What is the process of owning a coffee shop?

Question

like a place where people could just chill and read and drink coffee and of course surf the net on laptops or do homework or whatever.

Answer 1

Firstly, if you have no experience in the coffee shop business, I'd advise that you work in one for the next six months or so doing everything from busing tables and washing dishes to waiting tables and making coffee if they'll allow you back there and if you have the skills. This will give you some of the work experience that you'll need to understand and run a coffee shop profitably.

If this is your first business venture, I would strongly recommend that you talk to a business counselor before you do anything especially spend money. I'd call the local office of SCORE (go to http://www.score.org and input your zip code to find the chapter nearest you), the advice is FREE. Ask for someone who has a background in restaurants and coffee shops and they'll try their best to match you with the right counselor.

The counselor at SCORE will most likely advise you to write a business plan which is very good advice because it will force you to dig out all of the start up details and the costs of starting a coffee shop and force you to also understand all of the aspects of this business including the customers you'll concentrate on (your market ) and how you'll get them to find out and want to come to your fabulous coffee shop.

The location of the coffee shop is important but doesn't make it successful. To prove that all you have to do is walk to a corner in your town where there are several nice coffee shops and you'll find one or two that are empty while the others are very busy. It has to do with menu, ambiance, and your reputation at the beginning and over time.

You also have to have food handling licenses, the right zoning, the right city and county licenses and permits and you have to be skilled at negotiating with your landlord about who'll stand the cost of the build-out or the changes to the premises to make it ready for your look and feel. You also have to worry about the normal business planning and management issues related to starting up any business.

Take a look and read some of the articles at:
http://www.ychange.com/small-business-co...
especially the ones about a business plan and starting a business. Also try their Blog and their Bulletin Board.
Hope this helped.

Answer 2

Make sure you first know well how to balance books, know enough business knowledge, and maybe better get the experience of managing a coffee house.

Many people go into business with romantic or idealistic expectations. Too many businesses go under because the owner was not prepared to do what it takes to make the business succeed, including do a market assessment. Owning and successfully managing a business are not easy in any economy, least of all in these unstable times.

First make sure you have the experience of operating a business. Make sure you have the venture capital, if I can call it that. And know that you may have to run in the red for a few years.

Answer 3

My favorite current place is one of those little shops, an independent. Heck if I know. (The owner says they are getting by, but not killing 'em, exactly. So you have to be careful.) Location is everything.

Answer 4

keep starbucks 10 miles away from you