Starting Your Own Café

Philip Rundlett shares his insight into the coffee shop industry

Part I − how to choose your product range

In an ever competitive environment the traditional coffee shop now has to put up a true fight from all corners.

Gone are the days when a cup of coffee or tea with a toasted teacake  are enough to suffice, the menu board has more Italian names than the starting line-up of the great chariot races in Rome! And tea, well in my youth it was tea with milk or lemon, now I’m not sure whether to drink it or use it behind my ears as a fragrant perfume.

Today our independent coffee shops have to compete with the giant groups, 10 different coffee drinks, 12 varieties of tea (some I can’t pronounce), smoothies, frappes, granita, iced coffee, hot chocolates, not forgetting the syrups and then we mustn’t forget the Pannini’s, flat breads, toasted sandwiches, deep filled sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, wafers, packets of mints, panetone and for the odd person like me, Gluten Free!

So now we’ve got the menu board longer than a wedding present list, we need atmosphere, ambiance, something a bit different, that “souffle de vie”; be it bright and light or dark with the trappings of an old library, the soft leather sofas, low coffee tables, a selection of the daily newspapers, a copy or two of Cosmopolitan and something for the kids to draw on, don’t forget the crayons!

But at the end of the day the most important thing is the service you provide and the quality you serve, in this ever competitive market it’s these qualities your customer will remember….

For free consultation, call Philip at 0044 7773 462976 or email at phillip@regencycoffee.co.uk