Start-Up Coffee Business Guide f

Start-Up Coffee Business Guide for Dummies:

"How to Make it in the Coffee Business Without Losing Your Shirt"

Coffee Shop Business Plan

References and Pictures of shops

Coffee Drive-Thrus

Buying an Existing Shop?

Want to Improve your Espresso Sales?

Roasters: How to Increase your Sales

How to Add Espresso to an Existing Business

Food Management and Franchises: Increase Your Coffee Concept Sales!

Coffee Biz Q & A

How to Choose an Espresso Machine"

My Business Bio

Coffee Shop Business School. Three Day Class will Teach "What to Do and How to Do it!"

NEW!
Coffee Shop Business/Barista School

Book & DVD:
"How to Start Your Coffee Biz"

With all the popularity of "How to.... For Dummies" books, here is my short guide to "Coffee Shop Business Simplified so that Even You Would Understand" written for people that don't have a clue.
Daily, I get calls and e-mails from people asking me "what kind of machine should I buy, what coffee to use, where can I print my cups, etc". 90% of the callers don't even have a SPECIFIC location! If you don't have a location, these things DO NOT MATTER at this time!

Here is what you need FIRST:

Enough money to start your business (remodel, supply, equipment etc.)

A specific physical location where you will put your business - not just a town

Knowledge on how to start and operate it successfully without going broke.

I cannot help you with the financing, but my book, "Espresso Business Success Program", has a business plan that may help you with the bank or an investor. If you read this material, you will know how much money you will need, and what kind of a location you should get. I will be happy to advise you about any location you may have in mind. This initial advise and consultation is free, without any obligation. Call me. But please, DON'T CALL before you read the site dealing with your specific area of interest on one of the links to the left.
While business savvy companies and individuals, when venturing into a new line of business may admit their limitations and engage a consultant to advise them on matters beyond their primary areas of expertise, individuals with limited financial resources and no business experience often fail to recognize that need. Unfortunately, the people that need help the most can afford to risk their money the least! If a wealthy individual or company loses money in a new business, they may shrug it off. On the other hand, an individual with very few resources cannot afford to lose all they have because of bad advice, poor planning or execution.
You must do everything within your means to assure that every invested dollar generates maximum results in designing the shop, purchasing equipment and products, training all employees in all phases of the operation, and implementing marketing strategies that will bring customers in when they first open, and making sure that they come back.
Though no one can guaranty the success of any business, you can take steps that will prevent you from making mistakes that may cost you tens of thousands of dollars and months of wasted time!
Let us assume that you want to open a coffee shop/drive-thru for whatever the reason. Here are some of the challenges that you will have to solve before you can sell your first cup of "cappuccino". If you are not prepared to meet those challenges, either you won't open your business in the first place, or if you do, you won't stay in business for long, or your business won't reach its full potential, no matter what machine, coffee or how much money you have invested in opening it.
Here are the challenges:

Get enough financing for your venture.

Find a proper location.

Design the shop not only for looks, but for speed of service and customer's convenience.

Choose your equipment and coffee supplier. Know what other things you will need, where to get them and how much to pay.

Design a menu that will make sense not only to you, but to your "espresso challenged customers".

Implement a marketing strategy with the goal of selling mostly espresso based drinks.
Why? Because that's where the real money is!!!

Get proper training for yourself and your employees in all phases of shop operations, including correct and speedy drink preparation techniques for better taste and faster service.

Learn how to market espresso based drinks, so as to sell more of them and create a large, loyal, and "addicted" to YOUR espresso, daily customer base. That is the "secret" of any successful coffee operation.

All of the above, with little variations, will apply to any coffee concept, whether you open a single cart, a drive-thru or a 1000 shop franchise.

The question is then, HOW do you meet all these challenges? Of course, you could get a franchise. A franchise is a proven way to do business. They already "ironed" out most of the mistakes for you, therefore eliminating many factors that would contribute to the failure of a start-up coffee business. Unfortunately, you will have to pay dearly for them to do all the thinking for you, anywhere from $10,000-15,000 for franchise/training fees, and around 6%-11% of your gross sales as royalties. You still will have to find your own location, and spend around $250,000 to open it. Many franchisees end up paying more to the franchise company in royalty/advertising fees than they retain for themselves. Of course, they still cannot guaranty your success. No one can.
So, if you want to be in this business but don't have $250,000 or more to invest in a franchise, and you don't want to pay them royalties of up to $50,000 a year, WHAT do you do? You may have two options left:

Do it on your own, with some very limited "free" training by your coffee or equipment supplier. Though one hour or so of training may be useful, it will never cover the above nine points, and it cannot substitute training that you may receive in your own shop just before and after you open. It would be equivalent to showing your son or daughter how to drive by going with them around the block a couple of times and then sending them alone on a busy freeway! And if you believe that some "experienced" kid that is working at some coffee shop (whom you consider in stealing away) will teach you all the planning and the "business", I may have an excellent espresso machine that I may sell you for two dollars!

Do it on your own, but with expert help, so as to minimize your mistakes and maximize your chances of success. You take the advice from people that already made all the mistakes, so you won't have to! Besides preventing mistakes, they will also teach you how to solve the above challenges in the best way within your budget. Make sure that you check their references!

Let us put this in the simplest terms. Let's assume that you want to go from point A to point B, with point B being in a large city that you never have been to. You arrive at the airport and your immediate problem is to get transportation to point B. You could:

Take a limo and get there in relative safety ( Equivalent to buying a franchise). Along the way, as you sip your champagne and listen to Mozart, the limo driver will point out to you the interesting sights, advise on good restaurants and shopping areas, and warn you of places to stay away from. For this service you will pay about three times the price of a cab, and you will continue to pay the limo driver a portion of your income for as long as you stay at your destination.

Take a cab (Equivalent to hiring a good expert-adviser) and a get there safely, but without the champagne. Along the way, the driver will point out to you the interesting sights, advise on good restaurants and shopping areas, and warn you of places to stay away from. For this service you will pay only a fraction of the cost of the limo, without any further payments.

Try to get there on your own, maybe on foot or by taking public transportation. Why pay for a limo or a cab? You can save a lot of money and get there on your own. After all, the Pioneers crossed the whole country in a wagon train. Surely you can make it across town! You ask the person at the information booth (your coffee or equipment supplier) how to get to point B. She will point in the general direction and you catch a bus. Finally, after several hours of traveling, changing three busses, getting lost in the wrong part of town and being mugged, you arrive at your destination, hungry, cold and without your wallet. But you did save the cab money, didn't you?

Which choice would you pick?
I am your "cab driver" and guide. We are here to provide you with knowledge and expertise so you can open your coffee business with "the least of pain and the most of gain"! Our thirty years of experience in this business, and after opening over 200 shops and drive-thrus, taught us what works and what doesn't, how to prevent mistakes and how to implement certain design, marketing and operational procedures that take out much of the risk, just like a franchise, but without the franchise or royalty fees. That is why we wrote the material on this web site. And if you still don't believe that you need to understand this business, go to my other pages:

Coffee Shop Business School. Three Day Class will Teach "What to Do and How to Do it!"

Espresso Business Success Program Book & Video
Mistakes that People Make when they Open a coffee Shop

Turn-key Consulting

Note: I will be happy to talk to you without any cost or obligation about any coffee related business matter. HOWEVER, BEFORE you call, please do your home-work. I do not want to start a conversation with you asking me: "What do you do?", or "What experience do you have?".
Before you call me about a drive-thru, PLEASE do your home-work that I suggest on my Drive-Thru site.

Alex Fisenko & Assoc.
6107 SW Murray Blv. PMB 297
Beaverton, OR 97008
Phone & Fax 503-590 9423 Pacific time 9 am-8 pm
e-mail: alex@espressobusiness.com
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