Modern catering is qualitatively different from yesterday's cafeterias and eateries. Numerous coffee houses are gaining increasing popularity and are rapidly gaining consumer recognition due to their fast service and high-quality drinks.
Starting any business starts with developing a business plan. If this is the first entrepreneurial experience, then the most effective step at the initial stage will be to turn to professionals. These can be both individual business analysts and specialized firms or the now popular business incubators.
The business plan should be based on a deep analysis of the already operating cafes of the city according to such criteria as capacity, location, estimated profitability, time of existence on the market. In addition, it will not be superfluous to determine the pros and cons of organized enterprises when studying competitors.
The analysis will make it possible to understand, on the one hand, what are the preferences of potential consumers, and on the other, determine in which direction it is more profitable to develop.
Next, you should take into account the financial component of the enterprise. And you should start with the costs of registering an organization or obtaining the status of an individual entrepreneur. The costs of complying with sanitary and hygienic norms and rules related to public catering also promise to fly in a pretty penny.
A common mistake of novice entrepreneurs is increased cost optimization, up to the cost of a professional interior design of the service hall and a reduction in the wage bill. The process of making coffee and drinks based on it requires high qualifications of a barista, therefore the best strategy for recruiting personnel is to attract specialists with at least 2 years of experience. As a last resort, such a specialist can be hired for several months as a coach for young baristas.
Experience shows that the most effective model for remuneration of workers is the formula: rate + percentage of revenue (tip). For a coffee shop, this option is becoming even more popular, since each specialist begins to realize the direct relationship between his job and salary.
Searching for suppliers of coffee and related products is not the least important in opening a coffee shop. The criteria for choosing a reliable supplier are positive customer reviews, the ability to order in small quantities and high quality of the product. An alternative option is to use unprocessed beans, followed by roasting to the required degree directly in the coffee shop. This option is good because it allows the barista to independently bring the raw materials to the desired level. Coffee connoisseurs will surely appreciate this approach of the owner of a coffee shop and will rush to become regulars of such an establishment. In addition, individual roasting of coffee can add additional income to the retail business.
The concept of "quick coffee" is gradually gaining consumer popularity among establishments offering, in addition to drinks, a whole menu of desserts and quick snacks. This trend is dictated simply - coffee has turned from a drink into a completely independent product with a very specific and loyal consumer audience.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that even the observance of all the above tips cannot promise the success of the business if the location for the opening of the coffee shop was chosen unsuccessfully. The best option for take-out coffee points is, of course, places with consistently high traffic: large shopping and entertainment centers, cinemas, office or administrative buildings. Do not rely on landlord data when studying permeability - they can be either outdated or exaggerated. It is much more important to catch the real consumer flow and ask for advice from past tenants.
