Opening a café or coffee shop is one of the most popular ways of going into business for yourself, but it comes with its challenges, because there are competitors all around you. So how should an owner run the place to survive for the long term? Here are five strategies to help anyone opening their first coffee shop succeed at it. Read on.
What to know and prepare before investing in a coffee shop
The coffee shop is one of the most popular businesses around, and the one a new generation is most drawn to investing in, because people are drinking more and more coffee — office workers especially. As a result, coffee shops keep multiplying. So before we get to the strategies for opening one that succeeds and rises above the competition, there are a few things an investor should understand and prepare first.
- Capital: capital is a decisive factor in opening any kind of business, a coffee shop included. Start by setting a budget and defining the scope of the business, and put aside a financial reserve for the period after opening when there is not yet any profit coming in.
- Knowledge: a coffee shop that draws people in needs more than an attractive format — the taste of what is in the cup matters just as much. So anyone who wants to open a coffee shop should study the subject in depth and learn to make drinks that genuinely suit their customers: the different varieties of coffee bean, the ingredients behind each type of drink, and the equipment and tools the work requires.
- A character of your own: beyond preparing the capital and knowing coffee well, finding and developing your own way of making it is another thing that can lift your coffee shop above the competition.
Five strategies for opening a coffee shop that succeeds
- Pick a good site and you are halfway there
Location is one of the first factors to plan and get right. Choose somewhere busy, in a place where your target customers already are in numbers — a shopping centre, an office building, a hospital or a university. - Keep working on your coffee, and add food to the menu
The key to a coffee shop that keeps regulars coming back is flavour: it has to suit the people you are aiming at. The owner or the barista should keep practising and developing techniques that give the coffee a character of its own. Adding a range of good cakes and pastries gives customers something new to try as well, which makes a real impression. - Set a standard for your staff to lift the service
Opening a coffee shop that succeeds is not only about decorating the place beautifully, sitting on a good site or serving good coffee. Setting a proper standard of service for your staff matters just as much and should not be overlooked: every member of staff knowing about coffee beans, knowing the flavour and character of each variety, and able to recommend a drink that suits each individual customer — along with a greeting that always comes with a smile. All of it helps make an impression on customers. - A digital menu makes life easier for customers
Make a better impression on a customer in a hurry with a digital menu — something anyone about to open a café should adopt. Create a QR code menu that customers scan with their phone so they can choose and order quickly, without queueing. It eases the crush inside the shop and makes the service noticeably faster. - Use a POS system to run the shop more efficiently
The last strategy is choosing the right technology: a POS till system that works as a serious weapon in running the shop successfully. It comes with a complete set of front-of-house sales features, which you can configure and select to suit the way your business works, along with support for every payment channel, the ability to build a customer database, and easy promotion management — everything you need to keep the business moving forward.
Opening a café is not difficult. The harder part is keeping the business running sustainably and smoothly. One way of keeping it on a steady footing is to bring in Qashier's POS system to share the load and manage the shop end to end. It comes in a number of forms: a POS terminal to install at the till, or a portable till that suits a small shop and still does everything — taking orders, taking payment, printing receipts and tracking sales, all built in. It helps a coffee shop grow and makes it easy to impress the customers who matter. For more information, contact our LINE Official: @qashier.th or call 02-544-0267