The two coffee shops are almost identical in size, shape and layout. Both rely on drive-thru windows for more than half their business. Both are located off Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, and both are part of relatively small companies when compared to the behemoth that’s located roughly halfway between them.

Both sell fresh-roasted coffee sourced from around the world, including Colombia, Peru and Ethiopia, for essentially the same price range, $5 to $6 for most cups.

Foxtail Coffee Co. and Eagle Specialty Coffee, however, have their differences.

Foxtail Coffee at 2494 Liberty Park Drive became the latest passion project of Diana Willis. She and her husband also own the franchise rights to Jason’s Deli’s four locations across Southwest Florida. Upon trying Foxtail coffee, headquartered in Orlando, Willis wanted to add the brand to her family’s business interests. She hired Stevens Construction to do the buildout at a new Cape Coral shopping center.

“I’m a coffee nerd, and I enjoy it a lot,” said Willis, who is also a commercial real estate agent for VIP Realty. “I know the family that started it. I really was thinking I would like to represent the brand here in Southwest Florida. When I went there, I was so impressed with the craft coffee experience. It really meant a lot to be able to bring the brand here.”

The first Foxtail in the region opened about a year ago in North Naples, at Uptown Center at 2700 Immokalee Road. Another is planned to open at a new shopping center under construction in Estero. The brand has 80 locations spread across Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Virginia.

The Cape Coral Foxtail began with a soft launch Dec. 18 and will celebrate the grand opening Feb. 8. In addition to coffee, Foxtail, which has 15 employees in Cape Coral, sells breakfast items and sandwiches. It also sells Kelly’s Ice Cream, another smaller, family-owned brand based in Orlando.

“We have a lot of regulars already, which is amazing,” Willis said.

Just down the road — past Starbucks, which is one of about 17,000 of that brand’s locations — lies the lone Eagle Specialty Coffee.

Larry Fisher hopes to boost that number. He operated Eagle Specialty Coffee in Monmouth County, New Jersey, for 12 years until deciding to leave the relatively colder winters behind him for Cape Coral. But he set up franchise opportunities for Eagle.

“Cape Coral is a wonderful place,” Fisher said. “We happened to come across this location.”

The location at 1519 NE Pine Island Road, Suite 110, had been a P.J.’s Coffee for only a few months before closing.

“We did our own due diligence into the location,” Fisher said. “We believe this location is a great shop. We have very high-quality coffee and freshly made sandwiches and salads. We stand by that product and believe in it. Some of the best of the best that’s out there.

“We do frappes, which are extraordinarily popular. A lot of people invent their own drink. We have that ability, as well. What separates us from a lot of other coffee shops, other than a better quality, better tasting coffee, is we make the food fresh. Our sandwiches are made to order. Fresh salads. Everything has always been made fresh.

“We have a little niche that makes us unique. We’re also making just enough food from scratch to differentiate us from a lot of other brands.”

Fisher is working behind the scenes to launch a rewards program and a mobile phone app to make remote ordering more efficient.

“We plan to be a much larger company,” Fisher said. “All the wheels are in place to make this a much larger company.

This will be the main corporate location. We believe we have the product.”

Foxtail and Eagle are located about 1 1/2 miles apart, but Fisher and Foxtail Manager Lindsey Ventriglia agreed the competition would be a friendly one.

“There’s room enough right now for everybody,” Fisher said. “It’s not just a competition where winner takes all. We can thrive just as well as some of the other places can thrive.

Said Ventriglia: “It’s definitely competitive. But I think as more coffee concepts open up, it’s actually a great thing for us. It’s just increasing coffee culture in the community.”