When you own your coffee shop, you’ll be responsible for everything from hiring and training staff to inventory management and recordkeeping. Fortunately, this also means you’ll have a lot of opportunities to get more hands-on with business management. That said, being in charge isn’t a walk in the park, either. It will require a lot of time and effort from both you and your staff.
Starting a new business from scratch is one of the most challenging, rewarding and exciting ventures you can take on. Do your research and research some more. You’ll want to make sure that you’re diving into the venture with a realistic grasp of the time it will take you to succeed as a coffee shop operator. Consider getting advice from an accountant or a business coach or simply reading up on starting a new business.
Being a savvy business owner is all in the details, and that means you need to be organized and ready to take on the challenges that the road ahead will undoubtedly bring.
Decide where you’ll set up shop
When deciding where you wish to be located, you’ll want to make sure that you’re choosing a place that makes sense for your business model and your needs as a shop owner. If you’re planning to open a typical retail store, you’ll need to make sure that the site can fit your needs. For example, if you’re looking to open a coffee shop that focuses on serving food items and drinkables, you must choose a space that can accommodate this type of layout.
If you’re searching for a location for your coffee shop, do your best to think outside of the box. The best place to find a space for your new business is in a mall or inside a shopping center. While these are far from traditional retail premises, they’re often huge and have plenty of space to accommodate your food and drinkable offerings and your retail store.
Decide what you’ll sell
Once you’ve chosen where you’ll open your shop, work your way back to the front and make a list of the products and services you want to sell. Take a close look at what people in your particular area seem to purchase, and then build on that.
For example, suppose your research shows that most customers in your neighborhood seem to be buying their morning coffee at local coffee shops. In that case, you can likely decide to open a coffee shop that serves only coffee. On the other hand, if you notice that most customers in your area are buying their morning coffee at the local convenience store, you will want to open a coffee shop that offers a few snacks and beverages.
Build out your menu
Once you’ve chosen what you want to sell at your shop, it’s time to build out your menu. In most cases, this means selecting a few signature items and then adding a few assorted items to the menu to give people something else to purchase while they’re browsing your store. This can range from adding a few breakfast items to the menu to including a few lunch and dinner items. Do your best to keep the menu items on your list realistic. It would be best if you didn’t allow yourself to get sidetracked by adding things that don’t fit the overall theme of your business.
There’s nothing wrong with including a few specialty items on the menu if they help make your coffee shop stand out from the crowd, but you don’t want to go overboard with including everything you can think of under the sun. You’ll also want to make sure that your menu contains a good amount of staples. A good starting point for your coffee shop menu is choosing a few options from each food category and adding a few specialty items to fill out the rest. This will let you start serving many popular foods as soon as you open your shop, and it will also give you a good sense of what you want to offer customers once they’re inside your store. For example, you may decide that you want to include some sandwiches on your menu.
Set up your cash register and organize your inventory
Once you’ve chosen your signature items and added a few other things to your menu, it’s time to get your cash register up and running and get organized with your inventory. There are a few key points to keep in mind regarding cash registers and inventory management. First, you’ll want to ensure that your cash register is as accurate as possible. You must have a cash register that can accurately track each item purchased and keep a close watch on your sales each day to make sure that nothing is being overcharged.
There are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind when it comes to inventory management. First, you want to ensure that your inventory management system is as accurate as possible. If you open your inventory management system on any given day and find that it’s inaccurate, you’re going to have a hard time keeping your shop organized and managed.
Make your brand and marketing goals a reality
The biggest challenge that new business owners face when establishing a successful business is simply finding the time to get started. From hiring staff to marketing and promoting your new business, you’ll find plenty of opportunities that aren’t available to you during your free time.
To get your new business off on the right foot and establish a brand that people will associate with, you’ll need to make time for branding and marketing your business as soon as you open your doors. For example, you might consider giving your coffee shop a cohesive look. Are you going for something minimalistic and sleek or more of a homey and farmer’s market vibe? For the first, you might want to stick to black iron hardware or get marble tabletops; for the second, you might want to play up the wood accents more and wish to buy chalk menu boards. From crafting your logo to brainstorming on what type of branding and marketing materials you’ll want to use in the future, this is one thing that will require a significant amount of your attention.
Wrapping up
Owning your coffee shop can be a lot of work, but the payoff is well worth the effort. By researching the business and lining up a few items on your to-do list, you can ensure that your coffee shop is a success when it comes to sales and customers.
