Shall we call this mysterious coffee chain Glorious Pants Coffee Company?

lol :) I am a huge fan of Gloria Jeans (especially their Mudslide Mocha), but it isn't them. Gloria Jeans run on a franchise model & earn their money from selling franchising rights, collecting franchise fees, advertising fees & requiring franchisees to purchase coffee beans etc from approved suppliers that in some cases are owned by the umbrella company. I understand they're considering a shift to a company-owned store model - but they only just started a franchising arrangement in Germany, so that's a long way from happening.

I suspect some Aussies haven't heard of this cafe chain, even though they have twice as many stores as Starbucks, and now have cafes internationally.

Gloria Jeans actually started in America (in a Chicago suburb in 1979) and were common in Illinois and Wisconsin in the early 1980s. They've pretty much died out here -- interesting to learn that they had a second life in Australia.

The Australian owner took it international, Gloria Jeans are apparently in 55 countries now. It was interesting to search for Gloria Jeans on Twitter and find most of the tweets were from places like Pakistan, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore & Fiji.

I'm particularly excited that Gloria Jeans is launching 40 stores in Germany soon [1], and also 13 stores in the UK next year [2].

(We don't have Starbucks in my city and I loved Gloria Jeans so much that I bought shares in the parent company, that's why I'm so interested in information about coffee shops & competitors. So far it's been the worst share investment I made though, the shares have crashed 90%!)

[1] https://www.insideretail.com.au/news/gloria-jeans-to-open-40...

[2] http://www.rfg.com.au/2018/05/22/gloria-jeans-coffees-open-f...

Now you’ve got me intrigued. My second guess would be the Coffee Club. Apparently, and surprisingly, they are the largest chain in Australia. Hudson’s, Gloria Jeans, Michels Patisserie all seem to follow the franchise model and stick to malls, whereas the Coffee Club is more likely to be found in a downtown location. And they are inexplicably successful given the experience is not that outstanding.

If it’s “Established” chain, I don’t understand your reasoning for not mentioning the business name. It’s public information by the virtue that it’s a cafe, not to mention, a chain.

Why the secrecy?

The cafe chain is a privately held company. I'm not sure it's public information that they earn some of their income from owning & leasing nearby properties to completely unrelated retailers. I just happened to talk to someone who told me about it.

But my general point was less about this specific chain, and the idea that your profits may come from a part of the business that you're not known for. You then use that money to subsidize the other parts of the business. A bit like how Sony Corporation's profits come from life insurance & medical insurance, while their electronics division makes a loss.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/28/business/global/sonys-bre...

Dude, just mentioning the name of the company isn't private. I am not sure why but I am incredibly bothered by this secrecy. There is nothing to do hide. The cafe exists in PUBLIC space for god sake!

I bought a toothpaste from a store but I feel like I shouldn't disclose the name of the store for their privacy. They're a private company!