Successfully running a coffee shop is difficult even for experienced owners. It is more difficult for a new owner with little or no experience. Owning a coffee shop may be your life-long dream, but you should realize that many new shops fail to make enough profit to remain in business. If you are the owner of a recently opened coffee shop, you can increase your chance of success by following a few tips for a new startup.
Limit Your Selection
Initially, you should keep your menu simple. Having a large assortment of products may sound like a good idea, but for each item you add, you get a smaller dividend of return. Having a large selection gives your customers a greater choice, but it adds very little to your bottom line, and it definitely increases your management headaches. When you are just starting out in your coffee shop, you should consider following the rule of 3. You should provide your customers with a choice of 3 varieties and 3 sizes. That’s enough variety to let your customers have a choice without confusing them in the process.
Multiple Sales
You have to cross sell if you want your business to succeed. If 50% or more of your customers only purchase a cup of coffee, your coffee shop will probably fail. Your employees need to suggest to your customers that a roll, sweet bun, or sandwich would go really well with their choice of coffee.
Accept Some Waste
When you first open your coffee shop, you will have waste. Some of your sandwiches, buns, and rolls will not sell. You should never try to save stale items to sell the next days. Either throw them away or give them to a charity, but you should not try to save money by keeping them for sale. Your customers want and expect fresh products. If you get a reputation for selling stale items, your business will suffer.
Friendly Employees
Your customers want good coffee, but they also want friendly and fast service. You need to enforce that with your employees. Also, your customers need to see the owner in the front of the shop. When you mingle with the customers, you help build loyalty.
Custom Items
Except for your coffee, you should avoid custom items as much as possible. They take too much time and energy to make for very little increase in profit. As a new owner of a coffee shop, you should offer a few pre-made items that you know the customers will buy.
Running a successful coffee shop takes a lot of hard work, experience, and a lot of luck. As a new owner, you may lack experience, but experience will come with time. In the meantime, you can increase your chance of success by limiting your items, accepting some waste, hiring friendly employees, and avoiding custom items.
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Rodney Hartman Posted on: 2013-07-19 12:00 AM 
