Food Franchise » Cup Of Coffee

Competing With Big Brands

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:09:01 +0000

A potential coffee shop manager once asked me how he could compete with big brands such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks.

It can be quite a challenge to compete with big brands that have been well established in a city. Companies like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks spend millions of dollars a year marketing themselves to get people to buy their coffee and baked goods. On top of that, these stores are at the corner of almost every street. But where does your small coffee shop business fit in?

Does your coffee shop have hope? Yes, it does. However, it depends on a few important factors:

Location: Your coffee shop should be at least 500 metres away from the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks. If you hear of any of these stores proposing to build a store near yours, I suggest you do one of two things: either relocate your store or come up with a unique and special product or service that the other two corporations don’t have. In the end, it’s not up to you; it’s up to your customers. However, if you want to continue selling coffee, I suggest relocating to another area where the competition is minimal.

Product: Your coffee shop should offer some special products that other shops don’t have. At the same time, you should try and maintain a standardized menu like the other stores, such as chocolate donuts, tea, and hot chocolate. When it comes to taste, your coffee should be almost similar to corporate coffee. Me personally, I love the coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Hence, the only reason I would love your coffee was if it tasted like theirs. The idea behind this is to get them to come in for the “special” products (e.g. strawberry cookies) and then try to sell them your cup of coffee. You need to show them that your coffee tastes exactly like Starbucks or any other major brand. If they are a new customer, make their coffee extra special because your first impression really matters. Please don’t think of trying any “product differentiation” strategies for the standardized items (coffee, donuts, etc.). For example, where I live, there is a smaller coffee franchise that has around ten stores. Their coffee is different from Dunkin Donuts’ coffee, and that’s why I hate it. This could be because millions of people are so used to drinking Dunkin’s or Starbucks’ coffee, that another coffee just wouldn’t make their day feel right – sort of like wearing those uncomfortable pants that you’re not used to wearing to work. So what’s my advice? Make your coffee taste like Dunkin’s or Starbucks’ coffee. Think about it. They did all the research and came up with the perfect cup of coffee that everyone loves. All you have to do is create a recipe that is similar to theirs, without directly copying them. This way, everyone will love your coffee too!

Promotions: Promotions are extremely vital to the success of your store. You may not have a corporate-sized marketing budget but you can still make this work. Since you may have just one store, concentrate your marketing efforts only on that particular geographical area. People aren’t going to drive kilometres just to taste your coffee. Hence, you have to try appealing to the local population. Another promotional tool is coupons. Gimmicks such as “buy six coffees and get the seventh one free” tend to work really well since people depend on coffee almost every day. However, your coffee better be good if you ever want to see them come back for their second coffee. Here’s another tip: Avoid the use of flyers to promote your coffee shop. Don’t bother using flyers unless the flyer has valuable coupons or offers. So basically, don’t use a flyer to “advertise” your store. A flyer isn’t going to make people change their minds about their preferred coffee shop.

There are lots of other factors that could affect a coffee shop but these are the three major ones. But if you start off working with what I’ve mentioned, you should be fine. It’s sad to see many independently owned coffee shops fail due to poor management skills. If you’re the only owner of your shop, you need a variety of skills from coffee making skills to accounting skills to customer relationship skills. In the end, the best skill you can use is your natural instinct – or what you think will be good for your coffee shop.

The Pros And Cons Of Opening A Coffee Franchise

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:53:10 +0000

The days of walking into a local diner, or restaurant and asking for a cup of coffee are rapidly retreating. While there is still something to be said about the old fashioned “cup of Joe” that you can get no questions asked with free refills, the presence of a high powered, multi-flavored, option filled coffee is rapidly becoming the staple in the fast paced lifestyle American’s now lead. Many entrepreneurs in fact have found that the business of the “half-café, non-fat, triple tall, cinnamon white mocha” to be an extremely profitable and attractive business opportunity. The more American’s that are familiar with their latte’s mochas, and cappuccinos to get them through the day, the more small business owners are opening the local coffee franchise stand to offer alternatives in the coffee business world.

Owning a coffee franchise, however, is not the same thing as having a license to print money. There are some definite benefits to choosing a coffee franchise as opposed to a food franchise or other business opportunities within the franchise market. There are also some serious concerns about the coffee franchise that, if not addressed, could keep it from being successful.

One of the benefits to a coffee franchise is that people are searching for your product every day. Whether it’s the morning caffeine fix, or the relaxing latte on a Saturday afternoon during an outing, there is a definite drive in the American lifestyle to seek daily in most cases that cup of coffee. The advent of non-coffee drinks made in coffee shops also helps drive the continuous flow of customers, even those who are trying to limit their coffee intake. From Italian sodas, milkshakes, green teas, smoothies, and decaf drink options there is enough variety in the coffee shop market to continue to keep a regular flow of repeat customers satisfied.

The small business world is eagerly watching and waiting to see what sort of boost or hindrance the political changes will bring them in the coming 2008 election as well. For many small business owners their personal passions that might lead them in a democratic direction have been halted by the republican sympathies to businesses and corporations. In a questions and answer session Barack Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle the day before Super Tuesday “Many small businesses are struggling with the cost of health insurance, and I have introduced a plan that will save businesses $140 billion annually in premiums. My health care plan will help small businesses that want to cover their employees by letting small firms buy into a new low-cost, high-quality national health plan similar to the one offered to members of Congress.” While the skepticism of anything said by a candidate in the weeks and months prior to an election is at a natural high, the potential benefit to many small businesses exists in a large-scale solution to health insurance. The coffee franchise is often a small business that has a difficult time providing health benefits for its employees especially when compared to the benefits that a large company like Starbucks can provide for a similar job. The question for the coffee franchise owner is becomes “how involved is the parent company?” truly that is the balance that every franchise owner needs to figure out when deciding to run a small business. What will the level of involvement be by the larger parent company, and what will be the responsibility and privilege of the franchise owner to oversee and determine. In a sense it is very similar to the political question that all American’s continually ask themselves as they look at Republicans and Democrats alike, what level of involvement will the government have over a business and a state and to what extent is the business free to determine it’s own course of action?

While those questions will never be answered fully to the satisfaction of everyone (or probably anyone) there are more than 2000 American’s per day who go into business for themselves and have to decide whether or not to be totally independent or take part in the many franchise business opportunities that are available to them. Biggby Coffee for example is a coffee franchise in the mid-west and south that provides it’s franchise partners a complete range of marketing and advertising services that help the franchises grow as a whole, while leaving the individual owners free to run their local coffee shop within the parameters that are reasonable to each specific location.

The coffee franchise is more than just a location to purchase coffee. It’s important when thinking about a location and a store what the customer is looking for in a coffee franchise. For many people who are only interested in acquiring their coffee on the go the familiarity and consistency of a recognizable name is very important, along with prompt service and accuracy. The small business of coffee shops though is not always about the product. Many coffee shops find themselves impromptu meeting rooms, and business areas. Many business such as OneCoach, which is a franchise, that provides training, coaching, and assistance to small business owners are based from the franchise owner’s home. In the case of OneCoach, and many other home based businesses there is a need to find a place to meet to discuss terms of contracts, locations, etc with their clients. Coffee shops provide the perfect meeting environment to work through all sorts of business issues without needing to have an operating space. Many home franchises use the local coffee shops as their primary place to meet clients and business service providers.

It becomes important for the business owner of a coffee franchise to think about what amenities he or she is going to make available to the customer who wants to conduct business in the coffee shop. It is generally assumed and preferred that a coffee shop provide some sort of internet connection. Whether it’s a subscription based service, or a more traditional free wireless internet router the presence of internet will make a coffee shop very attractive to businesses. Small businesses contract out various services as well and those meetings also take place in the coffee shop. For example the owner of a small business of DVDNow kiosks that provides people with the ability to rent DVD’s in grocery stores, malls, and other public areas probably only has one or two members of the franchise team. This business is run from a home by one or two individuals and most likely will not have a business accountant as a part of the franchise. When calculating and figuring out taxes, therefore, they will need to outsource that service to a business like Liberty Tax Service. Liberty, which is another small business franchise opportunity then assists DVDNow with their tax management and information, and where does all of this networking and business service practice take place? Oftentimes meetings, and even the services provided take place in a convenient local coffee shop that is nearby the operating areas of both of the franchises. While this is just an example it become evident the benefit and repeat business that surrounds the coffee shop.

When considering a coffee franchise all of these things need to be considered. What will the impact of the environment, employees, networking capabilities, etc be of the coffee franchise? What makes a good coffee franchisee is the ability to understand the overall purpose and benefit of the local shop. The environment and amenities while looked at a costs initially unrelated to the sale and purchase of coffee products can become the most significant factors in fostering a good environment for business and personal networking to take place, which will lead to high amounts of repeat business. So when considering the coffee franchise, know that while the coffee is the product, it’s the coffee shop that is really going to sell a customer on making a particular store “their” local coffee shop.

Coffee Franchises To Own Or Not To Own

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:47:52 +0000

Coffee franchises have taken over in small business today as we know it. Every corner in every major city has a coffee house, most of these coffee houses are linked through coffee franchises. 81% of Americans will have been in at least 5 different coffee franchises in their lifetime.2.5% of the stock market are cornered by such businesses like the basic coffee house. We the public has definitely benefited from large coffee franchises, as they have benefited from us.

Small Business vs. Franchise Each has its own benefit. A small business owner has a lower overhead. This is ideal for profit margins. A single coffee house owner can expect to have up to 4 employees, this would be ideal, and they can maintain business with this type of crew. The average pay that a single coffee house owner can expect to pay out per employee could be anywhere from $5.75 an hour -$6.50 an hour. Usually a small business owner of this type can afford to hire part-time employees, therefore saving oneself the added costs of health benefit. Accidental insurance coverage for this low ratio will also be feasible. A coffee franchise has the benefit of name recognition. Everyone who is an avid coffee drinker has their favorite name brand coffee house. This makes availability for name product sales. Small Business vs. FranchiseTo Each His Own

If you ask your 80 year old next door neighbor if he or she prefers a large coffee franchise cup of coffee or the local small business owner’s cup, you may find that they will likely support the local favorite, the small business owner. There is some loyalty to the small business men and women today. Now ask the same question to a college student, who has just enough time to run to the corner (very accessible) large coffee franchise, which cup they prefer, you will likely hear them say the convenient, trendy coffee franchise. Not that the college student is less loyal, but maybe the new thing is a little more popular and a little more accessible. Now every one person must decide for themselves which is best for them, to support the larger business, or the smaller business. No matter which you choose, there will always be a new trend in java.