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USP stands for unique selling proposition or point. It is the one thing that really makes one business stand out from another and without a USP your coffee shop business plan is worthless.

For starters, actually go to your competition. I know this doesn’t sound like something you’re going to enjoy doing, but consider it research. Go look and see how they have their establishments setup. See what kind of menus they have. A coffee shop is more than just coffee. The more competition you check out, the better an idea you’ll have of how to compete.

Next, you want to study their ad campaigns. Everybody advertises differently based on their USP, but they all do have things in common. Look for those similarities. There are some basic things that you’re going to want to convey to your target market. The primary things are:

The quality of the coffee and food

The atmosphere of the shop

The price

A lot of people say that there’s not a big difference between one coffee and another. Those people are NOT real coffee drinkers. Trust me…there is a difference. If you’re looking to cater to the guy driving an 18 wheeler on route 9, he’s going to expect a different quality of coffee than the guy who has on a $2,000 suit and doesn’t buy anything off the rack. You have to know who your target market is and what kind of coffee they’re going to expect.

Finding your USP is really as simple as looking at your product, in your case, your coffee shop, and deciding what it is about it that makes it different from everybody else