Working and Owning a Coffee Stand in College

[cuppED]

Hi,
I'm currently a grad student and was wondering if there were other people who did the whole owning and working in a coffee stand while in grad school thing?
I feel like this is something I could do since my classes are in the afternoon and so I wanted to know how stressful it was and how much costs were. Any information/advice/opinion would be helpful, thanks.

 

[Miss Java]

Hi cuppED,
I'm a college student/coffee stand owner and my advice to you would be to do one at a time. To be successful in the coffee business you have to take the time and do it right, create repeat customers... and be there when there are business problems (omg, we need more milk today than we have on hand, or omg Jessica didn't show up for work, what do we do?!). I've found that it's hard even with a partner and we are both working full time at the stand and going to school full time as well. For us the price was a bargain, we bought a pre existing building with all the equipment, it was not even a year old. Then we moved it to a new location where we don't have to pay anything but utilities (my uncles property). I don't want to discourage you, but it is HARD to keep our grades up, run a successful business, and pay the bills, even tho we don't really even have any bills. Cost wise, we got all our equipment and the building for $24,000 cash. Like I said, it was a steal! But we had to move everything, put it on a foundation, get the permits, buy our opening inventory, and we both work for no pay. It's not a pretty venter but if your in it for the long haul it's worth it I think, we are only in our third month of business and we are dominating the market in our area! So it will only grow if we keep it up. But if your just looking for an easy business to run then look elsewhere because people are VERY particular about their coffee, and if you aren't they will be able to see thru you faster than you can say "espresso". Then they will take their business elsewhere.