7 Coffee Shop Success Stories [2023]
Starting a coffee shop is an exciting and rewarding venture. It's a business that can be started with relatively little capital, and there are many ways to make it profitable. Coffee shops feature a low-cost stock but are profitable businesses.
If you plan to open a coffee shop, you may purchase a franchise, buy an existing business, or start from scratch. Whichever the decision, ensure a strategic location and renovate the space to create an inviting atmosphere. Develop a fantastic offering and begin marketing the business even before you open.
Here are some real life success stories of starting a coffee shop:
1. Camper Cafe ($180K/year)
Beth Baxter (from Reading, UK) started Camper Cafe about 12 years ago.
My name is Beth Baxter and I co-founded Camper Cafe, a mobile coffee van business. The idea for our business started with my partner’s love for vintage VW campervans. He had a rusty old shell of a T25 Campervan given to him, that he wanted to convert into a trailer for his motorbikes.
Although we never really thought about this ever becoming more than just a lifestyle business, we found we were turning so much work away from that in 2019 when the company was turning over around £150k from working only 70 days of the year, we decided that I should go full-time to see the potential.
2. Onit Coffee ($630K/year)
Onit Coffee is a Sacramento food truck that serves coffee, protein shakes, and other beverages.
Shadi Khattab (from Sacramento, CA, USA) started Onit Coffee over 3 years ago.
In January 2020, founder Shadi Khattab launched Onit Coffee - a coffee food truck.
This Sacramento-based food truck offers coffee, tea, protein shakes, and other hot & cold beverages. They also serve a range of vegan & planet-based drinks for guilt-free consumption.
This young CEO, Shadi Khattab, came from Syria to Sacramento with the purpose of building a business and impacting his surrounding community in a positive way.
Customers can feel good about getting coffee from Onit because a portion of the food truck's profits is donated to neighborhood organizations.
Watch the full video on youtube.com ➜
Learn more about starting a coffee shop:
Where to start?
-> How much does it cost to start a coffee shop?
-> Pros and cons of a coffee shop
Need inspiration?
-> Examples of established coffee shop
-> Marketing ideas for a coffee shop
Other resources
4. Keurig
- Website traffic: 1.96M/month
- Business rank: #37.6K
Check out their full website ➜
5. Coffee Roaster
We're a specialty coffee roaster with cafes in LA, SF, NYC, and Japan. Come browse our coffee, brewers, accessories, brew guides, and more.
- Website traffic: 360K/month
- Business rank: #53.1K
Check out their full website ➜
6. Dutch Bros
Dutch Bros Coffee is a privately held drive-through coffee chain headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon, United States, with company-owned and franchise locations throughout the western United States.
- Website traffic: 1.37M/month
- Business rank: #126K
Check out their full website ➜
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
Get our 5-minute email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.

- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings