Be The Best Cup Of Coffee in Town: How To Stand Out In The Coffee Shop Business
Almost everyone and their dog (plus the hipsters who bravely went before them) are into coffee. Coffee is their jam! It gets them up in the morning, it’s a mutual experience with friends, and it’s a pretty decent flavour for a tiramisu to boot!
If you’ve noticed this trend and fancied setting up your own cafe, then you’re not alone! The coffee shop market in the UK is worth an estimated £15 billion a year, and looks to be growing.
If you’re opening your new business within a saturated market, you know that you’re going to need to stand out. So read on to find out how to be the best damned cup of coffee around…
It’s in the beans
There’s no point in having a great location on a town square, beautiful furniture, and fancy toilets if all you’re going to serve is run of the mill, mass-produced, wholesale beans. That coffee is going to be as sad as a Monday morning in the rain with a moth-eaten umbrella.
What you need is to find a This means your coffee will taste fresh and be more likely to be a specialty bean that you can wax lyrical about to your customers. Give them an experience!
Be sustainable
Customers are way more aware of what they consume and how it affects the planet and others than ever before. They will vote with their money, so to win those pounds you need to show that you care too.
Remember those ethically sourced beans we spoke about in the last point? These are the key! By purchasing these beans you ensure that the coffee farmers are paid a fair price for their produce, which makes it more likely that they will invest in sustainable farming practices. Everyone wins!
Remember to smile
Each of your customers is a person with real life things going on. The business man chatting on his phone as you serve him his takeaway, the local book club discussing the latest thriller, the little old lady having her pension day treat, or what about the mum wrangling her twins while she sips your excellent coffee?
These people are your customers and they’ve chosen you for one reason or another. They will remember how you treat them and if you want to keep them coming, then a warm and friendly smile will go a long way.
Liven up your socials
Use social media to create a buzz and to build a community around your coffee shop. Shout from the Instagram rooftops about your beans, do a TikTok on creating the ultimate cup of coffee, or do a giveaway on Facebook. You can use these platforms to announce new additions to the menu or advertise events you may be putting on. It’s a powerful tool and you’d be mad not to use it!
So if you’re opening a new coffee shop, then really go for it. Buy the best beans, offer the most scrumptious cake, and make great coffee! Then go shout about it — even the coffee hipsters will be intrigued!
