Coffee News network with New Zealand franchises changes hands

The international Coffee News franchise system, which includes franchises in New Zealand, has been bought by Ben and Malorie Sprague of Bangor, Maine. The acquisition puts the free weekly publication under new ownership while keeping it in the American city that has served as its headquarters for years.

From local operators to global owners

The Bangor Daily News reported the acquisition on 28 October 2026. The Spragues purchased the business from fellow Bangor resident Bill Buckley, transferring ownership of the worldwide franchise system from one local family to another.

The buyers already have experience operating the publication. They bought the Bangor-area Coffee News franchises two years ago and intend to continue running those editions alongside their new responsibility for the international network.

That means their involvement now spans two levels of the business: publishing local editions and overseeing the system that supplies content to franchise operators across several countries. Their continuing local operation is a notable feature of the ownership change, rather than the acquisition marking a complete move away from their existing publishing work.

For New Zealand’s franchise community, the connection is through Coffee News’ international footprint. New Zealand is one of four countries identified in the report as home to franchises within the network now owned by the Spragues.

A single-sheet format with an international reach

Coffee News was founded in Canada nearly 40 years ago. Today, the network comprises more than 300 franchises across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. That figure describes the international network, not the number of New Zealand franchises.

Its product remains a free, single-sheet weekly publication. The content mix includes feel-good stories, jokes, trivia, horoscopes and local events, combining general-interest reading with information specific to each edition’s area.

The format is central to the story of the business. Although ownership has changed, the publication has maintained the same model and broadly similar content through a period of substantial change in the wider media landscape.

The Spragues see Coffee News as a Bangor success story. Its Canadian origins and international distribution sit alongside a longstanding operational base in Maine, where the franchise system has been headquartered for years.

Shared content, with room for local events

Coffee News combines centrally provided material with a local element. Writers in Maine and Canada produce the content distributed to franchises through the Bangor headquarters, while each franchise has its own section covering events in its area.

“It’s all written by actual human beings,” Sprague told the Bangor Daily News, describing the publication’s approach to producing its material.

For readers, the resulting edition brings together the network’s familiar mix of light reading and locally relevant event information. For franchise operators, the model separates shared editorial material from the section reflecting their own community.

This distinction helps explain how a single publication concept can operate across several countries without every edition being identical. The shared content provides a common foundation, while the events section gives individual editions a local connection. Both elements form part of the existing model described in the acquisition report.

A new chapter in a longstanding network

Buckley brought Coffee News to the United States in the 1990s and later acquired the entire franchise system. The Spragues’ purchase is the latest ownership chapter for a publication that began in Canada, expanded internationally and established its headquarters in Bangor.

The new owners’ plan to retain their Bangor-area editions also gives them an ongoing role within the network they now oversee. Their acquisition connects an existing local franchise operation with ownership of the worldwide system, including its New Zealand presence.

Practical takeaway: New Zealand operators and prospective franchise buyers should distinguish the global ownership change from the arrangements for an individual franchise. Anyone considering a Coffee News opportunity should confirm the current local offering, support responsibilities and contractual terms directly before making a decision.