The Sweet Return of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD): Starbucks Corporation (SBUX), Dunkin Brands Group Inc (DNKN)

Next there is Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), the coffee colossus of the world. With 18,000 stores worldwide and instant brand recognition, the company is indeed an entity to be feared. It too is planning to expand, opening 1,300 stores next year. It has also recently acquired tea company Teavana for $620 million, so the company is clearly looking for further sales via that outlet. And finally, its “Verismo” single-serving coffee maker is selling like crazy (as well as a few jokes along the way).

So all this information, along with some data provided by IBISWorld, tells us that the entire coffee & snacks industry in the US is probably going to do pretty well in the comings years. Their exact analysis:

The Coffee and Snack Shops industry will continue its growth trend through 2017, with revenue anticipated to jump 3.6% in 2013 to total $28.8 billion. Coffee and snack shops will benefit as the economy improves, unemployment rates decline and consumers begin to spend money again on luxuries like eating out. Furthermore, over the five years to 2017, consumer spending is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 2.8%. As a result, revenue is projected to increase at an average annual rate of 4.0% to $33.9 billion over the period.

So really, all three of these companies are likely to do well in the next few years. Picking any of them is a decent bet.

However, I’m placing my hopes in Krispy Kreme.

The article The Sweet Return of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Carlos Roa.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.