Tapioca Express vs Dunn Bros Coffee Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Tapioca Express vs Dunn Bros Coffee including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees
 
Tapioca Express Franchise
Dunn Bros Coffee Franchise
Investment $200,000 - $420,000$406,300 - $608,500
Franchise Fee $15,000$37,500
Royalty Fee $0.055/cup5%
Advertising Fee -3%
Year Founded 19991987
Year Franchised 20001994
Term Of Agreement -10 years
Term Of Agreement -10 years
Renewal Fee $3K for 2 years25% of current fee


Business Experience Requirements
 
Tapioca Express Franchise
Dunn Bros Coffee Franchise
Experience
  • Industry experience
  • General business experience
  • Marketing skills

  • General business experience
    		•

    Financing Options
     
    Tapioca Express Franchise
    Dunn Bros Coffee Franchise
      In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
    Franchise Fees No/NoNo/Yes
    Start-up Costs No/NoNo/No
    Equipment No/NoNo/No
    Inventory No/NoNo/No
    Receivables No/NoNo/No
    Payroll No/NoNo/No

    Training & Support
     
    Tapioca Express Franchise
    Dunn Bros Coffee Franchise
    Training -On-The-Job Training: 270-420 hours Classroom Training: 46-61 hours Additional Training: As needed
    Support Newsletter, Meetings, Grand opening, Internet, Field operations/evaluations, Purchasing cooperativesPurchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings/Conventions Toll-Free Line Grand Opening Online Support Security/Safety Procedures Field Operations Site Selection Franchisee Intranet Platform
    Marketing Co-op advertising, Ad slicks, National media, Regional advertisingAd Templates National Media Regional Advertising Social media SEO Website development Email marketing Loyalty program/app
    Operations

    Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 5

    100% of current franchisees are owner/operators

    		 30% of all franchisees own more than one unit

    Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 15

    Absentee ownership will be considered, but is not preferred

    Number of Employees Required to Run: 10 - 20

    Expansion Plans
     
    Tapioca Express Franchise
    Dunn Bros Coffee Franchise
    US Expansion -No
    Canada Expansion NoNo
    International Expansion YesNo

    Company Overviews

    About Tapioca Express

    Wayne and Stephanie, passionate about their Taiwanese heritage, opened the first Tapioca Express store in the San Gabriel Valley in 1999 �" one of the very first boba chains in the United States. Since the beginning,
    Tapioca Express has harvested the finest ingredients from Taiwan and continually provides quality teas, boba, and snacks. However, we did not foresee that boba’s popularity would manifest into its own culture and become an everyday lifestyle. Today, Tapioca Express expands across California and into other states, including Washington, Texas, and Virginia. In our two decades of experience in brewing, we focus on nurturing and enriching communities with the finest teas, coffee, and boba.
    Tapioca beverage is a various combination of black or green tea, milk, juice, coffee, and small marbles of tapioca (a.k.a. "black pearl" or "boba", made from Tapioca starch, water, corn starch and natural flavors.) It originated in Tai-Chung City (in Taiwan) around 1981, and soon spread across Asia. In the late 90s, it traveled to North America and has quickly become a raging trendy drink on both coasts. It is perceived as a relatively healthier beverage than soft drinks or coffee, and a lot more fun, too.Tapioca Express was the first in North America to offer a wide selection of high quality tapioca beverage adhering to a consistently high professional standard. Since opening its first store in the city of Alhambra (located in the Greater Los Angeles, California),
    Tapioca Express has become synonymous to quality and innovation.

    About Dunn Bros Coffee

    Dunn Bros Coffee was founded in 1987 by Ed and Dan Dunn, who opened their first store in St. Paul, Minnesota. The second location opened in 1991 in downtown Minneapolis. Since then, Dunn Bros Coffee has expanded steadily, to more than 70 locations, first to Texas in 2004, then to other states, including Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, North and South Dakota, Tennessee, Kansas, and Nebraska.

    A Dunn Bros Coffee franchise is a surefire business opportunity. The support team at Dunn Bros Coffee has decades of experience and expertise in all aspects of successful coffee shop operations, construction, marketing and franchising. In fact, members of their team have been franchisees, so they know what others need to succeed. The franchise experience at Dunn Bros Coffee starts with the top-quality training and support, and Dunn Bros Coffee dedicates the resources to ensure franchisees’ receive the skills and knowledge they need to create the high standard Dunn Bros Coffee shop. After opening, Dunn Bros Coffee provide ongoing support with a franchise business manager, continual assistance with operations, and training in business management, customer service, merchandising and more.

    Seeking new franchise units in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin      

    Veteran Incentives  10% off franchise fee