Planning to start a cafe

[DianaScott]

I found a business partner and we're thinking about starting a cafe. Sort of like Starbucks only much cheaper. It's still in the planning stages but we've been wondering about offering surveys about customer satisfaction once the shop has been opened. Do you think this is a good idea? How can we go about doing this? Are there companies that offer services related to this? Any tips, suggestions, advice or additional info? Thank you!

 

[PinkRose]

We see a lot of people come to the Coffee Forums for advice about planning their cafe, writing business plans, buying equipment, etc. I have never read a post from someone who is just starting the planning stages asking about customer surveys after the cafe is opened.

It sounds like you're getting way ahead of yourself. A customer satisfaction survey is probably the last thing you need to spend your time and energy thinking about right now.

But to answer your question, don't waste your money using a service that does customer satisfaction surveys. Once your cafe is up and running, you'll know if the customers are satisfied. Some will even seek you out to tell you what they think and offer suggerstions. You're probably going to get tired of people trying to tell you how to run your cafe. It happens all the time.

College and high school students are always looking for projects for theis classes. When the time comes, you probably could get someone to do a customer satisfaction survey and write up the results for free.

Rose

 

[DianaScott]

We're just so excited and nervous at the same time. :grin: We gone as far as renting the place and buying some equipment and tables.

We thought that it'd be best to know right away what the customers dislike from our selection and what they like. Anyway, I went right ahead and looked online. My friend suggested we try using some software. I ended up with this one. It's an audit management software. Do you think we'll be needing the features and services that they listed there? If you're right and we don't need to do surveys right away, do you think we'll need the auditing services they offer? Maybe if we do need those we can buy the software and then use the survey feature later. What do you think?

 

[thirstyiceskates]

We're just so excited and nervous at the same time. :grin: We gone as far as renting the place and buying some equipment and tables.

We thought that it'd be best to know right away what the customers dislike from our selection and what they like. Anyway, I went right ahead and looked online. My friend suggested we try using some software. I ended up with this one. It's an audit management software. Do you think we'll be needing the features and services that they listed there? If you're right and we don't need to do surveys right away, do you think we'll need the auditing services they offer? Maybe if we do need those we can buy the software and then use the survey feature later. What do you think?

That would be a good idea. Just make sure that they can also comply with your other requirements. In business, if quality service is assured I think it’s okay to shell out a little money for a system that will make your business procedures easier. Good luck!

 

[chast]

waste of time and money!!!

 

[ryandiaz]

I don't see the benefit of that audit management software. What are you paying for there, that you wouldn't receive just by simply asking your customers directly to rate your service? By means of Yelp, Google Reviews, email campaigns, etc?

 

[Musicphan]

If your looking for software to conduct survey's - take a look at SurveyMonkey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/ It does a great job and its simple. You will have 10K things on your mind once you open... focus on doing quality upfront and if your desperate for feedback use a cheap/free solution to start.

 

[John P]

As has been said, it's a bad idea... and that's being generous.

First, the Starbucks model only works at those prices because of the huge volumes they purchase. If you are attempting to do something similar (which is honestly a bad idea). In order to produce the same mediocre quality you will have to charge more, so in order to be profitable, if you want to charge less, you will either have to be purchasing "C" market, commodity grade coffees or doing an insane volume, such that Starbucks would say, "wow, they are busy!" Rethink your positioning. Seeking the crowd that wants to pay less is never a good thing.

Secondly, the survey/audit management software thing. Let's be blunt, it's a stupid idea. Don't worry, we've all had stupid ideas from time to time. This one is yours. Own it. Learn. Move on. When you are building and running a business, you need to have YOUR vision and then make that happen. Taking suggestions or caring what A, B, or C thinks is a poor way to run an operation. It shows you have no vision, and worse, no backbone to say "No. We do a fantastic X. We don't do Y." when someone wants something different. You're putting a whole wagon train ahead of the horse.

Learn the basics first. Strive to be the tortoise, being the hare is a fast way to the poor house.