Get Started

While it is tempting to open a coffee shop—or any retail business, for that matter—by just finding a space and putting in some comfy furniture in it, the benefits of having a well-planned store design and layout outweigh the presumed ease of DIY-ing your start-up café.

1. Plans designed prior to lease signing allow you to negotiate tenant improvements.
2. Well-prepared plans expedite the construction process, allowing you to avoid paying rent before opening.
3. Detailed plans result in more accurate contractor bids and lower construction costs.
4. Functional and efficient workspaces result in fewer employees and low labor costs.
5. Customers receiving faster service return to your café, thus increasing profits.
6.Efficient use of the kitchen and storeroom results in more tables in the seating area.

When you have the character and design of your coffee shop down pat, it’s time to move on to finding the right people, equipment and coffee for your store.

Personnel
Equally important as planning the coffee shop’s physical set-up is finding the right people to help you run the store. There are two ways to staff a store—hire new employees and train them from scratch, or pirate trained personnel from other stores. Pirating employees often mean less time spent in training, so you can start operations right away. However, it entails higher labor costs since you must offer them salaries that are higher than their previous ones. In addition, experienced employees may not be able to adjust easily to your specific way of running the store.

Training new hires has both benefits and challenges. Training new hires takes anywhere between a month to three months, depending on the trainee’s knowledge and eagerness to learn. The crucial traits to look for in a potential baristas are dedication to customer service and passion for coffee.

Coffee: Local or imported?
The greatest consideration in putting up a coffee shop is the kind of coffee you would serve. There are four main types of coffee: Robusta, Arabica, Liberica and Excelsa. Most shops serve either a single or a combination (blend) of these varieties. For the entrepreneur, the challenge is to have a unique blend and a steady supply of beans. Turn to roasters to acquire the beans and the blend. There are about a dozen large-scale roasters in the country offering either imported or locally sourced beans. Ask the roaster to develop a blend for you.

After settling on the blend, the roaster can then begin supplying the coffee. If you opt for imported beans, consider its availability. Coffee is generally seasonal and coffee supply can fluctuate according to global demand. That is why you should make sure that the roaster can provide you the beans regularly.
A safe bet is to use local coffee that is more readily available and often fresher than imported ones. As the coffee shop expands, consider sourcing the beans at the farm gate, i.e. straight from the coffee farm, and getting a roaster to do your roasting. Unless you have more than three shops, it is advisable to let a commercial roaster do the job, since doing your own roasting may not be economically viable if your operations are not that big yet.

Coffee Varieties 101
Arabica: The most expensive of all varieties and most frequently used in gourmet coffee. It is used either pure or blended with other varieties.
Robusta: The cheapest and most common variety of coffee that has a very strong flavor and is used primarily for instant coffee.
Liberica: This variety, better known as Barako, has a strong taste and rich body, and is used either pure or blended with other varieties.
Excelsa: This variety is not used alone, but blended with other coffee varieties.