Just opened... not sure what to think. Advice?

[kcooley]

We opened last Thursday and sales have been all over the place. They are as follows (net sales): $397 Thursday, $457 Friday, $641 Saturday, $519 Sunday, $350 Monday, $460 Tuesday, $340 today (Wednesday). Does this sound about right? I mean, I'm wondering if it's normal to see such differences or if it points to potential problems. Maybe it's related to the time change? Elections? Or, maybe I'm just over thinking things...

What about for an established coffee house... are there typically slow days out of the week?

I'd appreciate any thoughts.

THANK YOU!

 

[SunriseCoffeeLasVegas]

do you guys have a drive thru? did you advertise anytime during the week? Do you have a lot of sit down customers or to go customers?

For net sales, meanin this is the money you take home, that you are doing very well.

I am curious about your coffee house story.

 

[kcooley]

Ok, perhaps I said it the wrong way. When I say net sales, I mean not including the sales tax.

We are doing self-serve frozen yogurt and a full coffee bar. We do not have a drive-thru, but we have convenient parking. We are not in a business district or anything like that, so mostly just commuters, the after school crowd and families out for an evening treat.

I had thought that the coffee would drive our business, but instead it's the yogurt. We've had a lot people come in during the evening for yogurt and then, after discovering we also have coffee, coming back the next morning.

We did do 5000 door hangers and got back about 30 so far. That was last Saturday. Other than that, we just have banners out on the street and I've been doing some marketing at the local high school. We already have some regulars, so I know once we get them in the door, we can keep them.

Now that I explained it, does it seem OK?

 

[kcooley]

Ok, perhaps I said it the wrong way. When I say net sales, I mean not including the sales tax.

We are doing self-serve frozen yogurt and a full coffee bar. We do not have a drive-thru, but we have convenient parking. We are not in a business district or anything like that, so mostly just commuters, the after school crowd and families out for an evening treat.

I had thought that the coffee would drive our business, but instead it's the yogurt. We've had a lot people come in during the evening for yogurt and then, after discovering we also have coffee, coming back the next morning.

We did do 5000 door hangers and got back about 30 so far. That was last Saturday. Other than that, we just have banners out on the street and I've been doing some marketing at the local high school. We already have some regulars, so I know once we get them in the door, we can keep them.

Now that I explained it, does it seem OK?

 

[SunriseCoffeeLasVegas]

sort of...

I guess you mean that you would deduct the sales tax from your quoted amount.

I think for taking home that much sales a day for being open one week is pretty good. This is after you factor in your cost of goods, employee pay, rent, and misc?

Still, either way your way ahead of the curve from me.

people do like their yogurt though and it's great that you have the convenience of both cold desserts and hot drinks.

I am sure after a month you will see a pattern especially with the frozen yogurt.

Do you keep a count of how many customers come in a day? just for yogurt and just for coffee?

It might help you deduce a pattern.

 

[Tophie2]

I would kill for numbers like that. How many employees do you have? What is your cogs? Good luck ,I have been watching your progress as everyone has been watching mine.

 

[SunriseCoffeeLasVegas]

tophie2, are you the one that opened in the mall? Is there a post on your progress?

we should consolidate our posts under coffee house owners who opened in October of 2008.

I mean yogurt coffee, you are doing well and I envy that you don't go through panic attacks cause your worried about your bills.

Do you have pics of your place? I'll upload pics of mine if you upload yours...

(that sounded weird) LOL.

 

[kcooley]

I still don't think I am saying it right...

This is how I would define these terms:

net sales
Net sales is the gross amount of Sales minus Sales Returns and Allowances, and Sales Discounts for the time interval indicated on the income statement.

gross profit
Net sales revenues minus the cost of goods sold.

So, those numbers I gave were the amount of $ we brought in, less any returns or discounts, but not including collected sales tax.

I have no idea about the gross profit (after COGS) yet, but I'm working on that.

So, I am averaging 80-100 transactions with only 1/4 of those being coffee. Although, the coffee transactions are increasing everyday.

With all this said, does this still sound OK to you guys? Should I be worried? I think my break-even point is probably $500 per day.

Thank you for everything!

 

[Tophie2]

Sunrise Coffee yes this is our 3rd week open, everyday sales increase and I have 90% coffee sales. My blog is under coffee shops & cafes, tiled this goes out to pug.....etc. I have been trying to get a site for my pics to post.
lol

Chris

 

[Tophie2]

kcooly you are at 452.00 average daily total. We all wish we could do that, although as mentioned,you are selling about 25% coffee? Your cogs should be at 30% or lower if possible. I really should practice what I preach, but I am selling expensive coffee drinks, with rent at 2700 a month plus power plus water plus plus plus and open 13hrs a day. I love the customers and they really appreciate me being in the plaza. The employees alone are my bread and butter. You are doing fine In my opinion but it is scary scary stuff no doubt.

 

[SunriseCoffeeLasVegas]

it must be expensive being in the mall. do you have to give them a percentage of your sales?

And yogurt coffee is doing very well compared to me. Did I mention I had intense chest pains the other day. LOL.

sorry, yogurt coffee, but I feel a kinship with mall coffee more. hahaha.

yogurt is your driving sales and that's pretty good that you hit the floor running. Who knows maybe I'll buy a yogurt machine too and make organic frozen yogurt! LOL.

And mall coffee...work a deal with a couple of the stores. something like discount coupon for their customers or employees.

I swear when I did a neighbor discount. neighbors who avoided me like the plague started being my best customers. hehhe. it works tho they all send me steady customers because they give the customers my coupons.

they advertise for me for a discount and I don't pay anything.

and do you have a score program? score is amazing and my lifejacket.

it is a free program of retired business owners who help you with anything you need. From marketing, hiring, and direction.

My mentor is a retired business owner who had more than 600 employees and is a multi millionaire. I couldn't have done it without him.

 

[kcooley]

Thanks for all the replies. I am very thankful for our sales and I was more curious about day-to-day fluctuations. I assumed I could expect a slow increase each day. Have you guys noticed that certain days of the week are better/worse?

My concept started as a frozen yogurt shop, but when I got to thinking, I realized that there are no coffee houses anywhere around. So, I added coffee as a way to increase sales. So far, I have been very disappointed with the coffee sales and we pretty much have no traffic in the AM's. I can see where if I were just doing coffee, I'd be in big trouble.

Regarding the yogurt, it is selling very well and the COGS is probably the lowest you can get with food.

Anyway, thank you and good luck!!!

 

[kcooley]

Sunrise -

I read through some of your older posts. You mentioned having your sister hold a sign brings traffic. What does the sign say? I've been thinking about doing the same. I was also thinking about standing out there and handing out free samples. I'm not sure about the logistics, but people are always backed up at the stop light in front of me, so I have a somewhat captive audience.

Are you hanging in there OK? The days get long, don't they?

 

[SunriseCoffeeLasVegas]

Yeah, she goes out there in the morning with a sign that says

"Coffee Drive Thru" and we have been getting a steady response off of it. I have been going out there in the afternoon during rush hour and it brings attention to the store. I think it is one of the more effective and cheapest tools to let people know about your store.

Though, get someone who will put on a smile and grab attention. She waves, smiles, does a little jig and gets noticed.

The coupon has worked well also with people bringing them in and trying out our store.

Our sales has steadily increased but, we are still not at our break even mark yet. two thirds of the way there at three weeks.

My partner calculated that we put in over a 100 hours each every week.

Yes, these are some brutally long hours.

Busy in the morning and slow the rest of the day.

good luck with the samples, didn't work out for me.

stamp cards definitely work. my partner and I views about the economy is that it isn't bad; just people are scared so, they spend economically (which is better anyways) and the coupons and stamp cards is a way to validate their desire for an affordable luxury drink and come in and spend.

Like John P. said in an earlier post. good products, good service, and word of mouth.

Since we make every drink from scratch I accomodate alot of people with special needs and they are a very loyal bunch. It is paying off little by little..

little by little...LOL

 

[SunriseCoffeeLasVegas]

How are you doing?