Coffee shop in apartment complex

[villagejoe]

Hey everyone!

I posted months ago about opening up a coffee shop with a non-profit organization. Those plans are cruising, with money now steadily coming in through online coffee ordering, but we're still months out from being anywhere close to starting.

In the meantime, I've been offered the opportunity to be backed 100% financially to open pretty much the same concept but in a different location, in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The kicker is that the shop will share an old clubhouse building with the leasing office of an apartment complex that has almost 500 units. The clubhouse is surrounded by the swimming pool, tennis courts, and the Chattahoochee River (prime real estate that goes now for maybe $1M/acre). With the cafe not actually being visible from the street though, we'll have our work cut out for us. Assuming I'm actually as competent as I think, we're gonna fly through setup and open by the end of January.

Any advice or concerns with this location?

 

[topher]

If you do it right it could work. I used to go to this bar in Tampa that was in the middle of this apartment complex. It made money hand over fist! I guess that it helped that it was directly across form USF :twisted: point is get the word out and do not rely on just the people who live there :wink:

 

[villagejoe]

salary?

Also, because I'm working with a non-profit organization I'll actually be paid through them. Next week I'll be negotiating some kind of monthly salary, which would take effect even before the shop opens... I know, totally unconventional for new start-up coffee shops. If I were starting up on my own I'd be making nothing and probably going into debt. So I have no clue what to even bring to the table as far as negotiating the salary. Anybody know what the average is for monthly income of an owner/manager of a new coffee shop within the first year of operation? Or if that's even a reasonable question?

 

[topher]

depends where you are...