Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John P on February 16, 2009 at 3:03pm

A small light food menu will work. But if you offer no food, and just pastries from the beginning, all the better.
In terms of cost, and identity, just make sure the highest percentage of sales is coming from your drinks.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on February 16, 2009 at 3:15pm

I'll go out on a limb and say that most of us do it so that we'll have customers during hours that tend to be really slow otherwise - 11am-1pm.

Think about it, who's going to go into a coffee shop at lunchtime? Why?

When we first opened we tried running without sandwiches for a few months. We saw very, very little business during this time period and threw away lots of drip.

We found that once we added (and advertised) sandwiches we not only got people coming in for sandwiches... they would come in for coffee first thing in the morning too. Also, our all-morning working or studying campers would buy lunch too and stay another hour. Ours are simple - chicken salad, pimento cheese (its a Southern thing), ham, turkey, cheese. Contemplating getting a toaster oven to toast them.

I really think that unless you have 2-3 hours worth of prep work that your staff can do over lunch, you gotta have sandwiches if you are going to be open a that time. Nothing complicated or smelly, just a few tasty options.

My 2 cents.

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Permalink Reply by Cedric on February 16, 2009 at 4:11pm

This was what I was telling the owner. He didn't want to put a food menu because he also owned a sandwich shop 2 doors down from us and didn't want take profits away from them. I really tried to convince him that we needed some kind of food besides the cheesy looking pastries from Sam's Club and Sysco. I even made up a menu that was simple and was nothing like the sub shop. But all he wanted was muffins, crossaints, and scones. Then he wanted to add pastries from a local bakery....awesome stuff!!! The only thing was food costs was extremely high. I would have had to sell a muffin at about $4 just to keep the food costs at 30%. I don't think there would be many customers that can afford $4 muffins in a campustown. The current location that I'm at right now is right next door to a bagel shop. Great combo at first, but it seems more like we help them out than them helping us with sales. Their customers would come to our place and eat their food and not order anything from us. Wow, I guess I'm venting too. Sucks to manage a place when it feels like I'm working with handcuffs on =/

Brady said:

I'll go out on a limb and say that most of us do it so that we'll have customers during hours that tend to be really slow otherwise - 11am-1pm.

Think about it, who's going to go into a coffee shop at lunchtime? Why?

When we first opened we tried running without sandwiches for a few months. We saw very, very little business during this time period and threw away lots of drip.

We found that once we added (and advertised) sandwiches we not only got people coming in for sandwiches... they would come in for coffee first thing in the morning too. Also, our all-morning working or studying campers would buy lunch too and stay another hour. Ours are simple - chicken salad, pimento cheese (its a Southern thing), ham, turkey, cheese. Contemplating getting a toaster oven to toast them.

I really think that unless you have 2-3 hours worth of prep work that your staff can do over lunch, you gotta have sandwiches if you are going to be open a that time. Nothing complicated or smelly, just a few tasty options.

My 2 cents.

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Permalink Reply by M on February 16, 2009 at 5:27pm

there's always a lot more grunt work when it comes to food/sandwhich menus. when we first opened we had 5 different types of crepes as well as a few bagel sandwiches (bagels, muffins, pastries and breads too). we slowly did away with the crepes (because prep was ridiculous and at times it seemed like we needed 2 extra baristas working to keep with the orders) and a lot of customers were upset that we got rid of them - but there was more waste than customer complaints so we did away with the crepes.

we then decided to keep our pastries and bagels and just hype our bagel sandwich menu. currently i think we have 5 or 6 different bagel sandwiches. the prep is light and done daily, and there's virtually no waste. it worked out well and the bagel menu was also received. while many of the bagel sandwiches are breakfast type sandwiches, people order them all day long. i think it works for us.

i think that keeping it simple seems to work for the best...that and know what your customers want.

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Permalink Reply by Barat Smith on February 16, 2009 at 7:09pm

I think your question has 2 answers.

1) If you're a start up, I think food is a great option. I like to think of it as adding reasons for customers to come in.

2) If you're looking to save your shop, food is not the savior. You're fighting an uphill battle, and I think you might have some other issues that you and your owner need to address.

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Permalink Reply by Cedric on February 17, 2009 at 5:59am

Nah I'm not looking at adding food at this point. Although, I suppose I could and have a regrand opening or something. It's just a trend that I see more and more. Coffee shops that open have a simple sandwich/wrap/panini menu. It's been an uphill battle working for my current boss....it's only been recently my expertise and experience is being utilitzed. It's really hard for me to turn down a challenge too.

Barat Smith said:

I think your question has 2 answers.

1) If you're a start up, I think food is a great option. I like to think of it as adding reasons for customers to come in.

2) If you're looking to save your shop, food is not the savior. You're fighting an uphill battle, and I think you might have some other issues that you and your owner need to address.

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Permalink Reply by stephanie crocker on March 5, 2009 at 12:09pm

We're pretty sure we're going to add soups and sandwiches to our bakery/coffee menu. Our location is right between 4 major hospitals so there's a huge lunch crowd so I think this will work out great...I'm just doing a little planning with the logistics. What's cool is our POS supports online ordering so we can capture the grab and go people as well.

We're not sure about the whole panini thing as it seems like it takes a lot of time and I think we want to encourage pre-ordering so we can minimize waste...pre-ordering a panini doesn't seem practical.

Anyhow, it's a big step and any lessens you've learned will greatly help us in our planning.

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Permalink Reply by Mark on March 5, 2009 at 1:47pm

One thing I would like to add is Quality. While many here will profess to the great quality of their coffee drinks, you have to be careful of any new menu item that could disturb that perception of high quality. If you can not ensure the quality will be as high as what you demand of your coffee drinks for food, then think twice.

I had a owner of a restaurant I worked for always do a taste test once a year, and he would sometimes surprise the chef by ordering the hamburger (this a 4 star restaurant). He would say if you put it on the menu, it better be the best damn hamburger. Customers will judge a business based on total experience, so if food sucks and coffee is great, you could still lose in the end.

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Permalink Reply by Maggie Cook on March 5, 2009 at 2:38pm

I work at a small coffee shop that serves two soups and about three types of bagels, (aside from the selection of pastries). I think having a soup of the day is a really good way to avoid having a full menu. I haven't worked there for long, but I have been a customer there for a long time and the shop does really well!

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Permalink Reply by Denise Smith on March 5, 2009 at 7:51pm

I think it all depends on your target market and your location. Are you in a place where it's commuters looking for a caffeine fix or a small town needing a place to hang out and have small business meetings with clients, off sight...

Our shop would be difficult to survive on just coffee and few pastries. Folks here are looking for a changing menu of soups, salads and sandwiches in addition to the pastries. They want a place to hang out eat drink and spend a bit of time with friends.

Know your customers and you'll know your menu.

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Permalink Reply by Samantha Bako on March 11, 2009 at 3:20pm

Like Denise said, it depends where you're at. It sounds like there are already a lot of food options available, so adding it to your shop's menu won't do anything for you - especially if your quality is similar to that of your pastries.

Look locally. Instead of relying on Sysco or Sam's Club, see what sort of local bakeries are out there that aren't an arm and a leg. There might even be small-fry bakeries around. My shop gets vegan goods from an individual who just dropped em by one day, and they're great. They sell for fairly cheap, they're fantastic quality, and people enjoy supporting local vendors. We have soups and wraps as well, all purchased from another local vendor - a guy who's a friend of the manager. The bonus is we can get whatever we want. Because we have a lot of vegans around, we were able to demand really high-quality veggie wraps, instead of the typical tossed salad in a pita. We also have pretty good control over how much we order, because if we run out, he can bring some by the next day without trouble.

BUT, my shop's located in a semi-residential area with very little access to food. There are super fancy restaurants about a block away, and a small grocery market next door (which has a variety of food, but it's very very sketchy on a good day, and the neighborhood is pretty well sick of it). Since day one, we've had customers pestering us to carry some sort of lunch menu, and now that we've solidified it, we're seeing a lot of good come from it.

If anything, I don't see why your owner would be opposed to serving the same sandwiches he has in his sub shop. That way both businesses profit. You get customers in the door for the coffee, and the sub shop still turns a profit. I'm sure, if you REALLY need food, something can be worked out.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Mitchell on March 11, 2009 at 3:55pm

Stephanie, while attending Bellissimo's American Barista & Coffee school they suggested that we could pre-make a variety of Panini in the morning and put them in the refrigerated display case. This would require you to pre-determine your sandwich menus and essentially the customer gets what they get. You're not Burger King after all where they "get it their way." Remember you're a specialty coffee shop not a specialty "custom" sandwich shop.

Anyway, once you have your pre-made sandwiches, when they're ordered you can put them in the microwave for 10 or 15 secs. (to warm the insides; microwaves heat moisture first) and then throw them on the panini grill for 2 to 3 mins and serve. That doesn't take too long if you ask me.

Just a thought that I believe we'll try in our shop when we get opened.

stephanie crocker said:

We're pretty sure we're going to add soups and sandwiches to our bakery/coffee menu. Our location is right between 4 major hospitals so there's a huge lunch crowd so I think this will work out great...I'm just doing a little planning with the logistics. What's cool is our POS supports online ordering so we can capture the grab and go people as well.

We're not sure about the whole panini thing as it seems like it takes a lot of time and I think we want to encourage pre-ordering so we can minimize waste...pre-ordering a panini doesn't seem practical.

Anyhow, it's a big step and any lessens you've learned will greatly help us in our planning.

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