeing much more artificial sweetener and raw sugar consumed. I am seeing round cakes replaced by bar cakes, slices and biscotti. The sweets are being homemade to stand out as people will continue to look for something special. I am also seeing a massive increase in demand for gluten free goodies.

something special. I am also seeing a massive increase in demand for gluten free goodies. Seasonal trends affect consumer tastes. Technilogical factors: http://www.secondcup.com/blogs/the-best-coffee-apps/ political factors: avaliability of exotic coffee beans.

So far they are affective seeing as they are the second largest canadian company in specialty coffee, and they have a strong future as I see it due to their plan to agressively grow and continue to Coffee beans are at an alltime low which make can influence farmers to farm other products other than coffee beans

What well likely see this year are reduced supplies, and certainty, of green coffee, tighter credit through the entire coffee chain and continued global demand at the macro level and in the fast growing specialty coffee sector. Global coffee production is not keeping pace with demand and the 2011 crops in Colombian, Costa Rica and Guatemala have all been affected by disease, flood and ultimately reduced yields, with Brazil due for its biennial off-year with reduced production. This will lead to higher green coffee prices and will in turn mean greater demand for credit to fund coffee globally. The price of coffee is already double what it was in June 2010 and everyone in the supply chain will need twice the credit to run their businesses in 2011. This could be tricky in a global economy where credit is already tight. I see higher prices and the credit squeeze directly affecting any business without cash, making it especially difficult for smaller and newer players competing with multinationals. A potential flow-on effect of higher green coffee prices and tighter credit is for roasters to downgrade the quality of the coffee they purchase, ultimately resulting in a poorer consumer experience. Finally, as green coffee prices rise, there becomes less incentives for farmers to produce specialty coffee; for example, a 10 cents a pound premium over a $1 a pound farm gate price is a big incentive for a farmer. The same 10 cents a pound on top of a $2 a pound farm gate price becomes less incentive. This will ultimately have a flow-on effect to the production of specialty and micro-lot coffees. I definitely see green coffee prices continuing this upward trend for several years to come. There is also an increasing number of people who want to drink coffee without milk and a larger percentage who are sharing that general consensus. Over the past few years weve seen a stronger inclination to consume espresso at home with fresh beans and so, were seeing an increasing number of grinders at home. Gone are the days when people would go out and buy an espresso machine without a quality grinder.
he availability and price of premium quality green coffee beans are influenced by several factors that are beyond Second Cups and Second Cup franchise partners control, including changes in weather patterns and other natural phenomena, political events or disruptions of shipping and port channels. In addition, green coffee bean prices have been affected in the past, and could be affected in the future, by the actions of governments or organizations which have attempted to influence commodity prices of green coffee beans through agreements establishing export quotas or restricting coffee supplies worldwide.