Unique Selling Point of a Coffee Shop

[backyardcoffee]

Hi guys!

We're opening a coffee shop in our country and are in need of ideas for a unique selling point?

Any help would be appreciated.

One idea we have now is a co-working space within a coffee shop. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

 

[tazzadiluna]

Did you mean a coworking space WITH a coffee shop in it? Because coworking spaces are by paid membership only.

If you did mean coworking space WITHIN a coffee shop, does that mean the coffee shop is open to the public? If so, you'd have to figure out some way to separate the two and make sure the public knows the coworking space is for members only.

One way to do that is determine separate times when it's open for coworking space versus open for public space. I've read of some that are open for paid members during the weekdays/business hours, then at night and weekends they are open for events.

 

[John P]

Bad idea.,

When you have excellent coffee, there is no need for gimmicks of any sort. Not just good coffee or "better than the shop next door" coffee, but excellent coffee. Excellence in coffee can be defined by the idea that if you were dropped into any city in the world, what you serve would be seen as one of the best offerings around. There is no reason to add other layers of business. A coffee shop on it's own is hard enough to coordinate an operate on a daily basis. Simplicity is best. The truth is that excellent coffee is such a rarity that it will be the selling point.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Even though I agree mostly with John, you would need to be able to differentiate your coffee shop from others.
Tell me about the situation, location, and your thoughts.
Just asking questions would get many different incorrect answers because every situation is different especially if you are located in Philippines.

 

[backyardcoffee]

Did you mean a coworking space WITH a coffee shop in it? Because coworking spaces are by paid membership only.

If you did mean coworking space WITHIN a coffee shop, does that mean the coffee shop is open to the public? If so, you'd have to figure out some way to separate the two and make sure the public knows the coworking space is for members only.

One way to do that is determine separate times when it's open for coworking space versus open for public space. I've read of some that are open for paid members during the weekdays/business hours, then at night and weekends they are open for events.

Yes, so far what we've come up with is it's a coffee shop WITH a meeting room of sorts. The meeting room can serve as a co-working space for people. If there's no one renting it, it's still open to the coffee shop. That's a great idea however with the separate times. Thanks for the input

 

[backyardcoffee]

Bad idea.,

When you have excellent coffee, there is no need for gimmicks of any sort. Not just good coffee or "better than the shop next door" coffee, but excellent coffee. Excellence in coffee can be defined by the idea that if you were dropped into any city in the world, what you serve would be seen as one of the best offerings around. There is no reason to add other layers of business. A coffee shop on it's own is hard enough to coordinate an operate on a daily basis. Simplicity is best. The truth is that excellent coffee is such a rarity that it will be the selling point.

Thanks for your input, John. We've also talked about it being a simple coffee shop. It seems plausible especially there's not a lot of competition in the area we're opening. However, there's been an abundance of third wave coffee shops recently here in the Philippines and we should have a gimmick of some sorts.

 

[John P]

When customers come because of your gimmicks, that's a clear sign you have failed or are failing. Be cautious! If you have excellence AND add a meeting room, that's a much better way of approaching it. The selling point should never be the meeting area, that's just a bonus.

Of course you need to differentiate. That's what excellence is all about. Do what it takes to be better than everyone else. Conceive it. Believe it. Achieve it!

 

[eldub]

The gimmick should be great coffee ground and brewed to order.

 

[tazzadiluna]

Yes, so far what we've come up with is it's a coffee shop WITH a meeting room of sorts. The meeting room can serve as a co-working space for people. If there's no one renting it, it's still open to the coffee shop. That's a great idea however with the separate times. Thanks for the input

OK, so it's a coffee shop with a meeting room. That's totally different than a coworking space. Like I said, coworking spaces are usually by paid membership monthly, sometimes even weekly or daily. With a coworking space set up, the main business is the coworking space.

Here are examples of coworking spaces here in the US (just to give you an idea what we have here for coworking spaces), not the route you want to go if you want to primarily be known as a coffee shop: 16 Cool Coworking Spaces


If you just want to have a coffee shop that has a meeting room that could be reserved and rented, you can just tell customers it could be reserved and rented hourly or something. A coworking space is a totally different thing, open only to paying members.

 

[Ernac]

If its a coworking space inside a coffee shape then this will be the new concept that I will be hearing so far what mostly happens in many coworking space is that they provide coffee maker machine such as here teamco with unlimited coffee cups which will be a great advantage for the guys working in coworking space and this facility won't be there if the case is vice versa.But still you can try the concept but look for other facilities that you can provide your customers for free and enjoy working at your cowork space within their budget

 

[almico]

excellent coffee is a must!
but NOW, it takes way more than just excellent coffee to be successful.

No, it does not.