Baristas Coffee Company, Inc. (BCCI)

[BobSinCA]

Barista prostitution stories occur every so often. Of course this creates a problem for the industry's image, where the plan is to tease only.

But you start to understand why BCCI has a hard time finding franchisees, particularly multiple units such that there are desirable economies of scale for management, advertising, etc. Unlike Hooters, where servers work with many others, the coffee kiosk business involves one or two baristas in an unsupervised situation. Would you expose $100K - $200K of capital per kiosk in a business with only marginal profits, against that risk??

That is why the sports bar brand extension potentially makes business sense. In May, BCCI announced a Knoxville sports bar to be opened in July -- it is now September, no sign of it based on internet search; and now should be 'peak opportunity' as football season opens. No word from BCCI, but not an unreasonable hypothesis that BCCI is having difficulty finding financing for the rebranding, given that two other attempts at a restaurant/bar in this very location have failed over the last two years (Quaker Steak & Lube/Pavilion 117).