Your coffee shop concept, which includes your aesthetic and menu, is what makes people choose your business over other options. It’s what draws them in, brings them back and gets them to tell their friends that they have to try your lattes or chill on your patio. 

But how do you assure that your coffee shop concept resonates with people who live or work near your location? The answer: know your customers first and build your coffee shop strategy around their preferences.

A selection of menu items—and knowing how to sell them—are vital to your coffee shop’s success.

The rub at a retail coffee shop: your main product has great gross profit margins, but low overall ticket averages. Since you pay your rent in straight-up dollars—not as a percentage of your profit—bringing your average individual sale well above $3 or $5 is crucial to your success. Cafes with an only (or mostly) coffee strategy can be busy all day, but still not generate enough profit to keep their doors open.

To realize your dream of coffee retail success, you need a “coffee plus” strategy (coffee plus pastry or other food item). Coffee should be no more than 40 percent of your weekly sales—about two item sales per customer transaction.

There is no one set of secrets to making it in the foodservice business. Most success comes down to hard work, extensive experience or luck. 

Picture the perfect coffeehouse. It probably includes comfortable seating, free wi-fi, and even a patio or small soundstage for live music.

There's no question that laptop users are increasingly soaking up wireless connections and electrical outlets at coffee shops around the world, along with their lattes. Their presence creates a challenge for owners who want to have a wi-fi policy that maintains a welcoming atmosphere but also want to encourage the necessary customer turnover for a profitable business.

In today’s corporate environment, career-minded go getters are chasing productivity and creativity as much as they seek healthy salaries and competitive benefits. The hardest of these to maintain are creativity and productivity, and the surprising solution can be spending time away from coworkers at relatively noisy public places.

Your café is different from all the rest. You just have to determine your coffee niche, and promote it.