Be Focused Before Opening a Coffee Shop

Aspiring entrepreneurs often dream of opening their own coffee shop. But having your own coffee business isn’t as easy as it may seem. If you’re considering opening a coffee shop, there are several things you should take into consideration before jumping in with both feet. Let’s explore what you will need to know before taking the plunge.

Financing and Location
The two most important factors for any business are financing and location, and these are especially true for those looking to open a coffee shop. It is essential that you have enough money saved up or access to funding to get your business off the ground. That means covering expenses like rent, equipment, supplies, furniture, and staff costs. Once you know how much money you have available, it’s time to start scouting out locations. The right location can make or break your business so it is important that you invest time into finding the perfect spot for your shop. Consider things like foot traffic, competition in the area, parking availability and accessibility of public transportation when selecting a space.

Menu and Supplies
Your menu will be the foundation of your business so spend some time researching what types of products customers are interested in buying from cafes near you as well as what other shops in the area are offering. Also consider investing in quality ingredients as this will ensure that all of your beverages taste great every single time – happy customers mean more sales! Additionally, make sure that you purchase all the necessary supplies such as cups and lids (if needed), utensils, napkins and condiments ahead of time so that once your shop opens its doors everything is ready to go.

Opening a coffee shop can be an exciting venture but it requires careful planning and research beforehand. From securing adequate financing to selecting the right location and menu items, there are many elements that must be taken into account before launching your business. Taking these steps now can help ensure that your shop will be successful once it opens its doors for business! With proper planning and dedication, there’s no reason why you can’t have a thriving cafe

While the title has the text “Idiots Guide” in it, these guides never turn me off since they generally have pretty good tips and gotchas to watch out for – Starting and Running a Restaurant (Idiot’s Guides). Please note that if you purchase from clicking on the link, I will get a tiny bit of that sale to help keep this site going.

Don’t get hooked on the Keurig Donut Coffees at Costco

While the Keurig is not as sophisticated of a coffee system as the Tassimo, they do have an impressive line of K-Cup coffee offerings. The system treats each pod the same so the many providers of the coffee options pick and choose which of their line will work best with the system. Several brands offer many of their regular drip coffee versions, while others may offer just a regular and decaf.

Costco carries the standard machine, packaged with a few of the coffees on the market to sample which you may like best. They also offer large 80 K-Cup boxes of a few coffees. Most notable has been the Folgers Gourmet Lively Colombia (medium roast).

Also in the ‘big’ box is The Donut Shop Coffee from Coffee People. Well, they ‘did’ offer it, for a couple months.

Many times at Costco, things appear and then go away a short time later. Sometimes this is because the offering isn’t as popular as hoped but many times it is because the product manufacture was just getting folks to try. Then, they pull the bulk product and the only place to buy is in smaller quantities for more money in regular retailers.

There is actually still ‘Donut’ K-Cup coffee at Costco, but it is “Donut House” Coffee.

There is nothing wrong with the Donut House compared to the Donut Shop coffee… we just found it interesting that Costco stopped a coffee and replaced it with a very similarly named product.

For those that care, the Donut Shop is a bit ‘stronger’ tasting, while the Donut House is more ‘bold’. Both are fine… and it’s always great to have new options to try.

As a side note, if Donut Shop did do a bit of test marketing at Costco, it worked. In a visit to Crate and Barrel this weekend, the K-Cup area had only the Decaf version of the Donut Shop coffee left. The counter person said the regular option is always out of stock due to popular demand, now.

Oops, missed the whole George Clooney, Nespresso “What Else” thing

In this month’s (January) “Wallpaper” magazine is a two page add for Nespresso showing George Clooney. Wow, he is now doing Nespresso ads now.

Well, actually, he has been doing them for more than a year. My miss, my bad. It would appear that he filmed a commercial for Nespresso just after releasing his movie “Up In The Air” in 2009. I found a page on Nespresso pointing to it. The below is a screen shot of the resulting page. It would appear that the commercial wasn’t for the U.S. .

But, leave it to YouTube and you can find the video you want or need. Here is George being George and Nespresso doing coffee.

And a follow on to that one with John Malkovich

Our friends in Canada recommend Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons is something that I along with other Canadians truly feel is one of Canada’s great wonders. Tim Hortons is undoubtedly one of the single most popular coffee shops ever.

Every time I go to Tim Hortons I get the same welcoming feeling. Polite staff, familiar menu, familiar colors, and a familiar smell. No matter where the Tim Hortons is located, all of these are the same. Because of this, people continually come back, including myself.

Tim Hortons has very cheap coffee, and it tastes amazing. You can buy an extra large coffee for under $2, and it really is “Extra-Large”. the coffee is smooth, and you can really taste the way the coffee has been roasted. The aroma of the coffee is very deep and rich, and it is one of those familiar smells.

Tim Hortons is most famous for their “Double Double” which is a coffee that has two shots of creme, and two shots of sugar. It is also my personal favorite. The reason it is my favorite is because sometimes the coffee at “Timmys” tastes a bit too burnt, and this offsets it enough so that the coffee is more or less perfect, every time.

Another great feature of time Hortons is their food. Every time I get food from them, it is simply amazing, and once again is a great price. The French Onion soup, and their Sandwiches are very rich, warm, and great tasting.

Overall, Tim Hortons is a great place, and anyone who gets the chance really should try it. I recommend it to anyone visiting Canada, and people who live in the United States seeing as they have opened a few stores there.

Your cup of coffee is part of the Global Economy

It’s fun to see new infographics on coffee. Previously there has been ones on caffeine, what is in your favorite espresso drink as well as the history of coffee. Now, one from mint.com outlines “How Coffee Affects the Global Economy”.

It is full of info like how many grounds are sold per year, where coffee is most drank and how many people are involved.

Grab your copy of view online. This is just a snap shot of one small part of the larger infographic:

There hasn’t yet been a life cycle of the coffee bean yet, someone should do a poster of that too… please!