Owning a coffee shop

Owning a coffee shop is a of many small business opportunities available. More and more and more people though, are discovering that it's a niche which may be profitable even if the economy is on a downturn. The respected on-line magazine Slate recently reported that 90% of coffee house start ups were making money, a record that other market sectors are only able to take a look at with envy.

This isn't to express owning a coffee shop is definitely an automatic licence to print money! However, with a few thought and some planning a new launch has every chance of becoming a big part of your community and they may be opened by individuals who have no idea anything about the different kinds of beans in Colombia.

There's something that's more prone to define the success or else of a coffee shop than other things. Think these magic words - "Location, Location, Location". The great news is that you simply convey more of a concept of the right place for your coffee house than you understand. Whenever you visit your town or city centre, stop and take a browse around. Where do people often stop and take a look at the surroundings, or where will they gather? Once they are heading into work, how does the traffic flow? You can observe these are all potential business locations have a chance of success.

Of course, there are lots of other activities to think about for those who have considered owning a coffee shop but there's no reason to become afraid or intimidated by the big chains. They've helped create this growing niche. With a good location and a little imagination, owning a coffee shop is a truly exciting business proposition.

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Coffee suncream could slow skin cancer

Applying caffeine to the skin in sunny weather may protect against a type of skin cancer, US researchers hope. Experiments on mice, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that caffeine prevents UV damage.

Tumours took longer to develop and there were fewer of them, the study reports. But other experts warned there could be an adverse affect on other cancers by using caffeine in this way. The researchers did not apply caffeine to the mice, instead they genetically modified the animals.

Caffeine is known to interfere with a protein involved in detecting DNA damage called ATR. Scientists modified the mice so they did not produce any ATR in the skin.

Mice were then exposed to UV light three times a week for 40 weeks. Those without ATR developed their first tumour three weeks later than normal mice. After 19 weeks there were 69% fewer tumours in mice without ATR, although by the end of the study all of the animals had developed one of the most common forms of skin cancer - squamous cell carcinoma.

Prevention possibility: The study said: “At any given point in time the average number of tumours in [modified] mice was significantly lower. “Caffeine application could be useful in preventing UV-induced skin cancers,” the researchers add.

Applying caffeine on a beach to a person’s skin, however, is not the same thing as genetically modifying mouse skin in a laboratory. Further studies would be needed to show any possible protective effect in humans.

Prof Dot Bennett, professor of cell biology, St George’s, University of London, said: “The authors suggest adding caffeine or related molecules to sunscreens.

“First one might want to check there is no adverse effect of caffeine on the incidence of other cancers, especially melanoma, pigmented skin cancer, which kills over four times as many people as squamous cell carcinoma. “But caffeine lotion might promote tanning a little, since this family of molecules stimulates pigment cells to make more pigment.”

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Caribou Coffee prices stock offering at $14.25

Cafe operator Caribou Coffee Co. Inc. announced Thursday that it has priced at $14.25 a share the public offering of 5.15 million shares of common stock held by its major shareholder. The company has about 20.7 million shares outstanding. It won't receive any proceeds from the sale.

The offering is expected to close on Aug. 23, the company said in a news release. The shareholder, Caribou Holding Co. Ltd., is an affiliate of Bahrainian investment firm Arcapita Bank BSC. Caribou Holding Co. also is giving the underwriters of the offering an option to buy up to 772,245 additional shares to cover any excess demand.

Caribou Coffee, based in Brooklyn Center, Minn., is the No. 2 coffeehouse chain in the U.S. after Starbucks Corp. The company reported earlier this month that its second-quarter net income jumped 83 percent as revenue from its coffee stores, commercial sales and franchises rose.

Jefferies & Co. was lead manager for the offering, while Robert W. Baird & Co. and William Blair & Co. were managers, and Craig-Hallum Capital Group was co-manager. Caribou Coffee shares fell $1.37, more than 9 percent, to $13.38 by mid-afternoon amid a market plunge sparked by worries about the weakening economy.

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Dunkin‘ Donuts to serve single-serve cups

Dunkin‘ Donuts will start selling its coffee in single-serve Keurig cups Wednesday, beating rival Starbucks Corp. to the market in a fast-growing portion of the coffee business. The K-Cups can be used in Keurig brewing systems, which have gained popularity in offices and homes. The company that makes them, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., first announced its partnership with Dunkin‘ Donuts in February. Since then, it has also announced agreements with Starbucks Corp. and ConAgra Foods Inc.’s Swiss Miss hot chocolate brand. Starbucks plans to start offering K-Cups in the fall.

The Dunkin‘ Donuts K-Cups will be available only at Dunkin‘ Donuts shops. Utility regulators unanimously rejected a plan Tuesday that would have trimmed the profits of the Southern Co. if it breaks its budget while building what may become the first brand-new nuclear plant in a generation.

The elected members of the state Public Service Commission voted 5-0 to approve a compromise negotiated between its staff and Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power that shelved a proposal meant to pressure the utility into controlling construction costs while building two Westinghouse Electric Co. AP1000 reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta. The cost of building the existing reactors at the site jumped from $660 million to nearly $9 billion by the time they started producing power in the late 1980s.

Under state law, Georgia Power’s 2.4 million customers will ultimately reimburse the state-regulated monopoly for the flagship plant as they pay their monthly electricity bills. President Obama’s administration had awarded the project $8 billion in federal loan guarantees as it seeks to increase the country’s use of nuclear power.

US Airways Group Inc. says it will offer direct refunds of ticket taxes that travelers paid before the taxes lapsed on July 23. The taxes can add up to $60 or more on a $300 round-trip ticket. They stopped when the Federal Aviation Administration partially shut down. Travelers who bought tickets before the shutdown but flew during it are due a refund.

Some airlines have been telling travelers to ask the IRS for a refund. The Internal Revenue Service has asked airlines to refund the money directly. Delta said on Monday that it would offer direct refunds, and US Airways joined them on Tuesday.

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