What Are the Ingredients of a Successful Coffee Shop Business?
Does it make you nervous to hear that a significant percentage of coffee shop businesses close up within the first two years? Don’t worry because most aspiring café owners are nervous too. While business bankruptcy could happen for a variety of reasons, there are also steps to ensure that your own brand won’t drown in this highly competitive market. So just keep reading because we’ll give you the exact ingredients to keep your business afloat.
- Love coffee, but love accounting even more. This is probably a big mistake that most coffee shop owners have—to love coffee beans more than they love numbers. It’s important to remember that a business at the end of the day is all about profit and sales. Your business won’t be alive next year if you don’t know how to manage the numbers, the sales, the inventory, invoices, and so on. Take a few business courses and accounting-bookkeeping classes to amp your entrepreneurial skills and help you become an efficient business owner.
- Build your assets. Every purchase you make for your business should be an asset, not a liability. Everything from the classic bentwood chairs and dining furniture, to appliances, dinnerware and glassware; all of these purchases for your coffee shop should be part of your inventory and listed down as assets. Once you’ve built or acquired your business’ assets, the next step is to build your own community of customers, potentially recurring customers.
- Figure out the sustainability of your business. You’ll recognise sustainability when you explore the target neighbourhood and scout what kind of businesses are thriving in the community. Are there existing coffee shops and what is their saleability? If you have the means, it’s even advisable to purchase an existing coffee shop with an existing customer base. That way, you’ll have a better chance of integrating your business in the neighbourhood, have the physical security of an actual shop, and just focus on revamping the menu and quality of coffee you want to serve.
- Don’t rule out the overall dining experience. Part of the reason customers keep coming back for more coffee is the experience they had at your café. Whether it’s the ambiance, the mood inside the café, the presentation of the menu, the space and comfiness of the lounge furniture, and even the kind of patrons that frequent the cafe—it’s all part of the experience.
- Consistency is key. This is why it's important to conduct thorough research on coffee beans, menu ingredients, and café food before you even set up the physical presence of your business. This gives you a concrete idea about the kind of food and drinks to serve, therefore allowing you to be consistent in quality recipes. For example, espresso is a big factor in making the variety of coffee drinks in your menu. Stay consistent in your freshly roasted coffee beans, the water-to-beans proportion, the espresso maker, and even the room temperature.
As a bonus tip to avoid foreclosing your business before it even hits the three-year mark, is to always think like a businessman, not a coffee barista. Leave the artisan coffee making to your staff and deal with the ins and outs of your business like a true entrepreneur.
