Recommended resources: The Professional Barista’s Handbook: An Expert Guide to Preparing Espresso, Coffee, and Tea Scott Rao Everything But Espresso: Professional Coffee Brewing Techniques Scott Rao Glossary of Terms: Customer Goodwill-An intangible value placed on the relationship of customers to a business and/or a brand. Triple Net Lease- A lease wherein the tenant pays all … Continue reading
The balancing act: (coffee) house of cards… The formation of any new business involves points of tension. It is useful to identify these in advance so as to enable a new business owner to make decisions in real time to craft a sustainable balance for the business as early in it’s life as possible. Intentionality … Continue reading
Managing the Staff: The Tough Decisions Anyone in a management position must either answer to the challenge of making the tough decisions, or let the undecided matters rule the business. Management’s responsibility extends to insuring that the team that is assembled can function well and move in sync together. In the corporate world effective handling … Continue reading
The “Brain Trust.” A startup owner with no coffee experience knows that they don’t know. This gives them an advantage over those that think that they know on the one hand, but vulnerable to misguided suggestion from many sources that know more than they do, and voice strong opinions. Coffee ignites passion in folks and … Continue reading
The Contingency Plan Almost from the moment a new business opens contingency plans should start to be enacted to adapt the shop to the actual outcomes as they differ from projections. At the same time, one must be careful not to overreact to differences between projections and actual outcomes, or to short-term sales results that … Continue reading
The “Extras” Internet Access There are some inherent tensions and decisions to make around offering Internet access. Some cafes opt to not offer Internet access in attempt to maintain customer flow. Other cafes offer unrestricted free Internet access which make a cafe highly hospitable but can lead to a crowded shop with relatively low turnover … Continue reading
The Cleaning Routine Coffee-specific cleaning products are essential for a coffee shop. Cafiza is the most widely recognized product currently, but there are others on the market that will work. Every piece of equipment that touches coffee will need to be cleaned nightly. Even more than most coffee equipment, vigilance with maintenance is central … Continue reading
The Coffee-Making Equipment Water: Espresso is over 85% water, and drip coffee is over 90% water. Care with water is essential in a coffee shop for both taste of the coffee and for the longevity of the equipment. Untreated, most public and private water supplies will cause lime scale to collect everywhere that water is … Continue reading
The Hardware and the Software The hardware and software issues aren’t the glamorous aspects of a coffee shop but they are key components of the operational brain of the business. In consideration of the fact that a coffee shop is first and foremost a business, the hardware/software questions are important enough to merit careful consideration: … Continue reading
The other menu items-A natural tension exists in building a menu: On the one hand more menu choices give customers more reasons to frequent a shop and give a shop more items to sell at a profit. On the other hand, a broader menu is more capital intensive, more prone to waste, and can blur … Continue reading