References and    Pictures of shops  

 Coffee Drive-Thrus

  "Coffee Business      for Dummies"

 Mistakes and How
  to Prevent Them 

 Buying an Existing   Shop?

  Improve your   Espresso  Sales!

 Roasters: How to  Increase your  Sales

 Add Espresso  to  an Existing  Business

 Food Management  and Franchises:  Increase Your  Coffee Concept  Sales!

 Book & Video  Order

The most valuable part of a franchise is its name recognition. Without any doubt, if Starbucks was a franchise it would be a great investment!

However, you cannot buy a Starbucks, and if you want a coffee franchise you are left with a small number of names that are unknown in most parts of the country. While Starbucks is the McDonalds of this business, there is no Burger King.

To open a shop, Starbucks invests on the average about $320,000. To buy a national  franchise like Gloria Jean's or the Coffee Beanery, you will need around $250,000 or more.  Most of my consulting clients managed to open their shops from $80,000 to $120,000. Many of my client's shops and drive-thrus have that "franchise look":

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                  Mojo a Go- Go                                                        California

There are several ways for you to start in the espresso/coffee retail business:

1. Buy a $300,000 Franchise A franchise is a proven way of doing business. If it is a nation-wide franchise, with name recognition, most of the marketing and advertising will be done for you by the company. They will tell you how to build your shop, what products to use, what to charge and how conduct your business. For this   privilege you will pay anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 for the franchise fee and training, and on top of that you will have to put up another $250,000 or so in building out your shop, and from 6%-11% of your gross sales in royalties and advertising fees. You still will have to find your own location, though they will advise you about its suitability.

The same applies to a lesser degree to any drive-thru coffee stand or cart franchised operation.

  But even a franchise has room for improvements. Some time ago I conducted an "Espresso Business Seminar" in Seattle. Among the attendees were two owners of a large national franchised coffee chain. After the seminar they told me that if they knew what they have learned in the past three days when they started their franchises, their revenues would have been much greater, they would have more satisfied customers, and they would run their operations much more efficiently.

2. Hire an expert, experienced person to help you with the whole project.

If you cannot afford or don't want a franchise, the next best way to make sure that you do not commit mistakes that may cost you thousands of dollars, and to start you on the right track - that means provide you with the knowledge and expertise similar to what you would get from a franchise but without the cost of a franchise - would be for you to find and hire a reputable consultant/adviser to help you with the project. Of course you will have to pay him or her a fee, but if the consultant is any good, he or she will save you much more than you will pay him. Besides, your business will start generating more revenues sooner and your customers won't be used as training tools until you get your act together.

Yes, you can do it on your own without buying a franchise or hiring a consultant. Most of the people that are in this business probably did it that way, with an hour or so of espresso machine training provided by the equipment supplier. Or they may have "stolen" an "experienced" person from the competition. Some of them are even making money and have several locations.

But before they got to that point, they "paid their dues" in time, hard work, inefficiency and the loss of tens of thousands of potential dollars that they would have made had they started their business right from the start! For some of them, it took many months or years to obtain the same degree of proficiency that an expert consultant would have taught them in a few days! This has cost them precious time and certainly a great deal more than they ever would have paid in consulting fees.

I have helped to open over 200 shops and drive-thrus all over the country, in every kind of location. I know what works and what doesn't. You can see our consulting programs here:

"Coffee Business Success Program "

Consulting Program

HOME