The first thing to think about when starting a Cafe or Coffee Shop is your level of passion for people. Yes, people not Coffee, although that certainly helps. Make no mistake, the Cafe Coffee shop business is all about people. People are looking for quality, comfort and somewhere they can go where they are made to feel welcome and ultimately, remembered.
If you place your focus for a cafe or Coffee Shop business on being about your customers experience you will trump any competitor because your customers will feel important and loved and you will stand apart from any service that is lacking. Simple.
Secondly, you need to be able to be organized and assertive enough to train and manage staff. This is important because your staff will model your culture and have to be guided into making the experience for the customer ‘all about them’ the minute they walk in your door. Never rest making sure this happens for your customers daily and every single customer will love you for it. Remember, return business is the lifeblood of success.
if you are able to take the lead and create a staff culture that is friendly, efficient, highly attentive and serve good quality food and coffee, you will be way ahead of 90% of your competition. So many Cafes and Coffee shops worldwide let themselves down. Its not hard to cater to your market once you know who they are and what they want.
That brings me to the next fundamental item you need to be able to deal with. Your appearance and hygiene have a lot of impact on how you are perceived by your customers. Don’t kid yourself that customers won’t notice sloppy appearance and hygiene. This goes hand in hand with the environment and ambiance you create in your cafe Coffee shop. Make yourself, your staff and your cafe sparkle and shine in every way possible. You will gain huge points for this simple effort.
Once you have mastered the above in your cafe, you then implement the finer touches of customer satisfaction. Remember it’s the little things that count. For example, having fresh water available with a sprig of mint or rosemary is a small touch that impresses people and moves your cafe toward the magical place you want it to be. Then your customers will do what you want them to do most of all. That is, return again and again.
These are fundamental points for anyone considering opening a coffee shop or starting a cafe. Go for it live the dream!
