Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Starting A Coffee Shop


Coffee is one of the fastest growing industries, and high class coffee shops are proof. Who would have thought that millions of people would go out of their way to spend $5 on one cup of coffee each? But they do, and they do it every day! Clearly, starting up your own coffee shop could be just the money maker you’ve been dreaming of!

Reasons to Start a Coffee Shop

The first thing you want to do is make sure that starting a coffee shop is a venture you are not only willing to follow through on setting up, but also one that will bring you happiness for years to come. If you’ve dreamed of owning your own business, sit down and brainstorm about the many types of businesses you could open. Let the final decision be driven by your passions in life as well as your belief that you can succeed with your chosen niche.

Some of the advantages of starting a coffee shop include:

* A warm, friendly environment
* Meeting interesting people, a culture cross-section
* Coffee shops are increasingly popular
* “Free” coffee any time you want it!
* A relaxed atmosphere with customers usually in good spirits

Planning and Preparation

Now that you’ve concluded that a coffee shop is the type of business you’d like to start up, you’ll need to keep in mind that (just as is true with any business) a lot of planning and preparation must be done before your grand opening!

You must:

* Make sure you are financially ready
* Apply for a business license
* Apply for a small business loan
* Register your business name with the trademark office
* Hire a staff for building and designing the shop
* Hire a staff for running the shop
* Project how much you expect to make

Calculate what you’ll need:

* Daily supplies
* Equipment
* Building and furnishings
* Advertising and marketing
* Staffing

You Should Build Your Shop:

* In a high income district/area for better profits
* In an area where competition is scarce
* In a location that is easy to find (in a busy area, like a
plaza, mall, mini-mall or main business strip)
NOTE: Do your research before you choose where to build!

Budgeting

Just because you might not have a lot of money to invest, does not mean you cannot get started. Just keep in mind that follow-through and caution are very important. You must sit down and be realistic about how much everything is going to cost you, and be sure that you get a loan that will cover you enough to get your shop off the ground.

Once you’ve calculated this, bear in mind that you’ll need to pay off the loan (assuming you didn’t already have the money in the bank to get started). Being realistic is worth stressing again!

Some things you can do to save money include:

* Choosing a small shop to start with, and relocate once you
grow
* Getting a great deal on the lease
* Getting an inexpensive, low interest rate mortgage on a small
property instead of a lease
* Buying an existing shop with equipment pre-included
* Buying supplies in bulk
* Have one or more business partners and investors
* Look into government grants, tax breaks and so on, for small
business start-ups
* Instead of hiring an advertising agency, consider having a
business partner manage your marketing
* Have business sign & wall artwork designed by art students at
a local college or university

Be Ready for a Slow Start

It’s important to remember that when you begin, profits may be dismal. It will be a struggle until the branding resulting from your proper marketing strategies begins to kick into full force. With that in mind, start with a smaller staff, fewer supplies—and fewer bells and whistles. Once things pick up, you will see an excellent return on your investment if you planned properly.




About the Author: Learn about starting a Saxbys Coffee
Franchise or Bear Creek Coffee Franchise.
http://www.businessfranchiseworld.com/saxbys-coffee-franchise/
http://www.businessfranchiseworld.com/bear-creek-coffee-franchise/

Source: http://www.isnare.com

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10 Unusual Uses for Coffee

Coffee is very useful for a whole host of different things that you just would not think about. From using as an ant killer to making compost, cleaning drains to cleaning greasy ashtrays, you will be amazed just what ordinary coffee that you have at home can be used for. Here is my top 10 favourites.

1. To get rid of ants put used coffee grounds onto the ant hills, this will have to be done for each hill as the pesky things will move to another home.

2. Kitchen drains tend to get smelly, simply get a cup of coffee grounds and tip down the plughole making sure you tip a kettle of boiling water down slowly & leave to work on the odours

3. For a quick fix on fabrics soak garment in strong black unsugared coffee, this is an inexpensive way to dye clothes brown in an emergency but remember it will not be colour fast.

4. Coffee grounds can be used to clean any stain resistant surface, it has a mild & gentle abrasive element & smells fresh too, particularly good for smelly ashtrays and greasy surfaces.

5. To help plants to flourish add coffee to your soil, this is best done in small amounts of soil so you can add 1 cup of lime to balance acidity if need be, another way is to empty it straight onto your compost pile with other kitchen waste.

6. Fishermen, when transporting maggots & worms put them in a container with moist coffee grounds & they will be easier to pick up when you need them & they also like coffee as much as we do so it will make them live longer too.

7. Coffee can be used as an odour neutraliser if there is a powercut & the food in the freezer defrosts & goes off, simply fill a bowl or two with new or used coffee & leave in the freezer over night.

8. When it comes to cleaning/sweeping out open fires sprinkle some used coffee grounds over the hearth or wherever you have to clean & it will sweep up easier & stop the coal dust from rising up in your room so better for environment.

9. Gardeners if you grow carrots add some coffee to your seeds before sowing, not only does this make the seeds easier to sow, the smell also repels root maggots & other pests allowing for thicker juicy carrots.

10. Many people take exception to neighbours cats using their garden as a toilet, a mixture of used coffee grounds and & orange peel put round plants and in beds you want left alone will provide a pungent smell that cats do not like and so will find someone else's garden to use.

All of the above tips are great ways to use up all the used coffee grounds that would otherwise just be put down the drain or in the bin, why not put it to good use.

Bought to you by Rossgo of [http://www.coffeemakers4coffee.com]

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