Is there a magic bullet or one secret to a successful coffee shop?
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9th June 2019
Diane Webster
I asked myself this question this morning, as I grabbed a coffee to go in my ‘local’. I noticed one new outlet had opened, and a few doors up the road, one had closed… all in the last couple of weeks! What’s more important? The origin of the coffee? The blend or roast of the bean? The coffee menu? The service? What caused one to fail? What encouraged a new operator to invest? With over 10 years in the coffee business, supplying many SME businesses, I know – running a successful business comes down to hard work, a passion for your product and probably, a bit of luck!
I created Café Origin over 10 years ago, with a mission to seek out the very best origin coffees and to supply consistently unique, quality coffees to UK coffee shops, pubs, bars and restaurants. Strolling back home this morning, I jotted down 10 years of hints and tips to help you be the best on your high street.
Consistently serve the finest espresso
Sounds obvious – but espresso coffee is one of those rare products where consistent 100% quality matters. Customers will walk past ten other competitors to get the best espresso, which is why this factor alone means you don’t need the highly visible, most expensive location. Of course, location can be important, but remember, coffee is now seen by many as a destination rather than an afterthought or impulse purchase (I walked past 3 other coffee shops this morning, to pick up my favourite cappuccino). Too much traffic can mean that people are more focused on getting somewhere else rather than stopping to enjoy your wider café offering.
Buy the best espresso coffee machine
Always install your espresso coffee machines with a water purifier and demineralizer, use a conical grinder, and only buy top quality Arabica or Arabica 90%/Robusta 10% freshly roasted beans, and make sure every cup is made by a fully trained barista. You will only ever become a destination, if customers are consistently served their favourite coffee.
Make your coffee station work for your team
The ergonomics and layout needs to work for your team. Remember, some people are taller than others! You need to make sure all staff can reach the coffee machine – so having the right height counter top, with easy access to cups, grinder, accessories, and reachable overhead storage of supplies is important. Make sure they are not competing for space with other staff members when they’re making drinks and the workstation is well laid out with easy access to underneath bins, bean storage, grinder and bar fridge milk. The best setups also have a solid surface for the knock out drawer and a small inbuilt sink to allow for quick and easy ongoing cleaning. Also, place the cash register on the front counter in close proximity to the barista’s workstation. This allows the barista to hear the customer orders and get a head start on making them in the busy times. It means they can also work alone in an efficient way in quieter times.
Get your wider coffee offering right!
A coffee shop will never make enough money to pay the bills from coffee sales alone. Coffee may be the reason customers come in, but if you want to make the business work, you must sell them more than coffee! As a target, coffee should be no more than 40% of your weekly sales. Aim for an average ‘check’ of >2 items per customer; it’s a good benchmark. Make sure your range is right for your audience and the time of day! It’s a given that the traditional coffee accompaniments (pastries, croissants, muffins, cookies, cakes etc) are close by at the point of sale for ‘grab and go’ customers, or if customers order at the counter. If you offer table service, make sure your menu is planned, uses descriptive language and your staff are well trained to upsell. Never presume your customer will choose a croissant or toast with their breakfast coffee. Entice them!
Limit the assortment
When the coffee shop revolution first hit the high street, we were overwhelmed. Choice of bean, brew, size, milk, cup, froth, flavour –we were bombarded by choice in the first 10 seconds! No longer a revolution, the coffee shop is now ubiquitous on our high streets – so remember, your customers are simply hungry or thirsty or both. Cover the necessary categories, but with limited and considered offers (e.g. three flavours are enough, three sizes are enough, three types of food/drink are enough). Many start up coffee shops fall into the trap of thinking an extensive range and complementary products or offers, creates a competitive advantage. Not necessarily so. Not only are your customers overwhelmed, but every item you add to the menu has a multiplying effect in management effort (costs) and mostly without adding anything to revenue or customer experience.
Know your customer
Getting known and as a start up, gaining traction in an (often saturated) competitive (local) market can be a challenge. You will need to have a clear understanding of who your customers are, where they go (now) and how to reach them, attract them, and have a plan for keeping them returning and, better still – referring you to their friends.
Use loyalty cards
Get the basics right – and they still add value. Simple tips – make sure it is a quality card that will last the wear and tear and look good in a customer’s wallet. Your most loyal customer still loves a freebie! And there’s nothing better than seeing a new customer’s face light up when you give them a buy seven get the eighth one free loyalty card, but tick off six of them so that on their very next purchase they get a free one. Cheapest customer acquisition ever.
Know what you are really selling
Think more widely about what you are in business for – and to do! How does your offer solve problems, add value? How does it help? Who? With what? It may seem odd to ask yourself this, when you’re ‘running a coffee shop’. But too many businesses (including coffee shop owners) don’t fully understand the need they are really satisfying – so they often concentrate on the wrong parts of their offer. Customers go to a coffee shop for many more reasons than just hunger and thirst. There is the escape from a stressful office, the chance to maintain or grow a relationship, a place to get away to do some reflective work, a chance to engage with familiar coffee shop staff at a particularly lonely time, or as a place to do business and reach an agreement. Understanding the needs you are really catering to will help you better construct your offer and make decisions that keep your customers returning and so maintaining the coffee shop’s success.
Serve on the front line
Coffee shops, like restaurants, are much more a people/service business than they are a goods/transactional one. While a goods/transactional business can still succeed with a non-present owner, a coffee shop needs the owner’s care, attention, and engagement. Customers expect it, and staff are far more enlivened when the owner in on hand taking orders or making coffee or is generally hovering in active care of the business.
I’ve made it my mission to seek out the very best origin coffees, sourced and certified from the finest farms, to bring a truly unique coffee to your business. I personally select everything from the plantation, the bean, the merchant, the roast, the packaging, the equipment, the engineer and the training. It’s my passion for quality; that’s why I oversee the whole process – from the bean, to the cup! So whether you want to try a fantastic new coffee – or whether you need a complete beverage package, I’m here to help you.
I asked myself this question this morning, as I grabbed a coffee to go in my ‘local’. I noticed one new outlet had opened, and a few doors up the road, one had closed… all in the last couple of weeks! What’s more important? The origin of the coffee? The blend or roast of the bean? The coffee menu? The service? What caused one to fail? What encouraged a new operator to invest? With over 10 years in the coffee business, supplying many SME businesses, I know – running a successful business comes down to hard work, a passion for your product and probably, a bit of luck!
I created Café Origin over 10 years ago, with a mission to seek out the very best origin coffees and to supply consistently unique, quality coffees to UK coffee shops, pubs, bars and restaurants. Strolling back home this morning, I jotted down 10 years of hints and tips to help you be the best on your high street.
Consistently serve the finest espresso
Sounds obvious – but espresso coffee is one of those rare products where consistent 100% quality matters. Customers will walk past ten other competitors to get the best espresso, which is why this factor alone means you don’t need the highly visible, most expensive location. Of course, location can be important, but remember, coffee is now seen by many as a destination rather than an afterthought or impulse purchase (I walked past 3 other coffee shops this morning, to pick up my favourite cappuccino). Too much traffic can mean that people are more focused on getting somewhere else rather than stopping to enjoy your wider café offering.
Buy the best espresso coffee machine
Always install your espresso coffee machines with a water purifier and demineralizer, use a conical grinder, and only buy top quality Arabica or Arabica 90%/Robusta 10% freshly roasted beans, and make sure every cup is made by a fully trained barista. You will only ever become a destination, if customers are consistently served their favourite coffee.
Make your coffee station work for your team
The ergonomics and layout needs to work for your team. Remember, some people are taller than others! You need to make sure all staff can reach the coffee machine – so having the right height counter top, with easy access to cups, grinder, accessories, and reachable overhead storage of supplies is important. Make sure they are not competing for space with other staff members when they’re making drinks and the workstation is well laid out with easy access to underneath bins, bean storage, grinder and bar fridge milk. The best setups also have a solid surface for the knock out drawer and a small inbuilt sink to allow for quick and easy ongoing cleaning. Also, place the cash register on the front counter in close proximity to the barista’s workstation. This allows the barista to hear the customer orders and get a head start on making them in the busy times. It means they can also work alone in an efficient way in quieter times.
Get your wider coffee offering right!
A coffee shop will never make enough money to pay the bills from coffee sales alone. Coffee may be the reason customers come in, but if you want to make the business work, you must sell them more than coffee! As a target, coffee should be no more than 40% of your weekly sales. Aim for an average ‘check’ of >2 items per customer; it’s a good benchmark. Make sure your range is right for your audience and the time of day! It’s a given that the traditional coffee accompaniments (pastries, croissants, muffins, cookies, cakes etc) are close by at the point of sale for ‘grab and go’ customers, or if customers order at the counter. If you offer table service, make sure your menu is planned, uses descriptive language and your staff are well trained to upsell. Never presume your customer will choose a croissant or toast with their breakfast coffee. Entice them!
Limit the assortment
When the coffee shop revolution first hit the high street, we were overwhelmed. Choice of bean, brew, size, milk, cup, froth, flavour –we were bombarded by choice in the first 10 seconds! No longer a revolution, the coffee shop is now ubiquitous on our high streets – so remember, your customers are simply hungry or thirsty or both. Cover the necessary categories, but with limited and considered offers (e.g. three flavours are enough, three sizes are enough, three types of food/drink are enough). Many start up coffee shops fall into the trap of thinking an extensive range and complementary products or offers, creates a competitive advantage. Not necessarily so. Not only are your customers overwhelmed, but every item you add to the menu has a multiplying effect in management effort (costs) and mostly without adding anything to revenue or customer experience.
Know your customer
Getting known and as a start up, gaining traction in an (often saturated) competitive (local) market can be a challenge. You will need to have a clear understanding of who your customers are, where they go (now) and how to reach them, attract them, and have a plan for keeping them returning and, better still – referring you to their friends.
Use loyalty cards
Get the basics right – and they still add value. Simple tips – make sure it is a quality card that will last the wear and tear and look good in a customer’s wallet. Your most loyal customer still loves a freebie! And there’s nothing better than seeing a new customer’s face light up when you give them a buy seven get the eighth one free loyalty card, but tick off six of them so that on their very next purchase they get a free one. Cheapest customer acquisition ever.
Know what you are really selling
Think more widely about what you are in business for – and to do! How does your offer solve problems, add value? How does it help? Who? With what? It may seem odd to ask yourself this, when you’re ‘running a coffee shop’. But too many businesses (including coffee shop owners) don’t fully understand the need they are really satisfying – so they often concentrate on the wrong parts of their offer. Customers go to a coffee shop for many more reasons than just hunger and thirst. There is the escape from a stressful office, the chance to maintain or grow a relationship, a place to get away to do some reflective work, a chance to engage with familiar coffee shop staff at a particularly lonely time, or as a place to do business and reach an agreement. Understanding the needs you are really catering to will help you better construct your offer and make decisions that keep your customers returning and so maintaining the coffee shop’s success.
Serve on the front line
Coffee shops, like restaurants, are much more a people/service business than they are a goods/transactional one. While a goods/transactional business can still succeed with a non-present owner, a coffee shop needs the owner’s care, attention, and engagement. Customers expect it, and staff are far more enlivened when the owner in on hand taking orders or making coffee or is generally hovering in active care of the business.
I’ve made it my mission to seek out the very best origin coffees, sourced and certified from the finest farms, to bring a truly unique coffee to your business. I personally select everything from the plantation, the bean, the merchant, the roast, the packaging, the equipment, the engineer and the training. It’s my passion for quality; that’s why I oversee the whole process – from the bean, to the cup! So whether you want to try a fantastic new coffee – or whether you need a complete beverage package, I’m here to help you.