Investment Bankers and Dark Roast

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I have an army of investment bankers who are flagging the idea of investing in tall cups of dark or light roast, expresso, latte, mochaccino and frapuccino.
They must do more digging because I’m not convinced that buying shares in Starbucks or Second Cup will be a good return for my investment, simply because I don’t see snake-long customers pounding the door.  

Instead, I see regulars who occupy the same tables and have all their toys on display (laptop, mobile phone and tablet), whenever I drop by to buy some dark roast.   Some even bring their own lunch boxes. 
O.K. There are a few exceptions, like my neighbourhood coffee joint because office workers pick up their dark roast in the morning before they swipe their access cards, during mid-morning break, lunch break and mid-afternoon break.

There is also a lot of real estate involved.  Certain regulars have title deeds to certain parts of the coffee shop.  It’s amusing to see how they react when they find someone else sitting there.
My investment bankers have gone back to the spreadsheet to prepare some stats.  Give me impressive numbers of customers buying dark roast by the hundreds, daily.  From where I stand coffee shops are the new community centres, mobile offices and places to avoid that person at home.
Nonqaba waka Msimang is the author of Sweetness, a South African novel.

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