6 steps for jump-starting your cafe business

  

Date Posted: 12/11/2012 3:17:33 AM

Posted By: fly1234  Membership Level: Bronze  Total Points: 15

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Opening a café business can be tricky especially for beginners who have never tried their hands on a business before. This is because more often than not, this type of business not only requires enough capital, but also in-depth planning and organisation. This is why some café owners will try to entice customers by their different aesthetics when they realize that the business isn’t attracting the right number of customers. If you are keen enough, you may have noticed beautiful ladies in uniform standing at the door of restaurants in town, inviting people with colourful, delicious menu charts on their hands. So i have been asking myself why they need to solicit people to eat lunch or supper in their restaurants.

But I thought that they were missing out on the whole idea of attracting customers the right way. The secret is to come up with a unique design, both the interior and exterior should reflect your personality and also take care of the customer’s preferences. That is to say, your customers should feel a sense of comfort and uniqueness once they get into your café.

I compiled six steps that could help you jump-start your café business with little effort.

Uniqueness
This is the trickiest part, but if you get it right, all things will get going-the front part of the business will do the rest of the work for you. Start by visiting other cafes to gain insights on current industry trends, their customers’ preferences, their menus, service and ambiance in general. Think of developing your brand, bearing in mind your potential customers’ point of view. This will help you conceptualize your ideas, style and design.

Identify your customers’ preferences
Your brand and menus give you the opportunity for customers to know you better. You want to know their ages, income ranges, interests

and level of expectation. This stage is vital because it helps you determine before-hand, the level of service your customers’ expect from you.

Brand creation
Be loud. Create your identity and advertise yourself to your potential customers. Design a logo that conveys a message relevant to your services. If you don’t know how to, check the logos of other restaurants and get ideas on how to design one for your business. Start with the visible parts of the business, choose whether you want a contemporary setting or a classic one. The front design, the colours and your tagline should be able to speak for the business. Once you create a remarkable identity, diversify your menu in line with your customers’ preferences.

Understand the basics
An attractive café décor, comfortable seats, trash bins, organized flow of services are important to a successful business plan. When you are drawing your budget, you will consider the location in which you want to set up the business, design, equipment and capital to help take care of the business before it starts generating enough profits. For an efficient business, you will also consider implementing automated POS systems, merchandise display, and smooth service as well.

Atmosphere
Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Ask yourself what you would want your customers to feel when they sit in your café. Remember that your success depends on the overall ambiance of your café. It depends on how well you present yourself to people which is why creating a unique and remarkable business expressions is important.

A business plan
Finally, you’ve got the idea and you want to bring it to reality. An effective business plan should contain a well researched marketing strategy. Make use of social media sites, blogs and discounts on your services to create an effective marketing plan.

In as much as you may be having the capital, if you don’t implement the specifics properly, your business may just fail. A good business plan will make people see that you are serious about the business-how else do you want to approach a financial institution for funds?

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