Four months after the launch of the Cofix NIS 5 coffee chain, which revolutionized the market, its founder Avi Katz is launching his next revolution, a bar in which drinks will cost NIS 5 each.
What will we drink there?
“Everything, anything you drink at a regular pub - imported beer, domestic beer, various vodkas, whiskey, wine and cava,” he told “Globes TV.” “Cava in a cava glass, wine in a wine glass, and a shot in a shot glass. I imagine a friend and I finishing a business meeting in Tel Aviv, going to Cofix Bar at 6 pm, standing with a glass of wine, good, Barkan wine, and going home with a smile, like I do after a meeting in London."
How will you make money?
"We have found that the trick is earning only 100%, and not 700%, even though it’s a pub."
When you sell me a glass of wine, beer, or vodka for NIS 5, you're making a 100% profit?
"More. People are always asking me, and I am shocked by the question. If a bottle of wine costs a store NIS 15, and it has 7.5 glasses in it, how much does a glass of wine cost? True, there are also many expenses for the place, etc., but that’s Cofix Bar’s trick. It will be a bar in every respect, like in the UK. A bar that looks like a bar, with the selection that a bar has, a bar's ambiance, but standing room, not seats. Why standing? Because there is no room for everyone."
"Until 4 or 5 pm, we will sell coffee at Cofix, and, afterwards, in the same place, but in a different room, we will also open a bar, with the same expenses and the same overhead, and then it is enough for me to earn 100%. The idea is not to say that everyone else is a crook. The idea is to understand why merchants need to sell at such high prices, and to crack it, and that’s what I’ve done here."
The launch of Cofix shocked the industry. There were threats; people said the products were no good. Are you hearing similar things now?
"I am not a person who is under threat. I don’t hear threats. I’m deaf. If I were to hear threats, I would do nothing in life. But if you are asking what ritual I am expecting - I am ready for the standard ritual: For a month they will explain why it’s not financially sound, and why I won’t last, for another month after that some of those who tired of explaining will try and do what I did, and the rest will lower prices.”
Do you believe that this will lower prices?
“Sure. Whoever can, will lower prices. Did you believe that Cafe Cafe and Aroma would lower prices? Cafe Cafe said ‘we won’t lower prices, we won’t lower prices,’ and in the end, they dropped the ‘won’t,’ and were left with ‘lower prices'."
Cofix has set up seven branches since October, and more are opening at a rapid pace. "By Passover, we will have 15 open Cofix branches," says Katz. "We promised 50 branches a year, which means at least 15 branches per quarter."
Will we see Cofix Bar branches outside Tel Aviv?
"If it works, sure; why not? There are already more Cofix branches outside Tel Aviv than in the city, and the same will happen with Cofix Bar."
The idea for Cofix Bar is not new, and was part of Katz's business plan. "I have a four-stage plan, and we're only at stage two," he says.
What are the next stages?
"We're weak on giving clues. Either we trumpet our plans or we keep silent."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 3, 2014
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