hey all! moving on into february, hope everyone makes the leap successfully!
i posted a discussion before about offering free refills, or half-priced, etc., etc. wowwa!, got alot of feedback on that one...some education, some insight, even some venom! what peeked my interest was how different approaches work well for one shop, but maybe not so well for another. i really appreciated everyone's response, and even picked up a couple new friends along the way! wowwa!
my discussion this time tends to haunt me as well. so, i'm curious, and i guess my question about 'how many hours would you like to work in a coffee/espresso shop, ideally?!' is sort of posed from the approach of "if this was a perfect world" type of question, okay? and you can answer from the viewpoint of owner, manager, employee, etc.
the question has kind of haunted me for a while for mixed reasons. from experience, i've stood in a mobile kiosk with a measured interior workspace of 3' x 3' for over 17 hours, as owner, and have earned good money. other times i've sat in that same space for 12 hours and have had gross sales of $6 for the entire day. ouch.
and, during either of those examples, i've had incredible highs!: like, this is exactly where i want to be, and exactly what i love doing! even during some of the long, long days, when its raining cats and dogs out (i began my business primarily working equestrian events), and i'm going broke fast. yikes! but, i've really enjoyed being in my little space, feeling snug and secure, smelling the great coffee aroma, sipping that delicious red-eye (one after another!), great tunes playing, all while staying warm and dry.
but, sometimes, admittedly, i say this whole sha-bang is nuts!! i'm into my 9th hour, 10th hour, here comes #11...what the...?! whatever happened to the balance?! i can recall jobs where 8 hours was the norm, right? i see ads in the classified stating "must be able to stoop, stand, and bend, and sometimes reach for 6 hours at a stretch." holy mocha!...that sounds like a dream! 6 hours!...could i make it through a shift?!
yeah, i'd love to open at noon, offer dreamcoffee-in-a-cup for about 4 hours, enjoy a few incredible red-eyes throughout the afternoon, educate a bunch of customers about the versatility and character of various beans & roast profiles, then back the new clubman up to the door and load up the sacks of $$$, and call it a day!!
but, i know somewhere between long hours, and long, long, long hours is closer to this reality, you know?
so, what about you?! how many hours would you like to work, ideally?
thanks mucho grande!,
sage
the coffee hound
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