10+ Meaningful Ways to Grow Your Coffee Shop

Ways to Grow Your Coffee Shop

Coffee Shop Income Growth

10+ Meaningful Ways to Grow Your Coffee Shop Revenue

You have already opened your coffee shop, have great customers, and love what you do. Your coffee shop brings some revenue, and your baristas seem happy with their paycheck. But there’s a feeling you have about your business…

So what’s the problem?

The problem may be that you need to grow.

If your business can’t grow, your coffee shop will become stagnate and struggle to compete.

Growth is a part of the natural process for every business. And while it’s natural to have ups and downs, the expectation is that your coffee business will grow and evolve.

This post will discuss meaningful ways to grow your coffee shop business.

If you feel that your coffee shop is stagnating or not performing as well as it should, you’ll want to look at some of the following recommendations.

Why Grow Your Coffee Business?

Grow to Avoid Coffee Shop Failure

The final aim of any business is expansion. If your business is successful and shows significant financial data, you will inevitably want to grow it.

What can be called coffee shop business growth?

Coffee business growth can be explained in several ways: buying new coffee equipment and turning your business into a chain coffee shop or coffee franchise. Whatever it is, it can be measured in the increased revenue stream.

Usually, your growth involves something that goes beyond your day-to-day operations: selling new items to your menu, opening a new coffee shop, adding a mobile coffee operation like a coffee bike, offering a new service like delivery or coffee subscriptions, roasting coffee or baking pastries yourself, etc. To do it all, your business must be financially successful and have accessible funds to realize it.

Indicators of coffee business growth:

• Increased sales
• Higher average receipt price
• Higher revenue
• Increase in customer numbers
• Higher product margins

Your growth should be foreseen in a business plan in the early days of your coffee business venture. Your coffee shop business plan should include a chapter on future ambitions and growth.

Why is it important to grow as a coffee business?

Growth is an indicator of a healthy and well-managed coffee business. Your growth indicates a steady hand on the helm of your vision and efforts.

Over the long term, there are only two choices for successful coffee businesses, you either sink or swim.

A business not demonstrating growth over time may indicate that various adjustments are needed.

There are several reasons why coffee shops fail. Things include poor management, coffee shop owner burnout, poor coffee products or customer service, and not effectively competing or adapting to market trends.

All of these areas need to develop over time. If not improved, your business will struggle to grow and stay afloat.

Paying attention to your sales data, income, and other factors will be a continuous requirement for coffee shop owners.

Next, taking some necessary first steps will be a key to your progress, so we’ll discuss those next.

Further Reading: Why Coffee Shops Fail?

Meaningful Ways to Grow Your Coffee Shop

Be Open to Adapting

Change starts at the top – with you – the coffee shop owner. To grow, you might need to make some pretty hard decisions to take back the trajectory of your coffee business.

Among those things is adapting – or being open to change. If your coffee business is struggling or on the verge of failing, you may institute some significant changes quickly.

Sometimes the only option is to change or fail.

Adapting is often more challenging than it seems, especially if you’re comfortable with how things have been. An attitude shift needs to occur with you and your management team (owner, general manager, staff leads, etc.), and consistent adherence to your changes needs to happen to have the desired results.

For further reading, please read our post, How to Be an Amazing Coffee Shop Manager.

Stop What’s Not Working

What needs to be stopped today?

This may include your choice of menu items, your hours of operation, inventory management, and even your staffing choices.

• Are you or your employees coming in late? Stop this today!
• Does your equipment need to be cleaned? Start this today!
• Do you need to find a new, higher-quality wholesale coffee roaster? Please do it now!

There are things you can do today. Right now.

You may have to fire your manager or baristas to regain management footing. Just one employee can have a negative (or positive) impact on a small organization such as a coffee shop. Will you fire that problem employee today?

To see what’s not working, you may have to bring outside help to spend a few days with you and your staff. Either way, you will want to stop those things that lead you to fewer sales, a poor reputation, and a reduced quality of your coffee.

Start With Measuring Everything

You may be accustomed to doing routine bookkeeping. But chances are that if your coffee business slumps for some time, you’re not collecting as much data as you should or acting on the information you are ordering.

Therefore, you’ll want to create a plan to measure where you are – and measure your actions moving forward.

For example, consider starting with your coffee and menu inventory:

• How effective is your inventory management?
• Are you running out of items or ingredients too soon?
• Are you throwing perishable items away?

Either way, you’re spending too much or leaving money on the table. Both are not good options for any business, let alone a struggling one.

Put a type of measurement system in place that works for you. For example, consider opting for a new coffee shop POS system, creating an inventory checklist, post staff hours, or some other action – and then measuring it weekly. Over time, you’ll start to look at how your changes will transform your business.

Refocus on Your Target Customer

Over time, your customers may likely change. The customers you started serving years ago may not be most of your customers.

Suppose you started serving college students, but several new high-end condos got built around your business over the last few years (it often happens). In that case, your customers’ taste preferences may have changed.

Listen to your customer feedback:

• What are they saying as they stand in front of your menu?
• Are the prices too low?
• Are they looking for something else?

Refocusing on who your customers are will help you make better decisions about your menu, seating, and café design and ambiance.

This can also mean creating new or reviewing your current loyalty programs. This can attract new customers and reinforce your existing customer base.

Expand Your Coffee Shop Menu

You may have just started a small coffee shop serving coffee, tea, and muffins. That’s okay.

But at some point, you may have to reassess your coffee shop menu and determine how you can expand it.

Often an expanded menu means expanded sales. Consider what your customers are looking for and develop a menu around their wants and needs.

Many coffee shops eventually start buying and roasting their coffee themselves and even sell it to other businesses. This reduces vendors' costs and gives you more control over what and when you serve.

If you feel more like baking – you can add a bakery or confectionary to your coffee operation.

Get a New POS System

A new Point of Sale system may provide the data you need to make better managerial decisions.

Today’s POS systems can help you create efficiencies that you could have only dreamed of a decade ago – relatively affordable.

If you are running on an old system, consider upgrading. The investment you make will be well worth your time and money.

Grow Your Coffee Shop Business

Institute a Training Program

Change from the top – down. Once you determine a game plan to grow your coffee shop, you’ll need to institute a training program that is effective enough to become part of your culture.

Investing in a barista training program may seem like a waste of time and money – but it’s not.

In fact, your training program can deliver lasting benefits to the health of your coffee shop. Additionally, well-trained staff can increase efficiencies, reduce waste, create better products, offer better service, and have a lower turnover rate.

Expand to the Sidewalk (Outdoor Seating)

To grow your coffee shop, you may not need a second location immediately. Instead, consider expanding outward to improve your seating capacity. Whether you have seating or patio space, you’ll want to look at different ways to grow your coffee business.

You’ll likely have to get permitting or licensing from your local city agencies.

Additionally, consider reworking your interior space to maximize space – to create greater space, more comfortable tables, chairs, and sofas.

Offer Alcohol or Evening Menu

Serving alcohol can change the entire vibe of your coffee shop. Moving from espressos and lattes to wine, beer, and spirits will expand your customer base and target market.

Serving alcohol will naturally push your hours into later in the day and evening. This can help you increase your daily sales and revenue. If you’re considering serving alcohol at your coffee shop, read our post, Should You Serve Alcohol at Your Coffee Shop?

Partner With Local Organizations

Developing professional relationships with local organizations may help give your sales a shot in the arm.

You may invite your local rotary club, book club, or sewing club to use your space on particular nights. Or invite student clubs, business organizations, or community groups; you can always ensure that you’ll have a whole house in the evenings and weekends.

Improve Your Messaging & Branding

Do you need a branding makeover? For example, if your customer base has changed, your regional demographics have changed, and your menu has been upgraded, you may need to overhaul your messaging and marketing.

Consider refreshing your logo, your color scheme, and your overall messaging. The changes can pique your customers’ interest and give you and your staff the feeling of starting from a clean slate.

Promote Your Coffee Shop

If you’ve taken steps to improve your coffee shop brand, menu, and other changes, you should consider promoting your coffee shop in various ways. Whether through social media, local newspapers, blogs, podcasts, or local cable. For further reading, check out our post, How to Promote and Market Your Coffee Shop.

Redesign Your Coffee Shop

Your coffee shop space might need a fresh new look. Reconsider your menu boards and the order table:

• Is it convenient for your customers to order?
• Are there any lines during rush hour?
• Does your coffee shop interiors need a touch of fresh paint?
• Is your furniture still in good shape?

If you answer YES to any of these questions, you should take action today. Your customers will certainly appreciate the improved comfort of your coffee shop.

Meaningful Ways to Grow Your Coffee Shop

Additional Questions:

Is it beneficial to make my coffee shop kid-friendly?

If your regular customers are coming in with young children, you should consider making your coffee shop kid-friendly – or kid-friendlier.

There are several low-cost ways to make your coffee shop kid-friendly. These may include creating a safe “kids' corner,” having high chairs, or creating a space for customers to park their strollers.

For more information, read our post, How to Make Your Coffee Shop Kid-Friendly.

How to forecast my coffee shop sales?

As you make changes to grow your coffee shop, you’ll want to get a better handle on your future coffee shop sales. To assess your future coffee shop sales, you’ll need to determine where you are now and even consider where your sales should be in six months or a year. This information will help give you an estimate and even a goal.

To develop your sales forecast, you’ll want to estimate your daily sales, including the number of estimated customers and the average receipt ticket. For more information on determining your coffee shop sales, read our post, How to Determine Your Coffee Shop Sales.

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