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Running a cafe is a wonderful way to make a living. Not only do you get to spend your days in a relaxing environment surrounded by the enchanting aroma of coffee, but you’re also likely to make a decent profit. Americans love their coffee, and it seems cafes will stay as busy in the next ten years as they have been lately. Even if you’re making some good money, however, you can always expand your food menu to increase your profits. Take these tips into account as you add more food items to your coffee shop’s menu.

Aim for Slow and Steady Growth

If you suddenly unveil an extensive food menu, your customers won’t have time to adjust to the change. You’ll also have to make big investments in equipment and staff, investments that might not pay off. Rather than getting in over your head, try adding a few new menu items here and there. As particular foods prove successful, consider adding similar items that are likely to be a hit.

Abandon Items That Aren’t Selling

Being stubborn is never a good idea in the restaurant industry. Don’t stick with a bad idea just because you were once convinced it would work. Sometimes, things don’t catch on for reasons that remain beyond our comprehension. If a particular menu item isn’t selling despite your best promotional efforts, admit the defeat and move on to something else.

Ask for Customer Feedback

When it comes to gauging the popularity of your new menu items, your customers are always your best resource. Don’t be afraid to ask people what they think after they finish their food. They’ll be happy that you value their opinions, and they might even be more likely to become regular customers. Don’t let a bit of criticism get you down, since everyone has unique tastes. If you notice a pattern, however, you should consider tweaking ingredients or changing a menu item.

Use Technology to Aid in the Development of Your Menu

In this day and age, technology makes running a restaurant a whole lot easier. Consider using customized menu software to create unique offerings for your business, and always post your menu to your website where more people can see it. 

By expanding your food options, you can encourage every customer to spend more during their visit. At the end of the year, this could have a major impact on your bottom line.

Could you imagine not entering the coffee shop on your morning commute to work? Coffee shops tend to be a daily routine for those living a busy lifestyle - they are convenient and help with the morning fix to start your day. 

However, whilst it can be extremely fitting to enter the coffee shop on your morning commute, there’s the risk that you could be putting on the pounds more when you consider you’re going in there everyday. We can be tempted to order that treat staring at us in the stand window or sweeten our coffee a little more with an extra dose of sugar.

To ensure you don’t follow the trap, here are 5 tips to make your coffee shop order a little healthier.

Consider doughnuts a treat rather than breakfast

Having a doughnut as a treat can be on the odd occasion, but having it as a breakfast can be extremely harmful for your health. Amongst the high sugar content and simple carbohydrates that it contains it can also have you feel droopy and in need for another energy boost shortly after. 

There’s also no nutritional benefit to having doughnuts due to the amount of fat and calories that it contains. As a healthier alternative, consider a wholemeal doughnut instead. 

Opt for milk

If you’re the type to order the specialty beverages at coffee shops, look to order the ones that contain milk such as a latte or cappuccino. You should also ask for the milk to be skimmed, giving you a good amount of calcium without the saturated fat that they normally contain. 

Choose Biscotti for a healthy alternative

Fancy a biscuit to dunk into your coffee to make it feel a little more homely? No problem! We don’t want you to completely get rid of the coffee treats that are available to you. So, opt for Biscotti as your biscuit of choice. 

They’re twice baked and offer the perfect dunking option for your coffee. Some well-known coffee shops offer the biscuits which carry just 110 calories and only 5g for fat. 

Self-serve your extras

To manage what you’re having and how much you have, order your coffee plain and add in your own extras yourself. This is because many of the speciality drinks at many coffee shops already contain plenty of calories and fats. They also have mixes in them which can contain trans fat ingredients. 

To avoid this, order a plain black coffee and add in your own skimmed milk, sugar and sugar substitutes. You can also add some flavour toppings such as cinnamon and ground chocolate.

Get your hands on a bagel

Rather than getting one of the sweeter treats that you tend to see on the bakery shelves opt for a flavoured bagel instead. Or even if you go for plain bagels, it can be a better alternative as you won’t need the added cream cheese or other spreads and toppings. 

You have a range to choose from including blueberry, cinnamon and raisin options and you can go better and order a wholemeal, multi-grain or oat-bran bagel. 

Final thoughts

Keeping on top of our nutrition and calories has been an obsession in society for many years now as individuals become conscious about their health and nutrition. Many of us may be opting for health supplements to help balance out our diets but the tips above provide an indication of how making little changes in our routines can make a big difference to our health. Incorporate these in your daily routines and see how it benefits you in the long term.

According to Forbes, 84% of companies that boost their efforts to improve customer experience see revenue increases. If you want to improve the experience of visiting your cafe, these are some helpful tips.

Make Waiting Easier

One of the most common complaints about cafes is wait times. Since mistakes and order influxes that increase wait times are inevitable, it helps to give guests a reason to enjoy the wait. For example, if you anticipate a delay, offer the guests a small snack or free coffee while they wait. To make hungry guests more satisfied even during short waits, you can also provide free Wi-Fi. If you discourage phone use in your venue, you can put erasable game boards and markers at each table to let people play hangman, tic-tac-toe or another game.

Be Responsive and Caring

The key to improving customer experience is finding out exactly what customers want. Provide comment cards with feedback loops at important intervals. For example, find out what they think when they enter, while they wait, while they eat and after they leave. Ask about the service, atmosphere, food quality, and everything else. Provide a blank space for them to leave specific suggestions. Use these cards to identify trends and make changes.

Also, take this level of care to online feedback. Respond to reviews. Thank positive reviewers, reach out to negative reviewers and offer solutions to anyone who voices concerns. Today, your online reputation partially depends on how you respond to positive and negative feedback.

Use Card Processing Consultants

With cashless and touchless payments growing in popularity, it is important to offer customers the convenience of card processing. However, you must also consider fees for credit card transactions. Fortunately, there are fee-eliminating solutions for smaller businesses today. There are plenty of other features that allow you to accept and process card payments without losing your hard-earned profits. Card processing consultants can provide you with affordable pricing structures, devices, and plenty of other resources.

Involve Your Customers

To build loyalty, find creative ways to engage your customers. Start by making social media posts that ask for their feedback or require action. For example, ask them to share a post and leave a comment to be entered into a random drawing for a 10% off coupon to use during their next visit.

You can also make customers feel important by involving them in decisions. For example, you can designate one day of the week for trying new recipes for food or drink specials. If you make several items and offer free samples for a two-hour period, you can ask guests to fill out vote cards to vote for their favorites. This helps you make sounder investments in menu choices and gives customers something to look forward to that they already like. Additionally, it keeps them interested in future events or promotions.

Depending on how your cafe is set up, your budget and other factors, you may find more unique ways to create loyal customers. The key is to continually monitor your competitors, identify their strengths and try to find ways to offer unique advantages that set you apart from the competition.

The roaster I am using in Manila is a 5kg Has Garanti. First time I have roasted on one- usually Probat, Toper and a Diedrich way back in Auckland in my early days. Still waiting my own greens here so had a dry run to check airflow and the exhaust flue setup using local greens. The roaster had been new into storage 2017- so I also had to rewire the ignition system- no sweat. Also required some work on the gas system- checking it thoroughly before firing it up.

hAll in all everything went ok. Looking forward to roasting my own coffee in the near future- means (post covid) I will be regularly roasting in 3 countries- Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. 

Keep safe everyone, happy NY - cheers Alun Evans, Antipodean