You’ve breathed the breath of life into your ‘baby’ probably for years. You’ve nursed it through economic storms and enjoyed the successful milestones of the life of your café. It has probably been your life and identity for a long time but at some point, for whatever reason, you’ll want [...]
It is a fact of life – if you are in business you are regulated by more governmental agencies than you can count and that is especially true of the food industry. From almost the very beginning of your café/espresso bar planning stages you’ll do yourself a favour by involving [...]
There is a misconception when it comes to menu planning for a café and espresso bar that owners set the menu. In fact, customers set the menu. A successful café will find its menu is as much a function of customer likes and dislikes as it is the preferences of the owner. Remember this and [...]
Before getting too far into the discussion of increasing traffic in your café/espresso bar remember that there are three hard and fast rules to marketing.
* Rule Number One: No one avenue of marketing will drive traffic automatically to your door. It takes a combination of efforts from every possible source to increase sales. [...]
It has been said many times that the staff in any café/espresso bar is the backbone of your business. They will be the ones that meet and great your customers and so their given impression will reflect upon your entire business. They will be the ones who first hear good [...]
Effectively training your staff is an ongoing process. It starts as soon as they are hired and should be continuing until they leave. Sometimes things are done in mass, such as when there is a procedural change or a new piece of equipment that everyone will use. Some things are done individually such as for [...]
Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s General Motors manufactured a car they considered destined to be a best seller. In some parts of the world, particularly the United States, it did sell pretty well but when the same car with the same options was introduced in Mexico and Latin America it failed miserably. The reason [...]
The thought of opening your own café/espresso bar is often exciting. Whatever your reason for doing so, whether you love the art of the brew, the thought of being your own boss or when you believe you can do it better than is currently being offered in your locale, there are countless things to [...]
If you are looking into purchasing an existing café you may find a great buy and save yourself a lot of startup costs and time. Be careful however. There may be a very good reason the current owner is willing to sell and it may be one you don’t want [...]
If you have decided to open your own café/espresso bar, and if you have even begun to consider all that is involved before you open your doors on the first day, then you know the amount of work involved is monumental. Besides figuring out the fun items you’ll need like equipment, menus, design styles, etc., [...]
