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Permalink Reply by Denise Smith on August 12, 2008 at 11:53am

Danny, there are a number of training locations across the country places that teach everything you need to know about the coffee house business such as American Barista and Coffee School or their online store where you can buy books and DVDs.
There are also roasters that offer classes.
Many folks on this forum also teach, they even have a group for trainers on here. so I'm sure they will all chime in.

Specialty Coffee trade magazines are available free and for cost.
Check out the different advertisers on this site. Matt doesn't just let everyone advertise on here. These are companies he has been doing business with for a number of years.
Go to the trade shows if you can!

Read everything you can. As questions to everyone in the biz that you can and make sure check references... trust me I learned the hard way that if you hire a consultant make sure they have a Great reputation! Going with the lowest bidder is NOT always the best option because sometimes it costs you more time, grief, and money to fix things when they screw them up!

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Permalink Reply by Denise Smith on August 12, 2008 at 12:09pm

Things I've learned so far:
1) Location is key in this business. People have to know where you are. While remote locations work for some folks Most of us Must located where the people are. Check your traffic counts (city records). What's the access in and out of your place? High volume traffic may mean that people just pass by not stop, so higher car traffic doesn't always equal high business traffic. We choose a busy location but not the main street. It took us 3.5 years to find it.

2) You must know what you are doing and be passionate about it. Don't get so caught up in the dream of what you think it will be like, that you loose your business perspective! It is a business... it's about making money... or it's called a hobby. I learned this at ABCs in Portland, Oregon.

3) Keep great notes and records, be organized. If you can't find that number of that highly trained Barista who heard you were opening a cafe'... you can't hire him/her.
I keep all my stuff together in a couple of bins with an IN box on top for things that need filing.

4) Know your codes! If you know what your local codes are it is easer to talk to the city and county folks whom you will be seeking the licenses and permits from. This has helped me when I needed a variance because something was just shy of meeting code. In our small city (town) I'm on a first name basis with these guys. I even asked them what their favorite foods were so I could try to put them on the menu. One guy loves Rueben sandwiches... we will have an awesome Reuben.

... to be continued...

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Permalink Reply by Denise Smith on August 12, 2008 at 12:23pm

5) Business first Art second.
What I mean is don't let some of the artistic concepts get in the way of you focusing on the key elements of business.
Our consultant couldn't move pat out logo and got so frustrated that the quit!
While the logo is very important don't "put the cart before the horse".
FYI: a good logo is clean, simple and says who you are. It should have text but also an image that people remember... think of the Taco Bell or McDonalds. These are modern examples of marketing icons. You see the Bell you think taco, you see the golden arches you think burger and fries.
You see the mermaid, you thin k bitter burnt coffee... sorry I couldn't resist. ~80)

While the art and decor is what makes your customers comfortable and can drive them away if done poorly, it's your product that they come for so spend you time and money there first!


How am I doing guys... have I been a good padawan? Am I ready to be a coffee Jedi?

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Tuttle on August 12, 2008 at 1:37pm

Danny,

My first comment is decide which you want to be, a coffee shop or a roaster? Focus on doing one with excellence. It is very difficult to do both well, especially starting out. Both roasting and being a great barista take practice...continually. My suggestion is to find a great roaster to partner with, then find a great distributor to partner with. If either of them is not a partner...they shouldn't be a part of your business. Your job is to take care of your customers and to "wow" them each time they come through your doors. The job of your roaster and of your allied distributor is to make sure your have the goods to "wow" your customers with.

This discussion is way to long for a post...

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Permalink Reply by Matt Milletto on August 12, 2008 at 4:11pm

good job Denise! :)

Denise Smith said:

5) Business first Art second.
What I mean is don't let some of the artistic concepts get in the way of you focusing on the key elements of business.
Our consultant couldn't move pat out logo and got so frustrated that the quit!
While the logo is very important don't "put the cart before the horse".
FYI: a good logo is clean, simple and says who you are. It should have text but also an image that people remember... think of the Taco Bell or McDonalds. These are modern examples of marketing icons. You see the Bell you think taco, you see the golden arches you think burger and fries.
You see the mermaid, you thin k bitter burnt coffee... sorry I couldn't resist. ~80)

While the art and decor is what makes your customers comfortable and can drive them away if done poorly, it's your product that they come for so spend you time and money there first!


How am I doing guys... have I been a good padawan? Am I ready to be a coffee Jedi?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on August 12, 2008 at 10:43pm

I couldn't agree with you more Kevin. While I opened a Roastery Kafe last year, I went in with 7 years roasting experience and 6 years barista experience. And it's still an insane juggling act! But attempting a Roastery Cafe operation without any experience? You'll definitely want/need to attend numerous good professional training programs in all areas. Just being half way good roasting or just a half way good barista takes years practice. There are no "magic recipes" for a great espresso blend, no simple how to roast each individual bean element in the blend, or may choose to compromise and blend before roast which takes different twists and compromises, no simple way roast all SO's, each bean sings differently. And you really gotta know each bean before you blend 'em unless you just want to be a "cook" not a "chef" and use someone elses blend bean suggestions. That's if you want to do just the roasting even half way decent. How do you change the profile as the bean changes to maintain relative consistency? As crops change? Etc. etc. etc. It's easy to turn beans brown, making them sing is another matter and life long journey.

Haven't even gotten the roasted beans to the espresso machine yet... I've been to a number of Roastery Cafes that quite frankly did a terrible job either in roasting or on the espresso side or both because of starting out their business with lack of knowledge and experience and seen a number come and go for those reasons. Lack of quality.

But if you're willing to give it due diligence and put in the time and effort to learn, and you have a deep passion for all things coffee, I wish you the best of luck.

Kevin Tuttle said:

Danny,

My first comment is decide which you want to be, a coffee shop or a roaster? Focus on doing one with excellence. It is very difficult to do both well, especially starting out. Both roasting and being a great barista take practice...continually. My suggestion is to find a great roaster to partner with, then find a great distributor to partner with. If either of them is not a partner...they shouldn't be a part of your business. Your job is to take care of your customers and to "wow" them each time they come through your doors. The job of your roaster and of your allied distributor is to make sure your have the goods to "wow" your customers with.

This discussion is way to long for a post...

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Permalink Reply by Alun Evans on August 13, 2008 at 4:52pm

All good comments Danny. I note you are in N.Y, which surely has a pretty well entrenched cafe culture. This means you should be going into the business striving to be the best-of the best- because anything less would be setting yourself up for a rough ride. In a developed market setting up a roasting business without knowledge of how to roast, would be like walking into a gas storage tank with a candle flame to light the way. I would strongly endorse Kevin's comments that (while really admirable to want to roast from day 1) it would be far, far better to pick a quality roaster partner to work with initially- meaning maybe for the first 2-3 years. You can then 1/. cncentrate on the quality and service aspect of prepping the drinks and building a loyal customer base and 2/. Not have all the worries associated with trying to learn to roast and produce quality blends on a daily basis. I think there is a saying that goes "jack of many trades...but master of none"- best initially to become an expert at 1 key area of your new business. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Denise Smith on August 25, 2008 at 6:40pm

Sorry about the typos, I was typing so fast and I was so excited that I didn't even catch the mistakes when I read back through it. I hope you could figure it all out.
("couldn't move pat out logo and got so frustrated that the quit!" Should have read: ... move past our logo... so frustrated that he quit)

Matt Milletto said:

good job Denise! :)

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