Coffee Shop Start up, How to open an espresso bar

                     Coffee Shop Business Consulting

A Proven System on How to Start and Operate your Own Successful Coffee Business.
If you are about to invest from $15,000 for a cart or $60,000 to $300,000 for a coffee shop, you would want to know as much as possible about this business, wouldn't you? You would want to protect that investment and make it grow.

Business is not a game of chance. The more you understand and know about it before you start spending your money, the better your prospects will be.

If you know what steps you need to take, then you can greatly minimize risks by preventing mistakes that could derail your venture right from the start, and you can maximize your probability of success by following a proven formula that worked for other people in similar circumstances.
That is why the franchise concepts are so successful in this country, and perhaps you were considering some coffee franchise yourself. After all, it is very reassuring to know that the people running a franchise concept will advice you on a location, design the layout of your shop, advice you on the equipment and products, and you will spend some time in one of their shops learning on how to operate it. They have created a system that works.
However, for the privilege of owning a franchise you will have to pay $10,000 or more for franchise fees, invest probably $250,000 or more to open your shop, plus continuous royalty and advertising fees from 8% to 11% of your gross sales that can amount to as much as $50,000 a year. These fees and your total investment will vary greatly with your chosen concept, a cart, drive-thru or a shop.

The biggest value of a franchise is the name recognition. Undoubtedly, if Starbucks was a franchise, it would be an excellent investment. However, you cannot buy a Starbucks, and the franchises that are left over have very limited name recognition, losing the main value that a franchise has to offer.
If you are not willing to pay all that money to a franchise and lose some of your creativity and independence, you can open a shop that looks like a franchise, and with the right set up and proper training you can operate it similar to a franchise.
You could try and do it on your own, or you could save thousands of dollars in mistakes and months in planning by hiring an experienced and effective consultant. Whatever fee you pay him or her will be offset by lesser mistakes and by increased sales due to higher efficiency and customers satisfaction.
What is an Effective Consultant?
It is a person who will guide you towards the successful opening of your business "with the least of pain and the most of gain". His main job is to:

Prevent you from making costly mistakes that may derail your business right from the start, or result in in the loss of thousands of dollars

Position your business so as to generate the most sales and profits for you. His help may result in an additional $25,000 to $50,000 in your pocket a year, depending on the location.

Who should qualify as an effective consultant?

A person who has opened and operated multiple shops for many years in different parts of the country. I owned and operated sixteen shops in four different states for twenty five years, not just a cart or one or two shops. I had two failures, from which I learned a lot about choosing the right locations. The other fourteen shops I held from one year to eleven years, and consequently sold them for about twice what it cost me to open them. Recently, one of my clients in Fl sold his shop for $325,000, after holding it for nine months and investing in it $154,000. In most of my shops, I got my investment returned from eight to eighteen months after opening. Several of my ex-employees, landlords or associates opened their own successful shops, two of them operating over 60 units (Espresso Roma and Espresso Royale) based on my model.

A person who has been exposed to different locations and conditions. I have opened shops in Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand, Belgium and in most of US states. Though most of my clients are individuals, I have also consulted for companies like the Boyds Coffee, Borders, Barrie House Coffee and presented for five years the "Espresso Business Seminar" for the Coffee Fest.

My personal belief and philosophy is to provide my clients with the expertise to operate their business as efficiently as possible, with the most return for their investment. Though in some parts of the country the competition may be fierce, my clients can compete very successfully with better and faster service, and with much better tasting drinks. Most of the independent coffee shops manage to serve only 20%-35% of espresso based drinks of their total sales, while my client's espresso sales account from 75%-92% of total. This obviously puts more money in your pocket and develops a loyal customer base.

Here is what I provide:
"TURN-KEY" ON LOCATION CONSULTING:

Consult with you on the suitability of your prospective location to evaluate it's potential before you lease it and commit yourself. The location of your shop will be your single most important step. Once you sign the lease it will be too late. By the time you finish the remodeling and the rest, you will put into it anywhere from $60,000-$300,000. It would be financially and emotionally disastrous if after all that money and time invested you realize that you made a mistake in choosing the location. If the location does not make any business sense, I will tell you so. If it is appropriate, I will do my best to help you to succeed.

Design the working part of your shop for speed and efficiency of operation. A wrong design will slow down the service, tire your employees needlessly and upset your customers. This will include the configuration of the counters, the placement of all equipment, plumbing and electric needs , as well as everything necessary to comply with your local health department. I do not get involved in the visual aspects of the shop design and leave that part to you and/or your architect. Ongoing consultation with your contractor.

Advice you on all the equipment that you will need to operate your shop. This alone may save you thousands of dollars and eliminate all the confusion that may arise by talking to many espresso equipment and other sales people. Find the best source in your area.

Provide you with a complete and detailed list of all supplies that you will need to start your business. This will include coffee, syrups, cups, napkins etc. etc. I do not sell any equipment or products, but will advice you on suppliers in your part of the country that will do the best job for you. This will save you a lot of time that you can better invest in thinking about the decor of your shop or in hiring employees.

Develop a menu that will make sense to your customers. The right kind of menu is your most important marketing tool, and it may determine to a large degree the success of your business. Unfortunately, it is neglected and misunderstood by most coffee shop operators. I have seen "horror" menus without any sense or purpose, some of them listing as many as sixty eight items! Such a menu will not only confuse your customers, but will make it impossible to train your employees in doing a fast and efficient job. This will be a hot, iced and "designer" espresso based drinks menu, as well as advise on pastries, etc.

Develop an "espresso friendly" marketing and pricing strategy so as to sell more espresso based drinks. Why? Because that's where the money is!!

On site training. Two days before you are ready to open, I will travel to your location, set up your shop ready for opening and remain with you for the next 2-6 days (depending on the location), training you and all your employees in all phases of the operation under actual serving conditions. This will include how to open, close, cash security and control, equipment maintenance, customers and employee relations, ordering supplies and cleaning your shop. One of the most important parts of this training will be on how to prepare superb espresso based drinks fast and efficiently, and how to "hook" your new customers to those drinks and make them want to come back for more!
After the shop is set up and ready to open, we will have an orientation meeting with the owner and employees in order to familiarize them with the "culture" of the coffee business. This step is very important as it will explain what we will try to accomplish, how different we will be from the competition, how to deal with the "non espresso educated" customers, and why it is so critical to focus on espresso.

This last step, on location "franchise like" training without the cost of a franchise, is one of the most important for your success, and you won't learn that from any equipment distributor, coffee roaster or any employee that you may have hired from your competition. Here you will learn what really makes this business "tick" and how to attract initial customers from your competition. The first days after opening you must create a good impression with you customers by providing fast and friendly service and superb tasting drinks. Only this will insure that they will come back for more!.
Because you WILL sell MOSTLY espresso based drinks and not regular coffee, this will put more money in your pocket. While the average independent coffee shops sell only 15-30% of espresso based drinks and the rest in brewed coffee, all my clients listed below manage to sell over 75% in espresso from their total sales. Who do you think makes more money, someone selling 300 cups of regular coffee a day at $1.25, or 300 cups of espresso based drinks at an average price of $2.45? The difference may be more than $50,000 a year extra in your pocket!
Your investment in this complete, "Turn-Key" plan will be from $3000-$7000 plus travel expenses (air, hotel), depending on the location, distance and number of employees to be trained. Please call me for exact quote and plan.
If you wish to proceed with me to do all of the above, here is what you have to do:

Have the money available to finance your venture.

Find a prospective location and call me. Make SURE that the location is available to you for that purpose.

If you are seeking financing from a lending institution or individuals, they will probably ask for a business plan, which is a description of what you intend to do, why do you think it is a good idea, how much money do you need, and what kind of revenues you expect to generate so you can pay them back. They will also ask you what kind of expertise do you have to plan, open and operate such a business.
My book, Espresso Business Success Program, has a generic business plan which can be adopted to any location, and it will give you the initial expertise to plan, open and operate your business. By presenting this book with your business plan to the lenders, you will provide them with the assurance that you will be working with expert help. If you engage my services for this full "Turn Key" plan, the cost of the book and tape will be applied to my total fee.
Do you really need a consultant? Will a consultant make a difference?
Let me illustrate by the two following letters.
Some time ago I received this e-mail letter from a woman near Chicago.
Dear Alex:
I just finished reading your book. I wish that I had known about you before I opened my coffee shop, I would have done many things differently. I hope that it is not too late for me to save my business.
Ever since I was in college I dreamed about owning my own coffee shop. I attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor around 1991 and used to hang out at the Espresso Royale, maybe you know of it?
Anyway, about two years ago I found this shop for lease in.......near Chicago, and because the rent was cheap, only $750 per month, I leased it. Using my own savings and some borrowed money from my parents, I managed to open my dream (what I thought) coffee shop.
First of all, I had no clue of what I was getting into, though the man that sold me the cappuccino machine told me that he would teach me how to make the drinks, that there was "nothing to it". If I only knew that there is much more than making drinks to this coffee shop business, as you say on your website!
Because I was not feeling sure of myself, I managed to hire an "experienced" girl that was working for another coffee shop and was the daughter of a friend of mine. After viewing your video, I saw that she knew even less than I on how to prepare drinks correctly!
However, now that I studied your material, I realize that the reason for my slow sales are more than improperly made drinks. You see, my shop is in a strip mall removed from the main road by about ten parking rows and is very hard to see by the drivers. The only customers that I get are coming from the next door hair salon and supermarket. I only average around $200 a day in business, and after paying all my expenses I feel that I am working for minimum wage.
I am attaching my menu, which as you can see is much different from what you have in the book. Some months ago, when business was really slow, I started to make some sandwiches, and though my sales went up a little bit, the extra cost was not worth it. I will try to do the menu as you suggest.
Can you help me? Is there anything that I can do to increase my sales? I will call you in a couple of days to take advantage of your over the phone consulting which comes with the book.
Regards,
Cathy...........
Can you imagine how different her situation would have been if she had used my personal or book advise?
Here is an example of a client who used my full service consulting program:
Dear Alex:
       Hello from Gahanna, the Cyber Espresso Capital of Ohio! This is to update you on our progress six month after opening.
       Thanks to your expertise in planning, design and training we have been running like a well oiled machine. The biggest thing I noticed was how fast we can move a line as compared to our not far-away competition! This morning we did $175 in about one hour with only two of us behind the counter, and no one waited longer than one minute! Some places I have been have four people working and I had to wait 5 minutes or more to get a simple "latte" and it did not taste as good as ours!
        Here are some of the comments that I hear everyday from our customers:
Your taste is so much better than Starbucks!"
" Your prices are very reasonable and your drinks taste much better than Brewster's Coffee down the street (which used to be "Aromas" until they went out of business after we opened).
"Why does your Latte taste so much better than in the other espresso bars?"
       Alex, remember that you trained myself and my people and we never made an espresso before! Now, I would say that my employees are some of the best baristas in town! Some of my customers tell me that Beth (remember her, she does not even drink coffee) makes them even better than me!
       The menu that you set up for me is still the same. It is very easy for the customer to understand, and it is certainly "espresso friendly". I raised my prices by 15 cents, and nobody even noticed. We are able to maintain consistently our espresso sales at 80% or better of our total sales by following the techniques that you taught us.
       Though our location, as you said, is not the best around, I am very pleased with our progress. I believe that we will hit $1000 a day when it gets colder and the rest of the center is leased out. I am also pleased that we were able to reach our break-even point during the summer months, without any foot traffic and the center leased only 25%.
Sorry I got so wordy. Call you later!
Erich Gellner, (owner)
Java's Cyber Caffe
Columbus, Oh
www.javas.com
Note: Erich just opened his second shop at the Columbus Convention Center. You may see the pictures on his web site.
Now, which of the two letters would you like to write me?
You will find more letters from my clients here: click
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Besides my "Turn Key" Consulting program I also offer:
CUSTOM START-UP:

I will:

Consult with you on the suitability of your prospective location to evaluate it's potential before you lease it and commit yourself. The location of your shop will be your single most important step. Once you sign the lease it will be too late. By the time you finish the remodeling and the rest, you will put into it anywhere from $60,000-$300,000. It would be financially and emotionally disastrous if after all that money and time invested you realize that you made a mistake in choosing the location. If the location does not make any business sense, I will tell you so. If it is appropriate, I will do my best to help you to succeed.

Design the working part of your shop for speed and efficiency of operation. A wrong design will slow down the service, tire your employees needlessly and upset your customers. This will include the configuration of the counters, the placement of all equipment, plumbing and electric needs , as well as everything necessary to comply with your local health department. I do not get involved in the visual aspects of the shop design and leave that part to you and/or your architect. Ongoing consultation with your contractor.

Advise you on all the equipment that you will need to operate your shop. This alone may save you thousands of dollars and eliminate all the confusion that may arise by talking to many espresso equipment and other sales people. Advise the best source in your area.

Provide you with a complete and detailed list of all supplies that you will need to start your business. This will include coffee, syrups, cups, napkins etc. etc. I do not sell any equipment or products, but will advise you on suppliers in your part of the country that will do the best job for you. This will save you a lot of time that you can better invest in thinking about the decor of your shop or in hiring employees.

Develop a menu that will make sense to your customers. The right kind of menu is your most important marketing tool, and it may determine to a large degree the success of your business. Unfortunately, it is neglected and misunderstood by most coffee shop operators. I have seen "horror" menus without any sense or purpose, some of them listing as many as sixty eight items! Such a menu will not only confuse your customers, but will make it impossible to train your employees in doing a fast and efficient job. This will be a hot, iced and "designer" espresso based drinks menu, as well as advise on pastries, etc.

Develop and an "espresso friendly" marketing and pricing strategy so as to sell more espresso based drinks. Why? Because that's where the money is!!

This plan also includes over the phone/email consulting from the time of your initial planning to your opening. This may be the most valuable part of this whole plan.

Included in the price of this plan is the video by "Bellisimo" "Espresso 101", which is part of my "Espresso Business Success Program". Please click here for details.

The investment in this Custom Start-Up Plan is $950. It will require a retainer fee of $350, which will entitle you to over the phone consultation about your location or any other matter. Upon the payment of the balance, points 2-8 will be completed.

THE VERY BASIC: Please click here: "Espresso Business Success Program" Book & Video
Does my consulting work? Why don't you ask my clients?
About two years ago I presented an Espresso Business Seminar. Among the attendees were a group of owners representing a major national coffee chain. Most of their shops are located in malls. At the end of the seminar they told me that had they known what they learned in the last two days, their profits would have been much greater and they would have done many things differently.
Alex Fisenko 503-590 9423
Pacific time 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. alex@espressobusiness.com
Meanwhile, if you are not ready for my full personal consulting, the next best solution if I cannot be there personally, is my "Espresso Business Success Program" booklet, together with the acclaimed video "Espresso 101" by Bellissimo.
This program, and up to one hour of personal phone consultation with me will provide you with most of the steps needed to start your business.
Please click here to check the contents and how to order.
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