Okay

1: Opening a new store
1a - In my humble opinion, the best time to open a new store is in the FALL.
If it's a highly urban area with schools nearby, and has good commuter
traffic to work. ie Grosse Pointe, Mt Clemens...

1b - Summer/Spring in Rural areas, because lets face it...who wants to
trudge to a new coffee shop in 4 feet of snow. ie. Clarkston, Grayling

2: Locations

2a - CORNER CORNER CORNER space...

2b - In urban areas...near a school, or inside an office building, to
primarily supply business' with foods, coffee's etc. That way...you can walk
20 feet and deliver $100 worth of sandwiches to the office space above you.

2c - Don't even bother opening in a rural area...and if you do...the best
place, is a stand alone store...with lots of bright, but tactful colors and
parking space.

3: Where not to open a coffee shop...

3a - Where people will not go...ie I'm not racist by anymeans...but a
primarily black neighborhood, that has no business traffic whatsoever...ie
Schoennerr and Statefair

3b - A cliff

3c - In a cave

4: Heating costs...

4a - wow...this is a doosie, hard to call...Well...there is no way around
it. I cut a check for $1000.00 a month at my shop...count on that figure
being the middle of the run.

4b - Cooling costs...same as heating costs. Sometimes a bit more...because
of the damned dry cleaners next door.

5: Hidden costs

5a - Lets not forget sugar in the raw, sweet -n- low, equal, standard
granulated sugar, creamer, napkins, plastic spoons knifes and forks. Roughly
$100 a week, and people waste that stuff all the time. ESPECIALLY the
napkins.

6: Coffee...ahhh

6a - Coffee...well, where do we start. lets start with Tampers...When you
buy a new machine...lets say a LaCimballi Mestradon 3300 you get these
crummy plastic tampers...now every barista knows that a tamper is an
essential part to pulling a perfect shot of espresso. The best tampers out
there, for standard cafe usage is a Reg Barber...these are $28.00 wholesale
if you get a lot of 25, They have wooden handles and a stainless steel
base...I recomend getting the ones with the european curve. I'll explain the
science behind it when I see you next Adam.

6b - Suppliers...Some of the best coffee I know of...is Ancora, there are
several types of beans. Now lets be realistic...you're not going to be able
to open the shop using beans you roasted...too much in labor costs, time and
effort when trying to balance marketing, etc etc. I'll provide a list of
decent suppliers soon.

6c - Use the best espresso beans...use good coffee beans. Do flavor shots
into individual coffees...more $$$$ no flavored coffee...too much waste.

7: Demographics...weehaw

7a - Target kids, lonely housewives, people who want to be hip, and business
men/women. Steer clear of the 'urban' images...if they want coffee, they'll
stop in.

7b - I do about $150.00 in one hour from lonely housewives..Even more so in
the fall, and winter, they have children who are at school in these seasons.
People on the way to work...between 6a and 7a I will do about $100.00. Keep
in mind, sales will go down when it begins to get cold, because you have
alot of people who are late for work...because the colder it gets the darker
it is when they wake up, and it takes close to a week for their bodies to
transition into waking up at 5am when it feels like 3am because of the dark.
Ergo...people will settle with drinking that pasty black stuff at work,
because they got up late, and don't have time to get a coffee that tastes
fantastic...like yours will.

8: Nightlife...bleh

8a - Night life at my shop sucks...its highly discouraging. BUT Good deals
help...target the highschoolers with music, poetry, and give them a place to
hang around so they don't feel uncomfortable by people like Ryan and Neil
being dicks all night.

8b - Music...Take Trixies for example...that place is dead in the mornings,
its in a bad location, they have mediocre coffee, less than addiquate
machinery, not a very comfortable environment, its never comfortable
tempreture wise, and Ian is a jackass. But they sure to pack it in on
Tuesdays, Sundays, and anyother day they have music or poetry. It's a night
hub...You want a place that does about $100 an hour...and remain open for 15
hours...thats $1500 a day...if you can do that...I'll give you my shop..

9: Smoking...

9a - This is a touchy subject, I smoke...heavily, but there is no smoking in
my shop. Why? because Chocolate Cigarette Smoke Chip cookies don't sound too
good to me, the cost of filters and smokeeters are expensive...and to run
them its about $0.15 an hour. But if your target market is smokers...lets
eat those Chocolate Cigarette Smoke Chip cookies.




k...thats all for now, more later

- Steve

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Messenger 7.5 is now out. Download it for FREE here.
http://messenger.msn.co.uk