Startup coffee shop
Discussion
Is your area a good area for coffee shops?
Rather a lot is going to depend on how much business you get. And that's going to depend to a small extent on how good the offering is, and to a large extent on where the shop is. 'Location, location, location' was a phrased coined in response to someone being asked what the three most important things about a retail business are.
Rather a lot is going to depend on how much business you get. And that's going to depend to a small extent on how good the offering is, and to a large extent on where the shop is. 'Location, location, location' was a phrased coined in response to someone being asked what the three most important things about a retail business are.
That's not an easy question to answer. Is it just coffee? Coffee and cakes, coffee cakes and lunch, take away sandwiches etc...
Basic costs are rent, rates, heat light etc... Plus start up costs which could eat up your 30k easily.
He'll of a mark up on coffee though how many do you see going bust?
Basic costs are rent, rates, heat light etc... Plus start up costs which could eat up your 30k easily.
He'll of a mark up on coffee though how many do you see going bust?
Location is very important, as is drawing people in over the other 5-6 shops on the same street, that are very similar.
Best one I came across was a tea and cake shop with the cakes in the window. Drew lots of people off the street.
Samples are always good too. Never underestimate the sample offering of a good product near lunch time.
Best one I came across was a tea and cake shop with the cakes in the window. Drew lots of people off the street.
Samples are always good too. Never underestimate the sample offering of a good product near lunch time.
gaz1234 said:
It's an idea at the moment.
Can anyone shed light on rough running costs p/a and expected profits in say years 1-3?
We have 30k cash if required to use.
Employees will be family
Thanks.
With respect, what makes you think you'll make a profit?Can anyone shed light on rough running costs p/a and expected profits in say years 1-3?
We have 30k cash if required to use.
Employees will be family
Thanks.
With so many coffee shops failing and high street retail on its knees, what your USP going to be that sets you aside from the big franchises and have enough of their customers stop using them and use you instead?
How many years experience have you got running a coffee shop?
Assuming it takes as others are saying £100,000 for startup and year one, how are you going to finance the rest?
Why on earth would it take 100 grand to start a coffee shop ffs?! Rent, leccy, coffee + machine, cakes etc and staff are the outgoings; presumably you'd make profit on everything you sell so that would start to offset the startup costs. Re Costa etc if there were 2 shops next to each other I'd choose the local business over a national one every time. If they sell good coffee too it's a no brainer!
TX.
TX.
I work (sort of) in this area. Don't go for a coffee shop; go for a "tea bar" instead.
This is what Starbucks bought a couple of months ago in the USA, and they're rolling out the brand globally:
http://www.teavana.com/
http://www.teavana.com/tea-bar
We are getting close to "peak coffee", and all the big players in the market know it. Tea is going to be the next place that all of the big companies are going to go, so it would be a good idea to get ahead of the curve if you have a location that has enough hipsters to support it.
This is what Starbucks bought a couple of months ago in the USA, and they're rolling out the brand globally:
http://www.teavana.com/
http://www.teavana.com/tea-bar
We are getting close to "peak coffee", and all the big players in the market know it. Tea is going to be the next place that all of the big companies are going to go, so it would be a good idea to get ahead of the curve if you have a location that has enough hipsters to support it.
Terminator X said:
Why on earth would it take 100 grand to start a coffee shop ffs?! Rent, leccy, coffee + machine, cakes etc and staff are the outgoings; presumably you'd make profit on everything you sell so that would start to offset the startup costs. Re Costa etc if there were 2 shops next to each other I'd choose the local business over a national one every time. If they sell good coffee too it's a no brainer!
TX.
If it takes two years to get to the point whereby you can take a wage yourself - and given you've to pay rent, rates, electric, costs, and all your other staff first - that might not be unlikely.TX.
So say you need £25,000 a year to cover your own outgoings and "living", theres potentially £50K required, plus even another £30K setup, plus £20K contingency...
Not saying it "would" be needed but i dont think you'd want to be going in winging it and not budgeting for your own outgoings?
Terminator X said:
Why on earth would it take 100 grand to start a coffee shop ffs?! Rent, leccy, coffee + machine, cakes etc and staff are the outgoings
Plus:Shop fit-out
Appliances
Rates
marketing / branding / signage / printing / loyalty programmes / advertising
Insurance
Stock, and stock management
Service contracts, cleaning, security
Tills, IT, WiFi
Training, certification, health & safety, Food Standards
Just the fit-out could easily run to £20k for a small gaff excluding appliances and High St rates are extortionate.
petroleum601 said:
The big franchises have got you all ways up. If you haven't got a mahoosive USP, forget it.
Disagree with this. With the big players aggressively avoiding tax you will be surprised how many people avoid them and opt for the little man. Providing the coffee is good and there aren't too many in the same location you can't go wrong. BoRED S2upid said:
Disagree with this. With the big players aggressively avoiding tax you will be surprised how many people avoid them and opt for the little man. Providing the coffee is good and there aren't too many in the same location you can't go wrong.
Fair comment, that's exactly what I do. If you have an interesting operation, I always go for the little guy.
davepoth said:
I work (sort of) in this area. Don't go for a coffee shop; go for a "tea bar" instead.
This is what Starbucks bought a couple of months ago in the USA, and they're rolling out the brand globally:
http://www.teavana.com/
http://www.teavana.com/tea-bar
We are getting close to "peak coffee", and all the big players in the market know it. Tea is going to be the next place that all of the big companies are going to go, so it would be a good idea to get ahead of the curve if you have a location that has enough hipsters to support it.
I would agree with this. This is what Starbucks bought a couple of months ago in the USA, and they're rolling out the brand globally:
http://www.teavana.com/
http://www.teavana.com/tea-bar
We are getting close to "peak coffee", and all the big players in the market know it. Tea is going to be the next place that all of the big companies are going to go, so it would be a good idea to get ahead of the curve if you have a location that has enough hipsters to support it.
There are so many different genres of tea to try, just lacking somewhere to try them!
I have 30 different types at home, and that's only because I've run out of a few.
My friend bought a cafe in London 2 years ago and it's doing well. The biggest plus point, and the reason why she took it on from the previous owner, is because it is right in the middle of a park, very close to a children's play area, with the usual coffee chains a good 5 minutes walk away. Therefore once the children have tired themselves out to the point where they're whiney and don't want to walk far, all the Mums just pile into the cafe for snack time, lunch, or afternoon tea.
The biggest problem with it is that in winter the footfall plummets because no one wants to take their children to play in the cold. But she's managed to get around this by advertising children's activities twice a week, for a small charge the Mums can bring their children in for storytime or sing-a-long in the morning, and then tend to stay for lunch as well.
My friend used to work in catering and is a good cook, which are the other points in her favour. Along with offering a basic menu of omelettes, salads and sandwiches she also does daily specials including a soup, a childre's option and a vegetarian option, and if the parents want the children to have the same as them then she simply does children's size portions off the grown-up menu. It's all cooked fresh on the day, she goes in for 6 am to get the cake baking started so they're fresh when people come in, she spends the morning preparing everything for lunch and then in the afternoon slowly starts to wind down to the 5pm close, although on busy days she won't leave until after 6pm as cleaning up takes longer. She also offers the space for children's parties with full catering provided by her, which is another income source.
It has been very hard work and it hasn't all been positive, she's had to ban a few people who were blatantly stealing things from the drinks fridge for example, and a staff member recently did a runner with some of the takings. There are plenty of days when she loves it and plenty of days when she says she wishes she could throw the towel in and go back to working for someone else.
In her case, as I said, her key is the location. I'm not privy to how much it cost to start it all up, but I'm certain it was under 100k as she and her OH did a lot of the work of redecorating and cleaning themselves and she didn't take on any staff until 3 months in, once she'd built up the clientele to a point where she was becoming more busy (before she bought it the place had been a cafe but was only open a few hours a week so she needed time for people to realise it was now open regularly and for longer hours).
The biggest problem with it is that in winter the footfall plummets because no one wants to take their children to play in the cold. But she's managed to get around this by advertising children's activities twice a week, for a small charge the Mums can bring their children in for storytime or sing-a-long in the morning, and then tend to stay for lunch as well.
My friend used to work in catering and is a good cook, which are the other points in her favour. Along with offering a basic menu of omelettes, salads and sandwiches she also does daily specials including a soup, a childre's option and a vegetarian option, and if the parents want the children to have the same as them then she simply does children's size portions off the grown-up menu. It's all cooked fresh on the day, she goes in for 6 am to get the cake baking started so they're fresh when people come in, she spends the morning preparing everything for lunch and then in the afternoon slowly starts to wind down to the 5pm close, although on busy days she won't leave until after 6pm as cleaning up takes longer. She also offers the space for children's parties with full catering provided by her, which is another income source.
It has been very hard work and it hasn't all been positive, she's had to ban a few people who were blatantly stealing things from the drinks fridge for example, and a staff member recently did a runner with some of the takings. There are plenty of days when she loves it and plenty of days when she says she wishes she could throw the towel in and go back to working for someone else.
In her case, as I said, her key is the location. I'm not privy to how much it cost to start it all up, but I'm certain it was under 100k as she and her OH did a lot of the work of redecorating and cleaning themselves and she didn't take on any staff until 3 months in, once she'd built up the clientele to a point where she was becoming more busy (before she bought it the place had been a cafe but was only open a few hours a week so she needed time for people to realise it was now open regularly and for longer hours).
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