Can you offer me any advice on setting up a coffee shop?

We understand how hard it can be to find good advice when running or starting a coffee shop. There are many things to think about. We will try to write the things here that we think make a good coffee shop and we keep updating this all the time. Happy reading!

Location, location, location???

No matter how good the coffee and the products are, people who visit coffee shops buy on impulse a lot of the time.

People often go in for the first time because of convenience. The coffee shop just happened to be there at the right place at the right time.

Finding a prime location is extremely important and sometimes well worth the investment.

Make sure that the shop stands out from the crowd. Outside seating is fantastic and can seriously boost your sales. A good sign outside clearly displaying your shop is very important.

Having seating outside is great but make sure that it sends the right image. Dirty tables with full ashtrays are not going to attract any customers. Lovely plants and a well organised seating area do!

What makes you special? Why should people visit your shop? Do you know the answers to these questions? We hope so and if not then it might be a good idea to think about them.

Too many people simply start a shop without a plan. You need to know what you want and what is going to make you successful. It might be your personality or it might be your skill in baking. Whatever it is, you should know it.

Once you know what makes your shop special you should build around it. If the staff are your strongest point than make sure that they have a lot of customer contact. Is your coffee the best in town? Then promote this and shout it out. Don't sound arrogant but make clear to the people why your shop is worth a visit.

Quality products, speaks for itself really doesn't it?

Although, how do you know that you have good products? Do you count the number of complaints or do you look at the compliments? Let's face it, many people will not say anything, whether it's good or bad.

The best way to know is probably some kind of feedback system. Find a way for customers to give feedback anonymously. Maybe a letterbox where they can drop of a feedback card. But why should the customer bother doing this? They might have better things to do. Unless you ask them nicely.
Hand your customer a feedback card when you give them their coffee and mention that you would appreciate some feedback. It might just be the best thing... to simply ask. But keep it anonymous.

Another way is a mystery shopper. However, you can have a different kind of mystery shopper. What about a mystery shopper who sits in your shop and drinks a coffee. How long would it take to pick up a conversation between other customers? People often discuss how well they like the product and it's really not that hard to find out when you sit in a coffee shop and drink a coffee. We are not saying that you should listen in to conversations or anything!

We, as the coffee people, often speak to people when we visit the coffee shops of our customers. It's a great way to find out how the customer is liking the coffee. People enjoy giving feedback and it's easy to see if people are really excited about something.

Find a way that works for you. Find a way to get feedback about your products!

Is cleanliness really that important?

We can not say it enough: clean up.

People do not like to sit at a dirty table, it's that simple. Every customer should sit down at a clean table. The table and chairs should be clean and there should be no food on the floor around them. It's that simple.

The coffee machine, panini grill, microwave, juice machine, blender, cake display etc. should all be clean. Keep it clean throughout the day, there is not really any excuse for a dirty coffee shop.

Is staff training important?

Of course we feel barista training is very important however general staff training such as customer service and h&s training is also needed. A barista training program could be 3 or 4 days of training, 2 days of training with a trainer and 2 days practical training where staff practise serving customers.
Making a cup of coffee in a training course is different then actually working behind a bar and this should be practised. Customer service training is also important. Teach your staff how customers should be served. Do you like them to say Sir and Madam or is 'mate' good enough? Should they only serve one customer at a time? How about eye contact and body language? When should tables be cleared and how many baristas should work on the queue at a time? All these things are extremely important. Of course we can help if you need some help. Please do think about your training program. A great coffee shop really comes together when the staff are properly trained.

What do most people do wrong?

Many people who start a coffee shop do not treat it enough like a business.

Running a coffee shop is fun, hard work and rewarding. But it becomes a lot less fun when it is not making any money. And when you are not on top of your finances it becomes even less fun. If you then get a tax bill that you haven't prepared for it is really not fun at all!

The important thing is to see this as a business. It might be a lifelong dream and once you have the shop it could be the best thing that has ever happened to you. But don't forget that it is a business and with that you get the things that are not so much fun such as paying the tax, hiring and firing of staff, cash flow, insurances, licenses, quality controls and many more.

Be on top of this and things get a lot better and you can focus on the things that you really want.

How do you think I should manage my staff?

Lead by example.

It's rare to find a place where the staff are enthusiastic about their work when the owner is not. You are the one that will make the difference whether the staff are enjoying their job or not. Any job out there can be enjoyable, no matter what the work is.

Enjoyment out of work usually comes from the people around you. Try to make the job as much fun as possible. Whether you work in the shop yourself or not, you should show a good leadership. Should you know how to make a good sandwich or a good coffee when you work in a coffee shop? Yes, you probably should.

There is no need to be the best in everything but you need to come across as if you actually know what you are talking about. Be a good example to your staff.

Give your staff incentives and give them different tasks once in a while. Nobody wants to be behind a till for 8 hours. Move your staff around and give them the chance to develop themselves.

How about market research?

Once you have decided that a coffee shop is just the thing for you then you need to go out there and find a location. Location is key as you are probably well aware of. We think that the footfall is very important and you need to know how many people go past and whether the location you are going for is any good.

Go by a couple of mornings and lunch times and see what the footfall is like. You might even bring a click-counter. Also ask the surrounding offices and retail shops what they would think of you opening a coffee shop.

Make sure that you perform some market research and find out if the market is there before you open up!

How do you suggest we layout the bar area?

The layout of your bar is extremely important. You want to design with the following things to think about:

• flow of the queue
• upselling
• easy contact between customers and staff
• 90 degrees angle of espresso machine
• speed

On the design above people will queue along the grab items and the cake display. The cake display is close to the till so the staff member at the till can grab the cakes. The espresso machine is open and on display. The machine is also close to the till ensuring good communication. The machine is at a 90 degrees angle and the coffees can be poured right in front of the customer. This speeds things up and it creates a wonderful show.

The dishwasher is out of sight and has a clean and dirty section for the dishes. The clean section is positioned next to the machine making it easy to load up the machine with clean cups.

Counter or table service?

Many coffee shops will go automatically for a counter service in their coffee shop. It is often seen as the standard, especially for the high street where it is expected to be busy. Counter service is seen as quicker and easier and often people think that it requires less staff compared to table service.

The truth is however that it has a lot of downsides compared to table service. There is often a lot of pressure in the queue for the customer and the barista example. Many times a customer will order just a coffee because he or she is holding up the queue. The menu and offerings can be a little overwhelming in a short space of time and because of the pressure of the queue the customer orders a lot less than originally planned. Counter service usually gives you less takings compared to table service. You probably won’t agree but lets have a look at the practical side of things.

With counter service the pressure on the barista can be hard when there is a queue. We believe strongly that the espresso machine and the barista should be easily visible by the customer in any kind of coffee shop. This does mean however that many people in the queue will watch the barista make coffee. Sometimes this can stress the barista so much that the quality of the drinks served are dropping. Drinks are being rushed and the customer who has been waiting extra long now get’s a less tasty drink than when its quiet. There is nothing worse then waiting extra long and receiving something less good.

The layout of the coffee shop has to be designed around the counter service as well. Your customers should queue along all your products which means that pretty much all your sandwiches, cakes and confectionery should be on display. People will spend more when they can see the products in front of them so you have to design the counter around this thought.
The counter can therefore take up a big space of the coffee shop, space which could be filled with extra tables and chairs giving you higher takings.

A counter with a long queue might make people decide to not enter your coffee shop; sure it is great to look busy and successful although you can also look too busy and lose sales. If everybody that was in the queue was sitting down then your shop would still look busy yet there wouldn’t be any long queues and as long as there is space people would probably come in to the shop more likely.

When people are sitting down  for a minute waiting to be served they can have the time to acclimatise to the shop and have a good look at your menu. This will make them feel relaxed and when people are relaxed and have the time to look at your menu they will spend a lot more money; and more importantly they will order what they planned on having in the first place. Of course it is important to acknowledge the customer once they sit down and to let them know you will be with them shortly to take their order.
This is also where table service is so much more personal. There is one host walking around and as soon as customers walk into your shop they are being greeted and welcomed. With counter service a customer might not be acknowledged by the staff until they have been in your shop for a full two minutes.

Many of our customers have table service for their coffee shop. When I speak to them and ask about the average spend of the customer I pretty much always hear of a higher spend compared to a counter service. With table service people often have a coffee and something else. Most counter service coffee shops have customers just drinking coffee. A customer who just drinks one coffee in a busy coffee shop and sits for a full hour could cost your dearly.

Table service allows you to turn tables over quicker as well. If you are busy and need some tables free then table service is fantastic. It is much easier to talk with a customer to see if they would like anything else. If not, then the bill comes a minute later. This is usually enough for people to realise that a table is needed. In the end, table service simply turns over tables so much quicker and turning tables over quickly is extremely important when the shop is full.

Table service will give the customer the chance to order something else. Once a customer has paid for an order they are very unlikely to order and pay again for something else. With table service however the tab is still open and it is easy for the customer to order another coffee. The great thing with table service is that it increases the average spend.
Because the tab is open and the host talks to the customer, it is easier to upsell and to receive some feedback on the products.

Some might argue that take-out doesn’t work very well with table service and I would agree. Although there are ways around it. You could have a little take out counter area where customers could be served for take out only. You could even have a hatch which is designed for take outs only. Take out service is a little harder with table service but then again, most people think they offer a lot more take out then they actually do.

Another downside of table service could be that the customer is not seeing the coffee being made. We believe that making coffee is an art and can be a great show (think of latte art for example). With table service you might lose this a little. A great way around this is to have the espresso machine inside the serving area, not behind the counter. This is a little controversial but it could be fantastic if designed correctly. All you need is to place the espresso machine on the end of the counter/kitchen with the machine facing the inside of the shop. Place it so that anybody in the coffee shop can watch the barista make coffee. Of course you have to consider safety options here.
If you do it right then it might even invite customers to have a chat with the barista about coffee. A simple sign saying ‘Feel free to have a chat with the barista about coffee’ might please those customers who would like to know more.
It is different but different can be great!
And of course it would really help the flow. Coffees don’t have to travel far to the tables and if you position the dishwasher right behind the espresso machine (out of view) than washing up cups and placing them back on the top of the machine is easy. Don’t forget how important this is as it can really slow things down when the dishwasher is in the wrong place.

Some people will argue that table service needs more staff. I would disagree. You will find that this isn’t the case if you have a good layout. If you design the counter so that even the host (the person waiting the tables) can make coffee, reach for cakes, muffins etc. then you can really speed things up. You could have a till that spins around so the host can always reach it from inside the serving area. The cakes are all on display for the host to reach. In the end, you would need someone at the till anyway which can now be the host. With a bit of planning you could run the shop with 3 people.

And if you are really clever and design the shop carefully then you might even be able to have both counter service and table service available. You could have the espresso machine on a rotating disc so it can turn around for table or counter service. The same goes for the till. It may sound crazy but I am sure you can do it with a little planning and thinking ahead.

It is all about making it work for you. The goal is to make your customer feel at ease, spend as much money as possible and optimise customer flow as much as possible. And of course, to serve delicious coffee!