Coffee Republic struggles with the daily grind

This will be a story that is worth following over the Summer. Leading coffee shop chain Coffee Republic is on the bring of going into administration according to the papers yesterday. A story of over-ambitious expansion, unprofitable growth through franchises, the impact of the credit crunch and a struggle to handle intense competition from from better-resourced rivals such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee. So far as I’m aware, Coffee Republic has never made a profit - though it has long been feted as an entrepreneurial success story…