So How Much do you Love ? - Planning My Coffee Business

So you’ve been through the website and I hope you’ve enjoyed the experience. Now you are going to become the most annoying customer in amateur cafes by demanding that they tamp and grind your espresso properly or become even more bold and ask them to let you prepare your own coffee yourself. Perhaps even more ambitiously you’re thinking, hey ! may be I should quit my job and set up a coffee shop in my town or city or even more ambitiously set up a global chain - OK ! I know how you feel because I’ve been through this before, but before you resign or use up all your savings and cash in all your investments, make sure you do your home work - sounds boring, but you’ve got to plan this. I’ve been through some books and I’ve got some tips for you from what I’ve read and who I’ve spoken to, so see below for more tips and good luck.........

First, take a week off if you can (in the US, take a day off, as you guys don’t have as much or take as much holiday as we do in Europe) - visit your favourite coffee shop, demand that your espresso, cappuccino, latte or other coffee be prepared properly, sit down and read. Jot down what you like and don’t like about the cafes you visit and ask yourself, “can I really do this better ?” Visit other cafes and try and get a conversation going with the owner. Some might be helpful and give you lots of tips on opening a business, etc and some might be scared. In any case, I believe that competition is good and healthy for any business. You have to learn about other cafes to help you focus on why you will be better.

You really have to want to do this not because you want to become a millionaire but because you want to offer customers something different. You feel like they are missing out on the real coffee experience and I believe that if you are sincere, given other situations, focus on quality will always win.

Also, check out what it costs to set up a business in your city - do you need lots of money like in some European countries ($5,000 and more). Do you need some kind of food certificate? What are the barriers to entry (a very economic term) ? By this, I mean, what do you have to do to open a café besides the money.

Think about innovative ideas on layout, presentation, etc. Some suppliers will help you with ideas – after all they want to make money too and of course they want a successful customer. Try and attend conferences and I cannot recommend anyone better than Caffe Culture, which had the first coffee culture exhibition in Europe in 2006, followed by another one in 2007. The next one is planned for May 2008, see www.caffeculture.com. Here, you will meet everyone from the A-Z of opening a café. I’m sure in the US they have something similar.

Reading.....

There are some interesting books and you may want to start with those written by the big boys - there’s “Pour your heart into it” by none other than Howard Schultz about how Starbucks started. Good for inspiration.

If you’ve been to the UK you have probably seen Coffee Republic and the original founders have written a fascinating book, encouragingly called “Anyone Can Do It” on how they started from idea to expansion - it’s highly recommended and it even includes a rough draft of their business plan, packed with business tips. For general business planning try.... Start Your Business Week by Week by Steve Parks.

You will always be advised that before you get into any business you have to know it - you have to become a coffee guru and I hope that having been through my website you’ve learnt something. For more reading, get any clippings you can from magazines, journals, and the web. There are also lots of books to help you become an expert. I’ve been through some and my top 2 are, “The Joy of Coffee” where the writer Corby Kummer even went as far as visiting and plucking coffee cherries in South America. For real extensive research check out “The World Encyclopaedia of Coffee” by Mary Banks, Christine McFadden and Catherine Atkinson, it’s pretty good on the history and gives really detailed analysis of coffees from around the world and last but not least, finishes of with coffee inspired lovely dessert recipes.

For the web, try one of my favourites on espresso www.coffeegeek.com - excellent for reviews on all types of coffee machines and equipment.

Also check out the Coffee Network section for some useful addresses on suppliers.

Good luck and don’t forget to mention my name when you become successful.