Coffee Shop Business Plan - Starting a
Coffee Shop and Making it Profitable
by Greg Gallagher
If you're thinking about starting a coffee shop in
your neighborhood, then you'll find this article to
be helpful.
The first thing you need to do is learn from
others. There is no point in reinventing the
wheel. See what other franchises have done to achieve their
success. You might want to look at places like Dunkin Donuts
and Starbucks to help you compe up with your own coffee shop
business plan.
Check Out Your Competition
For starters, actually go to your competition. It will really help
in creating your business plan. I know this doesn't sound like
something you're going to enjoy doing, but consider it
research. Go look and see how they have their establishments
setup. See what kind of menus they have. A coffee shop is
more than just coffee. The more competition you check out,
the better an idea you'll have of how to compete.
Study Their Ad Campaigns
Next, you want to study their ad campaigns to get a feel for
their marketing plan. Everybody advertises differently based on
their USP, but they all do have things in common. Look for
those similarities. There are some basic things that you're
going to want to convey to your target market and include in
your coffee shop business plan.
Coffee Shop Business Plan - Starting a Coffee Shop and Making it
Profitable
The primary things are:
• The quality of the coffee and food
• The atmosphere of the shop
• The price
A lot of people say that there's not a big difference between
one coffee and another. Those people are NOT real coffee
drinkers. Trust me...there is a difference. If you're looking to
cater to the guy driving an 18 wheeler on route 9, he's going to
expect a different quality of coffee than the guy who has on a
$2,000 suit and doesn't buy anything off the rack. You have to
know who your target market is and what kind of coffee they're
going to expect.
Pay Attention to the Atmosphere
Same thing with the atmosphere. Some people just want their
coffee to go and that's i