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Welcome to my first in a series of articles about starting a coffee shop. I hope you find this series helpful.

My first tip is to learn from others. There is no point in reinventing the wheel. See what other franchises have done to achieve their success. You might want to look at places like Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks.

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.

Same thing with the atmosphere. Some people just want their coffee to go and that’s it. Others want to sit down and relax and enjoy their brew and while they’re doing it, they don’t want to sit in a dump…though some people won’t mind as long as the coffee is good.

Finally, there is the price. While we’re not talking about a big ticket item like a BMW, some people aren’t going to want to spend more than 50 cents for a cup while others will gladly pay $2 or more if the coffee is really exceptional. Again, know who your market is.

By going to other coffee shops, especially ones in your area, you’ll get a good feel for who your market is. From there, it’s just a matter of catering to it.