High competition in the coffee business makes it necessary to conduct market research before starting a coffee shop business idea .
For a successful start of a coffee shop, it is extremely important to choose the right place for the future establishment.
The coffee shop premises should be located near places of mass movement of people. Unlike restaurants, people come to a coffee shop for a short time to drink a cup of aromatic coffee. Therefore, you should not expect that people will specifically go for a cup of coffee to coffee shops located far away.
Although, of course, some of the regulars prefer to go to their favorite coffee shop than drink coffee of unknown quality from the nearest machine.
It should be taken into account that in crowded places there may already be other coffee houses that are serious competition to the new establishment.
Therefore, when conducting market research, you need to carefully study all the places where a person can drink coffee, as well as study the assortment and prices offered by competitors. If a coffee shop offers something unique, such as drinks made according to its own recipes, then you can try to compete with neighboring establishments.
However, you still need to take into account that the majority of visitors are random people, and high competition in the immediate environment can seriously worsen the profitability of a business, especially at the first stage of formation.
The second step of marketing research should be to draw up a portrait of the average visitor to the future coffee shop and determine their needs.
If educational institutions, campuses are located nearby, then it is logical for many to assume that students will be the main visitors to the coffee shop. Large office buildings and banks located nearby can become a source of completely different customers, business people who can invite their business partners to the coffee shop.
To compile a portrait of the average visitor, you can use the methods of surveys and questionnaires.
Having determined what the future visitor of the coffee shop will be like, you can begin to develop a project for the premises, its design, and determine the range of products offered.
The main components of the initial costs will be the costs of purchasing, repairing and equipping the premises. Since coffee houses are catering establishments, in order to obtain permission to open it, it will be necessary to fulfill the requirements of fire and sanitary authorities. If the coffee house is limited to a narrow range of drinks and related confectionery products, then the size of utility rooms and the requirements for them will be much lower than in cases where the coffee house offers visitors various dishes, becoming like a small cafe or restaurant.
The design of the client area of the coffee shop will depend on the tastes of the owner, and the portrait of the average visitor obtained in the marketing research.
But, in any case, the specificity of the coffee house implies that the coffee house should be cozy. Much attention should be paid to the correct lighting of the coffee shop, as this greatly affects the mood of customers and the desire to return to the coffee shop again.
To develop the design of the project, it is better to invite specialists, and spend enough time to create an original and cozy interior.
As for the purchase of equipment, the costs for it will not be as high as in the case of opening a cafe or restaurant.
For the preparation of drinks, automatic and semi-automatic coffee machines are usually used. In addition, you will need a coffee grinder, mixer, refrigerator, microwave. The cost of acquiring such equipment is in the range of 10 thousand dollars.
The initial costs of implementing a coffee house business idea should also include the costs of purchasing furniture, interior elements, commercial equipment, utensils, the initial batch of raw materials for making drinks, the costs of purchasing cash registers and software.
The current costs of the coffee shop will consist of the cost of staff salaries, rent and utilities, the cost of purchasing raw materials, and advertising.
The income of the coffee shop is formed from the sale of coffee and related products.
If the average check is $150, then if the coffee shop attends 200 people a day, the daily income will be $30,000.
Experience shows that the coffee house business idea allows you to reach profitability within the first year.
However, it is better to make accurate calculations of the profitability of a coffee shop and a business plan for a future enterprise in advance, especially if a loan is expected to open a coffee shop.
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