thinking about opening a cafe….any tips?

hi all

im a trained chef and current bike shop owner….thinking about a bikeshop/cafe now after one of our worst winters trade in our shortish history…any good tips/suggestions?

just an idea at the mo… 😀

here you go!!

http://www.howtostartacoffeeshop.co.uk/

that should help with the forecasting etc 🙂

i’ll come to Stoney if you prep a good latte in the morn, cappuchino [sp?] in the avo…………?

nice cakes needed too…

good cafe in Alford within the Parade Home shop…. Visited yesterday on the motorbike….take a trip out and see what you think – seems successful…

pannini’s , home bakes, etc….

Cleanliness, that and copy Pete’s Eats in Llanberis.

Seats. They are always good in a cafe. You don’t want to be standing up trying to pour tea and eat a slice of bakewell tart, so get some seats. Ooh and something to rest tea and cakes on after you have sat down. Not sure what you would need for that though. I’m exhausted. That’s all the tips I’ve got.

My Grandfather made a fortune in London with his quality bakeries/sandwich shops(he concentrated on just them before retirement, granted, he had great locations). His key to coining it; ‘be as generous as possible, word soon gets round’.

Yup, Pete’s Eats is a good template. If I were opening one I’d be tempted not to do Cappuccinos. A complete faff.

food is king!

if the décor is poor & service is ok – but food is excellent…I’ll be back!

if décor is amazing & service is first class – but the food is crap….I’ll not be back.

if the décor is amazing, service is amazing & the food is excellent….I’ll be there everyday! 😀

I’d employ the best chef you can afford & keep thing VERY simple. small simple menu (focus all your effort on the few things you have on your menu) don’t be mediocre across a huge menu, be the best on your chosen few…you could always rotate things every few months.

the above comes from years of experience watching Gorden Ramsey, Master Chef, Jamie Oliver etc etc… 😆

can I come and work there? Is it gonna be in Arbroath, or did someone say Stonehaven?

Serve the finest wines known to humanity. And cake

Nice simple food and CAKEY!!!
Nice coffee, filter and espresso,(not crappamochachino)
Few mags and papers to read
Fair prices, two quid for a tea is a ripoff, coffee fair enough but tea is cheap
And possibly, if it’s part of a shop, a bling cabinet for folk to lust after while having a brew
Somewhere to park your bike safely, preferably within sight

I’d like to suggest a bling cabinet! (I like that idea) 😉

all great ideas and kinda where im coming from really…it would have to be in arbroath as i dont have the room in stonehaven..lots to think about though…

ta as usual…u never dissapoint!

ive already got a couple of bling cabinets! 😀

im a trained chef and current bike shop owner….thinking about a bikeshop/cafe now after one of our worst winters trade in our shortish history…any good tips/suggestions?

Do you think the cafe trade has done much better? Affected by bad weather and the economic downturn too I’d have thought.

Now if you’ve got spare space in the shop and free time then it might be worth sticking in some seats, a coffee machine and getting a couple of cakes in. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d make more money by simply leasing that space to someone else!

old 80’s arcade machine/ table thing y?

Ooh ooh! Get some old frames/forks/wheels/bars sprayed up in some wild colours And hang em off the ceiling and walls for cheap Decor

thought about leasing but we’re pretty rural…not sure what the rental market is like locally(got a pal with a ind.estate locally and hes struggling for tennants) but i think its fairly flat…

the cafe thing seems pretty good locally but i reckon theyres room for another! they always seem busy(you cant get a seat at a couple of them)

do not sell pannini’s, they are arse.

As many fit waitresses as possible. Oooh, brain wave, topless waitresses. I’m sure I’d frequent your premises even though I live a good few miles away.

How about an Allo Allo replica cafe, a cafe with a cycle through window or a drive through window leaving a trail centre, or a topless cafe, or a topless cafe (are the subliminal messages getting through???)

Started off joking about this but how about a make your own sandwich cafe, might be a complete H&S disaster or a brilliant idea… or neither!

Decent comfortable chairs, decent sized portions, home cooking and veggie options, free newspapers, large mugs of tea and coffee, and cheerful staff and ill be there.

Chris i think you have a spot on idea even a full scale restaurant as they are pretty thin on the ground around these parts. Home bakes,clean place and not to expensive or you could sell your soul to the devil and get a Starbucks franchise ( i would be there everyweekend :-))

much as i like the creativity steve it may impinge on young mums/blue rinsers visiting….it sounds like a dream cafe though,for blokes…

great ideas! especially the old pacman machine!

keep em coming!

loving your profile pic andy!

ive already got a couple of bling cabinets!

You could make some XTR cake, or some xx scones or some fox flapjack and keep it in a bling cabinet next to the bling cabinet
Mmmmmmmmmmmcakeymmmmmm….

+1 for what project says
Local delicacy + a signature dish
Coffee from these instaed of Italian steamer;
Bunn coffee machines
All the rage in the area of Canada I was in last year. Much better than standing around waiting for a capolattiwhatever imo.
Do some research or get some friends/family to go and size up the opposition.
Current issues regarding staffing and the cleaning/clearing of tables/toilets is becoming evident in recent times. Reduced portion sizes and adding extra tables creating a crowded feeling in some of my local cafes.

good quality food is the key.
and when you get busy and start doing well, do not start buying cheaper stuff to make more profit.
that is how most cafe’s/sarnie shops go tit’s up.

I know nothing about your local market or the catering/bike trade but…

…I keep reading that the online shops can sell cheaper than small retailers can buy trade & I’ve often wondered if there’s any future in having a few internet tables where customers can order parts from major on-line retailers & have them delivered to the premises on the understanding that the workshop fit the parts.

Customers don’t have to ‘be in’ for the delivery & get the parts fitted properly – you have to carry less stock and make profit on the fitting while customers waiting to collect sit in comfort guzzling tea/coffee & gorging on cake….

keep your head open, this may not fit your location, but,
ie pub near me is struggling, building site open up nearby to do a row of newbuilds, barwoman nips round, introduces herself and persuades them to come for a 8.00am fry up and then combined that with taking the sandwich order which she delivers at midday, no wasted stock, sure it’s short term but it helped them

I run a cafe and I help out in a bike shop that my friends own… it’s boring, but do some homework – budget forecasts, business plans, swot analysis etc before you go into it. If you want decent kit you’ll need pretty deep pockets too (I guess you know this stuff already as a trained chef); making money out of catering is not as easy as tv shows would have you believe, and doing it whilst running a bike shop could be pretty interesting!

Yep that seemed to be one major issue…how to run 2 business’s in 2 locations at once.. I thought About starting smallish but working up to being better/bigger.totally agree on the food quality side of things… I was thinking about a more relaxed version of bettys ( I cut my teeth there as a young un!) if you’ve not been to bettys it’s worth a trip to York/Harrogate or ilkley…

Start realistically I would say, not neccessarily small… you don’t want to be swapping between serving cakes and lattes one minute and mending punctures the next. Maybe get a part timer in who keeps their hands clean during busy periods? Good luck though, I love running my cafe, the most rewarding job I’ve ever had.

get the black haired waitress from the woodbine in hope to work there

A bike shop in my hometown in Oz did this.

They kept it simple. Opened at gawdawful o’clock for the roadies out training. Attractive waitress 🙂

Good tea and coffee, good carrot and chocolate cake, bling to look at and fit waitresses = win.

Mugs of tea, not little cups. Shouldn’t cost much more and feels loads better, especially after a ride.

The very best of luck to ya!

A friend and were all set to see through our dream of opening a bike-repair-cafe in London (until just a few days ago …) and it truly would have been a very satisfying life.

So, here’s my tip: if you need an extra hand from someone who…

1. Is a jolly friendly-with-the-punters, Cytech 3-qualified, been-doing-it-a-while mechanic.
2. Has capital and has recently spent a lot of time looking into the bike/cafe industry.
3. Is eating some very tasty cupcakes of his own making which would be welcome fayre in any fine eatery.
4. Will work for peanuts in a dream job (’cause peanuts are tasty).
5. Is quite keen to leave the Big Smoke behind and relocate anywhere, especially Angus.

… bear bananaworld in mind!

Also, serve these… 😉

Re: coffee. Far better to have good filter coffee than all the frothy milky things. Cappuccino and the like are great if done well, but you really have to train your staff to make them properly for it to be worthwhile. I find it annoying going into a cafe where the only coffee is from an espresso machine tended by someone who doesn’t know how to use it properly – a shame when a decent cup of filter is hard to get wrong.

We are doing this right now so happy to catch up – email in profile

We did a survey in our village for a few days – excellent data for building your business plan and understanding cash flow.

Set up costs- we have an empty retail unit and we are looking at c18k set up cost ( Inc rates etc for the first six months) but that assumes we buy new.

Make sure you have break clauses in the contract in case it bombs and set up the company as ltd to protect your assets.

And look for value adds – lots of mum’s in our village so making it child friendly is key

Happy to pick up via email

R

If you want to do a bike / cafe mixture it might be wrth checking out this place in London. Very popular.

http://www.lookmumnohands.com/

I guess the other thing to think about is what customer demographic do you want to aim for/are available with money in the Arbroath area? No good targeting yummy mummies if they’ve nowhere to park their 4×4’s!

Couple of suggestions from a parents perspective – sell nice cakes, lardarse gateaux and the like for us dads, something less fattening for mums and simple cheap stuff that fussy little blighters like to eat – decent biscuits, plain rolls, scones (only EVER fresh!!) and the like.

Local excellent cakery to compare/compete with has to be the House of Dunn off towards Montrose (I think!) – Absolutely fantastic cafe there.

Obviously eat at as many cafe’s as you can find to do your research – happy to do that for you if you want 😀