Competitive Environment:
The concept of Kashmir Tea is unique in its own way. Since it is considered to be a hot beverage, so its main competitors are coffee and tea shops. When we talk about a tea or coffee, the first name that comes to our mind is Tim Horton’s. Tim Horton’s is currently the largest Coffee Shop/Restaurant chain in Canada that provides a variety of products to appeal a broad range of consumer at relatively attractive prices. The company’s product line consists of premium coffee, espresso-based hot and cold specialty drinks (including lattes, 3 cappuccinos and espresso shots, specialty teas, fruit smoothies), home-style soups, fresh sandwiches, wraps, hot breakfast sandwiches and fresh baked goods.
Due to the significant brand presence in Canada, Tim Horton’s has 41% of the quick service sector in Canada, and 78% of the quick service coffee market in Canada (Tim Horton’s: 2011 Annual Report). The majority of locations are open 24 hours a day and guests have the option to eat in, take out, or use drive-thrus. By doing this, Tim Horton’s aims to enhance the convenience for guests and gain a loyal customer base in their urban market.
That’s not it; Kashmiri Tea will have strong completion from other highly competitive sector of the quick service Coffee Shop segment such as McDonalds, Starbucks, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Starbucks is a dominant competitor after Tim Horton’s with the sale of hot drinks. Starbucks competes on high quality and good reputation, whereas Tim Horton’s looks to offer affordable, quality coffee. As Tim Horton’s produces low cost fast food, it competes with fast food chains such as McDonalds and Subway. Fast food restaurants also provide low cost coffee and tea, competing with Tim Horton’s on price. For example, every year McDonald's offers free coffees for coffee lovers (Moran, 2011). Tim Horton’s differentiates itself by a greater emphasis on traditional and healthier home-cooking type foods rather than an emphasis on burgers.
More and more consumers are concerned about retaining or improving current well-being and caring about potential food risk (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2010). However, most of Tim Horton’s food has high levels of sugar or fat, as the socio-cultural trend away from these foods continues it may have an adverse effect on Tim Horton’s sales. The Canadian government is also enforcing minimum health standards for the quick service restaurant industry, with specific regulations on trans-fats and sodium levels. The U.S. has now made it law that everything sold in a restaurant has to have calorie counts and nutritional information available to the public.
Coffee has experienced rapid growth in the Asian markets in recent years due to changes in consumer tastes and increases in wealth (Coffee culture around
