If you own or operate a regional or independent grocery store, you already know the fight for foot traffic never stops. Shoppers have more options than ever, and a once-a-week grocery run doesn’t build the kind of loyalty — or revenue — that keeps a store thriving in a small or mid-sized market.
A growing number of grocers are solving this the same way: by adding a Beans & Brews coffee shop to their existing footprint. It’s a small addition with an outsized impact — turning a routine stop for milk and eggs into a daily destination, and turning existing real estate into a new profit center.
Here’s what grocery partners are seeing, and how three of them are putting it into action.
5 Ways a Coffee Shop Changes What Your Store Means to the Community
1. It gives shoppers a reason to visit more often. Groceries are a weekly habit. Coffee is a daily one. Adding a coffee shop gives customers a reason to walk through your doors several times a week instead of once — and every extra visit is another chance to sell.
2. It captures more revenue from the customers you already have. You don’t need new foot traffic to grow revenue when you can capture more from the traffic you already have. A coffee order on top of a grocery trip (or a grocery trip added onto a coffee run) means more revenue per customer relationship, not just more customers.
3. It keeps local spending local. Every dollar spent at a drive-thru across town is a dollar that left your store. Bringing coffee in-house keeps that spend inside your four walls, and inside your community, instead of exporting it to an outside chain.
4. It creates a gathering space your community may not have. In a lot of small towns, there isn’t a dedicated place to meet a friend, take a work call, or grab a coffee between errands. A coffee shop built into your store fills that gap — and a store that becomes a gathering place becomes harder to replace.
5. It puts real estate you already own or lease to better use. You’re already paying for the square footage, the parking lot, the utilities, and the staff infrastructure. A coffee shop layered into that existing footprint improves profitability per square foot without requiring a new building, a new lease, or a new location.
Proven Coffee Playbook, No DIY Hassles
Plenty of grocers have tried building a coffee counter on their own — and found out that running a coffee program well is a different business than running a grocery store. Sourcing, equipment, training, drink development, and day-to-day café operations all take time and expertise that pull attention away from the core business.
Partnering with an established brand like Beans & Brews removes that burden. Grocers get a proven concept, a tested playbook, and operational support — without the investment, trial-and-error, or distraction of building a coffee brand from the ground up. For a closer look at how the in-store model itself works, see our companion post, Ridley’s + Beans & Brews: Non-Traditional Franchise Models.
Real Grocers, Real Results
“In small town America, the local grocery store already has the customers, location and community connection. Beans & Brews gives customers another reason to visit more often — and a way for owners to grow the value of their store in the community.”
— Doug Willmarth, CEO, Beans & Brews
Ridley’s Family Markets: Scaling With Confidence
Ridley’s Family Markets is one of Beans & Brews’ longest-running grocery partners, and the relationship keeps growing. This year alone, Ridley’s is adding six more Beans & Brews locations, bringing its total to 12 stores across its footprint. That kind of continued investment from an existing partner speaks for itself.
Stewart’s Marketplace: A New Drive-Thru in Roosevelt, Utah
Not every grocery partner is a multi-unit operator — some are just getting started. In 2025, Stewart’s Marketplace added a Beans & Brews coffee shop, complete with a drive-thru, inside their small-town grocery store in Roosevelt, Utah. The addition gave the store a second front door: shoppers already coming in for groceries, plus a steady stream of drive-thru customers who might not have stopped otherwise.
Associated Food Stores: Building for What’s Next
Associated Food Stores added a Beans & Brews to its Price, Utah location in 2026 — and it’s not stopping there. The company is already planning another Beans & Brews inside its newest grocery store opening in Mesquite, Nevada, in 2027. Building the coffee shop into a brand-new store from the start shows how much a grocery partner can plan around Beans & Brews as a core part of the customer experience, not an afterthought.
Is Your Store Ready to Become the Local Destination?
Whether you’re a multi-unit grocery operator like Ridley’s, opening a brand-new location like Associated Food Stores, or adding your very first coffee shop like Stewart’s Marketplace, the model works the same way: more visits, more revenue per customer, more dollars staying local, and a gathering space your community will come back to — all built on real estate you already have.
Did we perk your interest? Request franchise information today to learn more about how Beans & Brews partners with grocery stores like yours.
