How to Open a Cafe?
If you are planning to start a new business in the coffee industry, we recommend that you carefully read this guideline article that we have carefully prepared for you.
In a sophically designed corner of a decent café, you have a cup of coffee in your hand, a book and your favorite friend enters the door. And on top of that, this café is yours. Most people have dreamed of doing their own business while hosting their friends in their own café. Those who want to enter this business, which has been in vogue for the last 10 years, have concerns about where to start in the first place. While running a café may seem easy, opening it requires a lot of knowledge, research, and planning. It is important to develop your concept, budget and direction for the café you will open.
In this article, we will try to clarify your confusion and give detailed information about how to open a café step by step, what steps should be followed, its cost and profitability rates in order to clarify your confusion and start your own café successfully.
Steps to Open a Cafe
1- Is café management suitable for you?
Opening a café is a great business idea to serve great coffee, socialize, and make a profit. Although the thoughts of how to decorate your café, what your catering types will be, what kind of events you will organize on the weekends, what music you will play with espresso or coffee may seem very exciting to you, bills, paperwork, taxes, grumpy customers, broken equipment and absent baristas (coffee staff) are an indispensable part of your job. And it opens around 8-9 in the morning and closes at 24 at night. Before proceeding to the café business plan stage, you should determine whether owning a café is right for you and your long-term life plans.
2- Secure your personal finances
When you start any business, you should make sure that your personal finances are in order, and the investment you make should not put your livelihood at risk. In other words, you should not deplete your individual assets when it comes to coffee ventures and make sure that you have enough cash flow to pay your basic living expenses and meet the needs of your family until the capital you invested returns, that is, until you make a profit.
3- Is the café business profitable?
The café business is considered a profitable investment for those who start voluntarily and with the right choices. The café opened; Although the profitability rate varies according to its location, concept, success, size, whether it is affiliated with a brand and the audience it addresses, it is considered as an enterprise with a high profitability rate. In addition to the fact that profitability rates vary between 100% and 300%, a small and medium-sized café makes a net profit of 5-10 thousand TL per month, while large cafes can make a profit of 25-75 thousand TL. Would it have been such a popular and popular business idea if it wasn't winning?
Note: Also, do not think of the profitability of opening a café as the money you will earn on a monthly basis. In the future, your increasing brand image, signage value and name awareness will also increase the value of the workplace. If you consider transferring this business due to any situation, you can charge at least 5 times the investment cost you have incurred.
Note: With the increasing brand value, you can also receive new offers and open branches in different locations.
4- Look at the available markets
What do other cafes do? Who are the current competitors? What will be their reaction to your work? Who are the alternatives in your area? Although you don't have direct competitors, substitutes also play an important role in meeting the needs of your customers. Examine it analytically, but don't be afraid to listen to your inner voice about a particular place. If your inner voice isn't positive about it, then it might not be a good place to start a business there.
5- Learn as much as possible about coffee
Coffee is a complex beverage and there are more than 1000 flavonoids that make up its taste. Any combination of these flavonoids can change the taste and texture of a coffee drink. As a result, there is a lot you need to discover about these flavor beans, such as their roasting patterns, blends, etc. And you need to know what coffee to serve when your customers come in. In particular, you should know that; A coffee shop should not only have varieties of coffee. Because there is no definite information that every consumer will drink coffee. Tea varieties, different types of coffee, different types of hot and cold drinks should also be included in your menu.
6- Start your business plan
Taking action by writing down your thoughts and ideas coherently and comprehensively will help you get started in the café business right away. The process of writing a plan helps you really understand your local market and grasp the numbers you need to make the business successful. A business plan will guide you through every stage of developing and managing your café and will be a roadmap for how to structure, run, and grow your new business.
Your business plan should answer the following questions:
7- Determine your concept
What kind of café do you want and how do you imagine your concept. This is where you turn your dreams and ideas into real concepts on paper. Consider detailing your business concept in your café business plan, and you should elaborate it as you grow your business to fit your budget realities. Your concept also differs according to what kind of café you will open. For example; The concept of a small cute café and a hookah café, a café with a playground, and a café where different food and beverages are served will be different. Imagine the post-opening environment. Research existing cafes, necessary materials and carefully plan your own café business.
8- Arrange finances
Depending on the concept, location, decoration and size of the café you intend to open, the amount of financing you need will vary. This amount, which will vary from 30 thousand TL to 500 thousand TL, can even reach a few million TL for very luxurious and large cafes. If you are having problems with financing, you can apply to banks where you can get loans or KOSGEB entrepreneurial supports. However, having at least 20% cash while making the financial plan allows you to quickly make transactions in the opening and preparation stages.
If you are going to open a café from scratch, you need to decide whether you will buy or rent your space. If you are going to rent, you must have a deposit and at least six months' rent ready. For your design costs, it varies according to the concept you have determined. A café that always has a different concept is preferred and is effective in maintaining customer loyalty. You need to keep the necessary materials, which are other expense items, and the salary of the employees ready for at least 6 months, just like rent.
9- Buying a dealership
The coffee industry has become a really big market in our country. If you want to step into the coffee industry, it will be very, very beneficial for you to do research on the coffee franchise system in the first place. Even if you do not open a coffee franchise business in the next period, the information you will receive from the company officials you have met will definitely provide a great advantage for you. In addition, if you are considering buying a dealership, you should not ignore the fees you have to pay, such as dealership fees and naming rights, and you should compare the advantages and disadvantages of buying a dealership.
10- Determine your menu
Determining what you will offer your customers in the café is one of the most important areas of business planning. When you don't, you won't be able to determine your café equipment requirements, estimated budget, space requirements, and thus your location. To find your menu, you should spend some time, visit potential sellers. While coffee and tea are your central focus, additional products will increase your average profit margin.