Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Society Business and Career
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I am aware that we have some extremely experienced members here on our forums and I would like to invite you to please share your ideas and knowledge on these “plan” topics over the course of various weeks. Every few days , I will mention a different business and perhaps we can lay out a basic plan of opening and running that particular business. Challenges involved, Driving customer base, managing machines and stocks , profit and loss etc..

This week , lets create a plan to open an Ice cream and Coffee spot.

This might help several individuals who might be looking for inspiration, ideas and motivation to do something new .

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Sounds like a great idea CB. So this business is a mobile truck or a shop?

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Ice creme or coffee shop. Both need good location. coffee shop in mall, office canteen, and ice creme shop around kids shops, mall and near park.

Location rentals and employee wages are things of major consideration.

Idea of coffee shop and ice creme parlor is not bad... you only need to find niche in existing market and your target customer. It will work.

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Eastern, a shop ..

I am wondering what kind of cost effective machines they use to prepare ice cream and coffee of various kinds and flavours :hmmm:

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Automatic coffee vending machine and ice creme machine… :hmmm:

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Found this beautiful link, I think its quite detailed .. and as per its details , initial investment can be around £50K

Also gives details of the industrial scale machinery to be used in the shop ..

http://valentisgelato-artisan.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AcademyGuide.pdf

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Some 2013 market research on Coffee Businesses in the UK :

There are now over 16,000 coffee outlets - this includes just over 5000 branded chains - in the UK with a turnover of over £6 billion. The market grows with over 5% per year (the last couple of years) which is fantastic! The branded chains account for about 1/3 of the turnover.

Around one in five people visit a coffee shop every day and coffee shop visitors drink almost 2 billion coffees per year! Here at Limini our customers do their part as well and of course we drink quite a few coffees ourselves :slight_smile:

We still believe that the main reason for visiting a coffee shop is location, followed very closely by quality of coffee and quality of service. But please don’t underestimate the importance of the quality and excitement of your food offering.

The average price of a cappuccino or latte is still around £2.20 - £2.30. Question is how important is this really? Do people really decide whether they come back or not because your coffee is 10p cheaper than the shop next door. Isn’t it more important to add value to your product?

Average spend per person in a coffee shop is still not above £4 and this is something to work very hard on. That is of course an overall figure. During lunch this figure is very different and you might run the kind of shop where your average spend is much higher. The average spend is a mixture of spending per head and amount of people that you have coming through your door. The type of service you run (table, counter or a mix) can greatly impact on your average spend and in return make a significant difference to your P&L accounts.

The caffe latte is most likely still the most favourite coffee although we are seeing the coffee world going towards smaller and more specialised drinks such as the flat white, the piccolo latte and the cortado. And of course, this makes us very happy. It gives you the chance as a coffee shop owner to offer your customer two coffees instead of one large drink. Better for everybody. Drink coffee little and often - at least that is what we do!

It seems that about 3/4 of your customers are looking for food as well as coffee. That is really important to realise - can you survive on just good coffee alone?

The big brands are growing fast so it is important that you stand out as an independent. Look for what makes you different, get your passion across, offer a personalised service and keep up your service and quality. Staff training is still one of your most important activities as a coffee shop owner.

Coffee is definitely becoming more an everyday beverage. Wonderful!

Source: Advice on setting up a coffee shop - How to set up, run or start a coffee shop information with market research

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Sounds like a good idea. Looking forward to the replies.

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

@TLK @X2 need your input please

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Great thread. I will come back and post once I reach home

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Thanks TLK , also can you please tag here any GS members who you think can add value to our little mission :@:

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

Are you home yet?

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Re: Plan a small business - Ice Cream and Coffee shop ..

I am not a business person, but like to approach every business from consumer's POV. That means that I would start with what I want to see in a coffee shop and why would I go there.

  1. Timings: This is probably the toughest part of the coffee business. Many coffee shops (unless those that in a mall, or inside office complex) should be up and running, latest by 6:00 AM on weekdays. On the other side, many are open till 10 PM. Almost all of them run 7 days a week. That means extremely long working hours for the owner during first few weeks

  2. Quality: Its a tough and very competitive market. COffee drinkers dont care too much about the price, but they will come to you if your coffee is not of good quality.

  3. Price: That is usually not an issue. Starbucks is a good example where you can spend up to 5 bucks for a regular coffee.

  4. Variety: This is another killer. More variety of coffee and coffee based drinks you serve, more profitable business you can run. But that means more investment, and more qualified staff.

  5. Service: This is where most of the shops get killed. I have been to great coffee places, but because its a mom and pop type restaurant, you would have just one server, who can get busy pretty fast. For a coffee drink, if your wait time is more than 10 mins, then you are not going to come back to the place. Very tricky situation for a start up business.