We recently wrote about broader cafe menus and what they mean for your cafe. Coffee remains at the center, but customers expect other drink categories to be there, too: matcha, craft energy, and signature drinks are mainstays.
But that doesn’t mean that every cafe menu looks as it did before, but bigger. What we’re seeing instead is how owners are putting their own spin on these categories to create menus that are just as unique as they are.
More and more of our graduates are starting their coffee businesses as a mobile coffee cart. Why? A cart is the most affordable way to launch a coffee business, with about a $7,500 to $15,000 startup investment. It’s a business model with less risk, but not with less strategy. Every decision about your cart, equipment, menu, and water system affects how fast you can serve and how smoothly an event runs. What’s at stake? Your bottom line.
Recently, Texas Coffee School founder Tom Vincent had the chance to speak to Barista Magazine. The article discussed the way café menus have expanded over the past several years, and what that means for baristas and operators. As consumer tastes change, the article asked, “What matters more? The espresso or the cold foam?”
Tom’s response: “The biggest change I see isn’t that coffee has become less important. It’s that the definition of a retail coffee shop business has become much broader.”
In January 2020, David Hurley had a plan to open his own coffee shop. He even had an investor and a space he liked. That month, he attended Texas Coffee School’s 3-Day Coffee Business Master Class® and left ready to move forward with his business. We all know what happened next. COVID hit, the world shut down, and David set aside his dream of opening a coffee shop.
At Texas Coffee School, we like to say we’re not teaching you how to open one coffee shop; we’re teaching you how to open four. (Or 10 or 20!) Why? Because whether you have ambitions for a thriving neighborhood hub or a coast to coast franchise, the solid business foundation you create in the very first shop is the same. But what about that second location? The second location can be both an exciting milestone and a unique challenge for business owners.