How to Start a Cafe – 6 Business Tips for Long Term Growth and Success
Cafes are all the rage these days. They’re a great place to relax, meet friends, and get work done. It’s no surprise that the cafe market grew to $30 billion.
However, that also means you’ll have a lot of competition if you want your cafe to succeed.
Knowing how to start a cafe the right way is critical if you want to see success. Keep reading to learn what you need to know to start a successful cafe.
Define Your Vision
One of the reasons people go to cafes is the environment. Whether they go to hang out with friends over a cup of coffee or spend some time there to work, they’re there for the pleasant environment. That makes having a vision for your cafe’s atmosphere and style critical.
Think of the customers you want to serve and what they want in a cafe. You aren’t a fast food restaurant looking to move people as fast as possible through the line. You want a personalized experience that keeps people in your cafe buying coffee and coming back for more.
Look at the cafes in your area to see how they operate. Look at who frequents each location and how each cafe serves its customers. You can learn a lot about the people in your area and how you can shape your vision to appeal to them.
Create a Business Plan
A great vision does a lot to improve your chance of creating a successful cafe, but it will only get you so far. If you want to succeed as a cafe owner, you need a great business plan.
Here are a few things to consider when developing your plan:
- Target audience
- Your menu
- Advertising methods
- Employees
- Budgets
- Monthly operating cost
- Location
The more you can lay out your business plan, the better you can create a roadmap for the future. You may not be able to get everything right. However, you can still adapt parts of your business plan to future changes and still end up reaching your business goals.
Don’t just spend a few hours during this process. Spend a reasonable amount of time preparing and put enough thought into everything you do.
Pick Your Location
Your cafe doesn’t have a chance of succeeding if you set up shop in the wrong location. People aren’t going to travel far to head to your cafe. There are plenty of options closer if someone wants to go out.
Finding the right location is one of the most vital parts of setting up a cafe. Consider your target customer and where they currently live. That’s the area where you want to start your cafe.
Of course, completely central locations are costly. You don’t have to be the center of everything if it’s cost-prohibitive. However, try to get as close to a central location as possible while following your budget.
Buy Your Equipment
You won’t be able to set up a cafe on a budget. You need places for guests to sit, kitchen equipment, financial tools, software, and much more. You’ll need to spend a lot of money on initial equipment to get everything you need.
Here are a few things you need to consider:
- Tables
- Chairs
- Under bench fridge
- Ovens
- Stove
- Cash register
- Display cases
You can get countless other items, so think of what works best for your needs. Once you get the things required to run your cafe, you’ll need to buy the stuff that creates your cafe’s environment. Think of your vision during this phase to develop a list of decor that will look great in your space.
Build a Service Team
Customer service is the most critical part of a great cafe. You can’t expect people to come back if they don’t get great food and service. That’s something you can’t do on your own.
Hiring the right people can make the difference between a thriving cafe and a failure. Do your due diligence when hiring your team to ensure people know what they’re doing.
Once you build your team, watch how they perform during the day. Don’t be afraid to fire quickly if someone can’t do a job, or make sure you provide the training someone needs to get good.
Develop a Marketing Strategy
The cafe business is competitive, so you can’t expect to get customers just by opening a shop in a popular location. You may be able to get a few walk-in customers, but most people have favorite cafes already. They don’t walk into random places to see what they’re like often.
You’ll need to make your cafe known to make a profit in this business, and a marketing strategy will help you do that.
For many cafes, starting online is a great choice. Most people who visit cafes have online accounts somewhere, so you can create ad campaigns that target those people with deals.
It also pays to get on Google Maps with local SEO. For people looking to try something new, local searches on Google are one of the first places they go. You need to be on the map results if you want any of that business.
Now You Know How to Start a Cafe
It’s not easy to open a cafe with so much competition, but there are a few things you can do to maximize your chance of success. Now that you know how to start a cafe, you have the knowledge needed to do things right. Make sure you follow best practices to ensure you start getting customers as soon as your new cafe opens.
Of course, you’ll need to know more about what it takes to start a cafe to see success. Check out the blog to learn more about running a business and managing a cafe.
