Ground Report

Truth bomb of the week: running a coffee shop is not about the coffee. While creating a steaming, delicious cup of joe should be high on your priority list; it’s not the sole thing that is going to help you turn a profit.

It’s all about the other facets of business like your profit margins, keeping your customers happy and your costs under control. If you’re looking to give your coffee shop a must needed boost, here are seven ways to run a successful coffee shop.

   1. Identify Your Niche

What makes your coffee shop different from all the others? If you can’t answer that question right away, it’s time to do some homework.

People love experiencing something new and different. You can tap into this with signature drinks, an unusual theme or appeal to their health conscious side by offering only locally sourced organic products. Whatever angle you decide to flaunt, make sure people know about it. It will help you stand out from the crowd and keep your customers coming back for more.

 2. Cater for Different Diets

A simple way to stick out from the crowd and appeal to people is to have an inclusive menu. Customers love coming to places that cater to their dietary preferences as it takes out the hassle of finding something on the menu they can eat or drink.

Consider offering lactose replacements like soy or almond milk to appeal to vegans, have gluten free options or indicate which items on your menu contain nuts, are sugar-free or fall under the Banting diet.

   3. Treat Your Customers Like Royalty

It goes without saying that your customers are the lifeblood of your coffee shop. So it makes sense to put a little extra effort in when it comes to keeping your customers happy.

After all, people remember how you make them feel and if they’ve had a good experience at your coffee shop they will be more likely to return. Or better yet, they will recommend your shop to their friends and family and increase the size of your regular clientèle.

   4. Take a Second Look at Your Equipment

How you make your coffee is a vital part of running a successful coffee shop. So it makes sense that you have the right equipment to do so. Who doesn’t want on the best super automatic espresso machines on the market in their kitchen? While top quality equipment is expensive, the investment is worth it, and it will pay itself off in the end.

   5. Know Your Numbers

To keep your coffee shop running at a profit, you need to know your numbers like the back of your hand. Make sure you can answer the following questions to ensure you understand where your business stands and where it is heading:

• How much does each cup of coffee cost to make?
• What was your income from the last week or month?
• Which items are the most popular?
• When are your downtimes and why?
• Are you performing better than last year?
• What is your profit margin?

   6. Be a Frugal Coffee Shop Owner

You want to keep as much of the money you are making in your bank account. One of the easiest ways to do this is to crack down on your spending.

Sit down with your entire team and brainstorm ways you can cut costs and avoid unnecessary expenditures. Not only is this a great team exercise, but your baristas and chefs will most likely have unique insight into keeping costs to a minimum.

   7. Hire Top Quality Staff

It doesn’t matter how amazing your coffee tastes if your shop has lackluster staff who ruin the experience for your customers, it won’t be long before you closing up shop.

Spend time with your team and train them to offer the quality of service you want your customers to experience. During interviews, ask hard hittings questions to find out if they have the right personality for a customer-centric role. Once you have a team of people who genuinely care about service and aim to please, you coffee shop will be well on its way to success.

Running a coffee shop is a challenge, but it is so rewarding at the end of the day. Put into practice these seven simple steps to tighten up your operations, cut costs and make your customers feeling appreciated and special.