Coffee Beans to use in my new coffee shop

[RemyLee1981]

:coffeespill:
So i have hired an accountant to do my business plan, and withing the next month i should be in front of loan officers, so when i do aquire the money i am asking for, and after spending 15k of it towards equipment, and anther 15k to 20k to securing a great spot, and after adding the furniture and other fixtures, my next goal is to find the perfect ingredients to add to my products. First and Foremost is the gourmet coffee, i want my coffee shop to stand out from the competition, so what coffee should i offer, that would stand out????? and then how much of my food cost will go towards grinding, brewing and serving the perfect cup of coffee?? please respond thank you:-D:lol::coffee-bean::coffeemug::coffeecup::images::decaf::decaf::decaf:

 

[slurp]

Hello and welcome to the boards. When do you expect to open your shop?

I suggest you look into roaster that can offer you fresh roasted beans. Shoot me a PM I know a really good Specialty Coffee Roaster

 

[chast]

Try and make some of your own syrups. They will make a big taste difference in lattes and such. Going organic? that means sweeteners should be all natural. I like Monin syrups for flavors that cannot be made in house. Want quality dairy? try and find the milk , half & half and cream that is not UHT. Makes a big taste difference. Subscribe to Barista Magazine, Roast and Fresh Cup. Lots of great info in these subscriptions.

 

[slurp]

That is great advice Charlie, seems to be the new thing and way healthier than purchasing syrups

 

[ensoluna]

i want my coffee shop to stand out from the competition

hi. this might not be what you are looking for. But I just want to give my 2 cents on "stand out from competition", not really in the realm of food cost, grinding, brewing and serving aspect, but just GENERALLY IN COFFEE BUSINESS, who is starting out and wants to be as big and great as possible.

Generally speaking, you can offer something better and unique products (which everyone else is trying to do). you can make your shop look different (concept wise) or offer certain very high quality products at reasonable pricing to attract customers. Of course, maintaining your standard of quality and service to highest level is also very important.
But I believe everyone knows this and they all are trying to do this whether they are successful or not.

What I am suggesting is "thinking globally". Making your shop way bigger than what really is.

here are my suggestions.

1. Chain store / Franchise concept
without spending a lot of money for your shop interior or exterior, you need to find some concept on colors and designs that is unique and classy which you can duplicate very easily when you are ready to expand to other places. Thinking ahead.
same for the cups, napkins, ...etc Use your brand name everywhere, so that people will recognize your logo and names. When people walks around with your coffee cup, your coffee cup must say your company logo / slogan and name. that is free advertisement. It might cost you bit more than generic type, but worth the money.

2. Concentrate on key drinks and do better than anyone else.
Coffee shop is like any other restaurant. Once people taste one bad drink, they will probably won't give you another chance.
and you got to have your own specialty drinks that no one else has. and people will be coming back just for that drinks.

3. if you are serious about coffee shop and especially servicing specialty coffees, you might want to make an alliance with an actual coffee farm or exporter of a coffee origin country. (you can do this with some of the biggest and well respected green coffee importers, but that would be much harder to convince them to use their marketing into your marketing) This might be far fetched notion, but if you can do that, and be able to get some specialty coffee directly from the farm and have them use your company in their website as a partner in your area in Canada (and vice versa) and if you can be able to use their company for your marketing and advertising, that will make your company way bigger and more specialized and different than any other coffee shops.

About marketing and advertising :
a. import couple of great coffee from them with stories behind it. Full coffee cupping note from factory, farm & coffee characteristics...etc make posters of the farm, company and their logos and advertise. (if you can, you can even sell green coffees to other roasters or shops)
b. These farms/exporters have NGO which you can get involved with minimal cost (% of what you buy from the farm) and use that as your marketing purpose.
c. if you have time, visit the farm and take photos and videos for further advertisement. (be active on facebook, twitter and other social medias)

4. this is for later on, but if you have couple of more shops, you might want to think about bring in your own logo/brand products from overseas. Cups and plates..etc are fraction of cost in China. As example, when I visited Yiwu, China (known for biggest wholesale market in China), they were selling $12.00 retail priced coffee cup at $1.10. it is wholesales, so probably you can buy 500 to 1000 each order, combined with others...etc and bring into your shops and sell them.. like Starbucks or Second cups are doing. Huge profits. Of course, this is for later on, but if you want to grow big, you got to thinking big and globally from the beginning.

Anyway, this might be totally over your head, and I probably am or might be giving you entirely wrong advises on what you are really looking for, but there are other ways to make yourself look very unique and different than others.

thanks
alex

 

[angelscup]

If you're not sure who the good roasters are, what inspired you to open a coffee shop?