‘Tis the season of pumpkin spice, gingerbread, peppermint, and one specific coffee chain’s annual holiday cups. But for many Coffeepreneurs® and their independent coffee shops, the holidays are different. This is a time to focus on serving local neighborhoods, building community, and planning for another year of business.
Independent coffee shop owners are hard at work this time of year. They’re planning seasonal menus, confronting staffing challenges, and joining in community events. This holiday season,
Every year, hundreds of coffee shops across the country flourish–but for every successful shop, there’s another that failed within the first year of business. So what makes for a successful coffee shop? We train many successful Coffeepreneurs® every year and have identified several themes behind their shops’ profitability. Read on to learn how innovation, customer service, and profitability can make YOUR coffee shop thrive.
Innovation
At Texas Coffee School, innovation and entrepreneurship go hand in hand.
A Motorcycle Garage Sees a Business Growth Opportunity
Not long ago, Pop’s Garage Fabrication was a busy motorcycle repair and fabrication shop in Roswell, Georgia. The business occupied one half of a 10,000 square foot building in a high-trafficked area, dense with car and motorcycle dealerships. Business partners Colin McDonald and Gordon Erickson saw a business growth opportunity when their direct neighbor, a kitchen and bath store owner, decided to retire and sell his half of the building.
Even in an ever-changing world, cafe entrepreneurship can be a meaningful road to career fulfillment. The fundamentals of success remain the same in 2021 as they did two, ten, and twenty years ago. Identifying a prime location, connecting with an intentional audience, being resilient, flexible, and innovative are all factors that will help you build a solid business foundation.
We’ve been teaching students how to make the perfect cup of coffee for over a decade.
Aspiring entrepreneurs from all over the world come to our classes with a dream of opening a successful coffee shop. Often, they’ve funneled creative energy into envisioning the concept, the space, the menu, and the name. Now, there’s one major hurdle that seems to be the source of all their questions: money. What are some of the most common questions we hear about coffee shop finances?