Section One

Mr. Pakzad Fadel

Komar University Hama
of Science and Technology
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT Sivan Ibrahim
Pasha Mohammed
Shaza Najat
Taman Dler

MINI-BUSINESS PLAN
Coffee Shop
Opening a coffee shop can be extremely profitable if you do it right.
Pass by any busy specialty coffee shop and it will likely be full of
customers enjoying coffee, espresso, lattes, teas, and a variety of pastries
and other goodies. Serving quality coffees and snacks in a trendy,
relaxing atmosphere is a hugely successful business model pioneered by
Starbucks, which has grown to more than 31,000 coffeehouse locations
around the world. If you love coffee and are looking for a business
opportunity, this is your guide to starting a coffee shop and making it a
success.

There are three basic options for starting a coffee shop:

Purchasing a franchise, in which case most of the major business

decisions will be made for you. For a franchise fee, you will be provided
with a turnkey business in a location selected by the provider of the
franchise.
Buying an existing business. This is another way to acquire a turnkey
operation. However, finding a profitable business for sale is not an easy
task.
Starting from scratch. This option requires the most effort but has the
most flexibility and the best potential to maximize profits.
Whichever option you choose, the same fundamentals for success apply.
Your business plan for starting a coffee shop should incorporate the
following key factors.
Find a Good Location With Reasonable Rent
Before opening a coffee shop, understand why they're so popular. First
of all, coffee shops are great places to socialize. Statistics show that
coffee shops are the most popular place to meet friends. They are also a
preferred spot for individuals looking to pass the time reading a book or
magazine or surfing the web while enjoying a beverage and snack.

Coffee shops are also a popular place for informal business meetings or
for students to catch up on schoolwork. Walk into any popular coffee
shop and, chances are, you will see a realtor reviewing listings with a
client or a group of students collaborating on a school project.

Given the above, finding a great location is crucial for attracting

customers when you're opening a coffee shop. If you are franchising or
buying an existing business, the location is preselected, but you should
still do your research and decide whether the existing or selected
location is a good one.

Location vs. Rent

Note that the most central locations are not necessarily the best for your
bottom line. Malls and other high-traffic locations typically have the
highest rents and the most competition. Storefronts are excellent
locations for coffee shops—they have the highest visibility, the rents are
usually lower than in malls, and you can set your own business hours
instead of having them dictated for you.
Vehicle Traffic and Parking

Unless you do locate in a mall or other high-pedestrian traffic site, you'll

need to think carefully about accessibility and parking. If a customer has
to make a difficult turn off a busy street to get to your establishment or
they have trouble finding available parking, they are likely to take their
business elsewhere. Ideally, you want a convenient, highly visible

location on a busy street with plenty of parking so customers can easily

drop in on their way to or from work or school.

A coffee shop can become an overnight success with the right location.
Find a spot near a busy crossroads with a lot of vehicle, pedestrian, and
bicycle traffic and plenty of available parking, and you'll be off to a
good start.

Consistently Serve a High-Quality Product

When opening a coffee shop, consider that gourmet coffee and tea
drinkers want more than a mug of ordinary joe or a teabag in a foam
cup. According to a study by the National Coffee Association of
America, in 2018, more than 60% of the coffee beverages sold were of
the specialty variety, and that percentage has been on the rise since
2010.1
Given the demands of discriminating customers, there is little chance a
coffee shop business will attract a regular clientele and thrive unless you
can consistently serve the best regular and specialty coffees, teas, and
snacks. Succeed in doing this and customers will choose you over the
competition, even if you are not in a central location. This means you
will need to:

Source the finest fresh-roasted beans.

Buy a high-quality espresso machine and related equipment such as
grinders, water filtration systems, etc.
Serve fresh pastries and snacks.
Ensure you have a well-trained staff—a knowledgable, skilled barista is
essential to the craft of coffee.
Offer a mix of customer favorites (frappés, chai lattes, etc.) and your
own unique creations.

Provide Great Customer Service

How to start a coffee shop - provide great customer service.
Excellent customer service is the hallmark of any successful business,
especially in the food service industry. Combine a great location, top
quality products, and great customer service and, chances are, you will
have a very successful coffee shop.

Surveys show that four out of five customers rank customer service as
very important. One of the secrets of Starbucks' success is its
professional and efficient service. It's a model any coffee shop owner
would do well to emulate.
Counter Service vs. Table Service

Most successful coffee shops utilize counter service. Having customers

order and pay up front and calling them when their drinks and snacks are
ready minimizes your labor costs and enables you to better handle busy
periods such as breakfast and lunch.

Table service is generally slower, more labor-intensive, and better suited

to restaurants where patrons order full meals and spend more time in the
establishment. On the plus side, having table service does give more
opportunity to upsell the customer with desserts or snacks.

Create a Trendy, Relaxing Atmosphere

Surveys have shown that most people believe atmosphere is one of the
biggest attractions for a café. On top of its service model, Starbucks'
relaxing, cozy, and comfortable atmosphere is one of the major
contributors to its success.

When opening a coffee shop, having the right atmosphere is key to

attracting customers that like to hang out with friends or business
associates and (hopefully) consume additional products. Go into any
popular coffee shop on a weekday afternoon and, chances are, you will
see groups of students doing their assignments (rather than in the school
library or cafeteria).
The ideal atmosphere is clean and bright with plenty of natural light and
comfortable seating space. Use a mix of seating and table types (such as
bench tables) so you can accommodate single customers as well as
groups of various sizes. Be sure to have plenty of lighting for evenings
and dull days. Having an outdoor patio space is a huge attraction in
season and greatly increases the visibility of your business.
Unless you are a design pro, consider using an experienced interior
decorator to design the interior of your premises. You want that
distinctive, personalized ambiance that will draw in customers and that
involves all the design elements: layout, furniture, decorations, lighting,
flooring, etc.
Offer a Variety of Snacks
Another key to success when planning how to start a coffee shop is to
realize that, even though coffee and tea have a high markup (up to 80%
on specialty coffees), a coffee shop cannot survive on coffee sales alone.
Multiple sales are a must. Having an assortment of quality snacks on
display at the counter will tempt the customer to make an additional
purchase.
Popular items that go well with coffee and tea include:
 Muffins
 Cakes
 Cookies
 Cinnamon Buns
 Croissants
 Bagels
 Scones
 Granola bars
 Yogurt cups and parfaits
 Cold drinks
Make sure your employees recommend a food choice to customers at
checkout time if they are only ordering coffee or tea.
For efficiency, the food items should either be pre-made or purchased
from vendors. Preparing made-to-order food (such as sandwiches, etc.)
is time-consuming and reduces overall sales volume, particularly in busy
periods. Baked goods can be sourced wholesale from local bakeries.

Offer Loyalty Cards

Female server accepting loyalty card from customer
How to start a coffee shop. moodboard / Getty Images
Assuming you are serving a great product in a good location, having a
loyalty card program can be the icing on the cake for customers and
really help you build up a clientele. Getting a free espresso or latte on a
loyalty card after 10 prior purchases will put a smile on anyone's face.

Loyalty cards improve your bottom line by:

Encouraging regular customers to come in more often
Improving the odds of an infrequent customer choosing your business
over competitors
Encouraging customers to spend more
Make sure to use good quality cards that have your business name and
logo prominently displayed and won't easily disintegrate from being in
wallets or purses. Alternatively, nowadays many POS systems integrate
loyalty programs automatically, giving customers one less thing to carry
in their wallets.
Serve on the Front Line
As with any customer service-intensive business, when running a coffee
shop, the owner should be present and fully engaged with the business as
much as possible. For many customers, the sign of a good business is
seeing the owner front and center taking orders, serving, and conversing
with the public.

Having a hands-on presence also helps to motivate staff to perform at

their best. This is especially important when you first start your coffee
shop. If you are unable to be present, finding a good manager is
essential.

To Wi-Fi or Not to Wi-Fi?

Most cafés offer free Wi-Fi as a convenience to customers who like to
use their mobile devices in order to do business, schoolwork, or just web
surf while having a coffee or snack. You're not likely to find a large
coffee chain that doesn't provide free Wi-Fi for its customers.

However, a growing number of independent coffee shops are pulling the

plug on free Wi-Fi or even banning laptops and tablets in an attempt to
create a more communal atmosphere where people converse rather than
immersing themselves in the internet.

For some people, walking into a coffee shop and seeing everyone typing
on a laptop or tablet is a turnoff, and they tend to take their business
elsewhere.
In some cases not having Wi-Fi has actually resulted in increased
profits, since people using mobile devices may tend to spend more time
but less money in the establishment. Some coffee shops have
compromised by not allowing laptops and mobile devices during busy
periods such as lunch hours.

Ultimately, whether you decide to have free Wi-Fi or not should be a

business decision based on your customers' wants and needs. After all,
people will patronize your establishment if they feel they can enjoy
themselves.

Marketing and Sales

Marketing is also a key consideration for a burgeoning coffee shop

hoping to make a splash in the industry. You can go through the trouble
of hiring a consultant to help with marketing and outreach or subscribe
to software like Lightspeed, which makes it easy to reach out to your
customers. Lightspeed POS integrates with email marketing tools like
MailChimp, which allows you to capture customer data, view customer
purchase history and create marketable audiences.
Live Video is a Must
Live video plays a massive role in building awareness and relationships
on social media. Tools such as Facebook Live and Instagram Stories
capture attention and encourage followers to connect more with cafe
brands.
In fact, according to Forrester, people watch live video 10 to 20 times
longer than on-demand content,
making live streaming a compelling way to deliver interactive content to
consumers. Incorporating live video into your coffee shop marketing
strategy is a must if you want to engage your followers better and
increase brand awareness.
The good news is, there are several ways to use live video in your cafe's
social media marketing. Here are a few ideas:
 Take your social media followers behind-the-scenes to show what
it's like preparing coffee and other foods in your shop.
 Highlight your coffee shop team on live video so that customers
can get to know them. Implement an employee of the month
contest and feature your winners.
 You can promote your new flavors and share the reasons why
people will love them. You can also communicate why you
decided to add them to your coffee menu.
Finance

According to Small Business Chron, coffee shops make an

average annual revenue of about $215,000 per year by selling
about 250 cups of coffee daily. That works out to be about
$18,000 in revenue per month. Hence (considering the average
month is 30 days long), coffee shops make about $600 per day.

Funding Your Coffee Shop

Assuming you don’t have personal savings to open your business,

you’ll need to get creative in order to secure financing for your
brand-new business—traditional lending institutions such as banks
and credit unions will usually want to see that you have at least
two years in business. However, once you have a solid business
plan and prospective location for your coffee shop, it will be
easier to find parties who are willing to lend to you. Prospective
business owners with good credit and business experience will
have the most options, but there are even options for startups with
bad credit.