Doutor Coffee (株式会社ドトールコーヒー) is a Japanese retail company that specializes in
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
roasting and
coffee shop franchising. It was founded by Toriba Hiromichi.
Information
The company currently has over 900 locations in Japan, has begun expansion in Taiwan and most recently, in Malaysia and Singapore. It is listed on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange
The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan.
The exchange is owned by Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a holding company that it also lists (), and operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc., a wholly owned sub ...
. Doutor Coffee has over 1,200 outlets altogether.
Doutor Coffee is described by
Bloomberg
Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...
as appealing to "Old Japan" with its low prices and smoker-friendly environment compared to its competitor
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...
.
History
Doutor Coffee opened the first European styled café in
Harajuku
is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic area spreading from Harajuku Station to Omotesandō, Tokyo, Omotesando, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya, Tokyo, Shibuya ward as Jingūmae 1 Japanese a ...
, Japan on 18 April 1980. The size of the small shop was only nine square meters. Despite the small size and local competition, the Doutor Coffee shop succeeded and has expanded to the company that it is now.
Doutor Coffee opened its own coffee plantation in 1991, in
Kona District, Hawaii
Kona is a ''moku'' or district on the Hawaii (island), Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii, known for its Kona coffee and the Ironman World Championship Triathlon. In the administration of Hawaii County, Hawaii County, the ''moku'' of K ...
. It opened a second plantation in 1995.
It opened a more casual coffeehouse chain,
Excelsior Caffé
Excelsior Caffé is a Japanese chain of coffeehouses owned by Doutor Coffee. Established in 1999, it operates exclusively in Japan. The restaurant has an Italian style, hence its use of "caffé" (the Italian spelling) instead of "café" in its n ...
, in 1999.
As of 2002 financial year, Doutor Coffee had 1,222 stores.
Roasting coffee
Roasting coffee using hot air is a commonly used method by most roasting plants, but Doutor says it "takes away the original flavor of the coffee" and explored other ways to roast the coffee. They found open flame roasting their preferred method and ended up embarking on researching and developing its own industrial open flame roaster to roast its coffee.
See also
*
List of coffeehouse chains
This list of notable coffeehouse chains catalogues the spread and markets share of coffeehouses world-wide. This list excludes the many companies which operate coffeeshops within retail establishments, notably bookstores and department stores, or ...
References
Coffeehouses and cafés in Japan
Food and drink companies based in Tokyo
Restaurant franchises
Retail companies based in Tokyo
Restaurants established in 1976
Japanese brands
Coffee companies of Japan
Coffee brands
1976 establishments in Japan
Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
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