CAMANO ISLAND — When coffee drinkers grab mochas and lattes in some of China’s biggest airports later this year, they can thank Espresso Americano, a local company with an increasingly international reach.
The company recently announced its newest licensee, Wealth By Health Inc., which is doing business under the name Espresso Americano China. Wealth By Health plans to have 15 locations built by the end of March in some of China’s biggest airports, including those in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing.
“We think this is one of the larger opportunities to ever come our way,” said Ron DeMiglio, who founded Espresso Americano in 1989.
Wealth By Health is part of a larger Chinese company that wants to capture more of the retail coffee business in that nation, DeMiglio said. Though it may be known as a traditional tea-drinking country, China has proven thirsty for coffee drinks. Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. opened its first location there in 1999 and now has more than 200 stores in mainland China. It’s expected to become the chain’s largest market outside the U.S.
Obviously, there’s enticing possibilities there for other coffee sellers as well.
“I think there’s a huge potential. Not just for our branded coffeehouses and the branded coffee, but also for the frappe and smoothie drinks we have,” said Jeff Ericson, DeMiglio’s business partner in Espresso Americano and its sister companies, Camano Island Coffee Roasters and Frozen Xplosion. Frozen Xplosion makes frappe and smoothie bases that are prepared and served at many Espresso Americano coffeehouses.
With the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Wealth By Health already has its airport location there and a second, prominent location in downtown Beijing under construction. Two more locations in Beijing are on schedule to begin construction in the next two weeks.
“With the world coming there, they want to put their best foot forward with these new locations,” DeMiglio said of the Chinese partners.
He added that Espresso Americano also expects to announce soon a deal with a “major Chinese airline” that will begin serving Espresso Americano-branded coffee to its first-class and business-class customers. It will mark the first time a branded coffee has been served on one of that nation’s airlines.
DeMiglio said supporting a globally branded chain of licensees is easier than it might sound, thanks to Espresso Americano’s online training and operational tools.
Locally, Espresso Americano coffee outlets are located at Everett Station and inside the Everett Public Library.
Annie Austin, who owns the two outlets with her husband, Steve, said people are becoming more familiar with the brand, and its coffee.
“At the train station, commuters ask us all the time to open more places,” Austin said.
The Espresso Americano name will spread both domestically and internationally, according to the company’s expansion plans. DeMiglio said the next concept he’s pushing is EA Brevita, a drive-through version of Espresso Americano’s outlets. According to EA Brevita’s Web site, owners of the drive-through businesses would join Espresso Americano’s cooperative, which gives them access to training and branded supplies. There are no franchise or royalty fees.
DeMiglio and Ericson seem comfortable trying out innovative business ideas. Their Camano Island Coffee Roasters business specializes in buying, roasting and selling fairly traded gourmet coffee beans, with $1 from each customer order going to nonprofit groups that help coffee farmers around the globe.
The business partners said they can’t wait for the first Espresso Americano coffee to be served in China. In the meantime, they’re hopping the globe to oversee expansion elsewhere.
Ericson said he just got back from the 130-degree heat of Saudi Arabia, where the coffee chain has several locations, with dozens more planned by licensees there. In the next couple of months, Espresso Americano’s outlets will exceed 200 in number.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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