How to Start a Board Game Coffee Shop

How to Start a Board Game Coffee Shop

How to Start a Board Game Coffee Shop

Do you love board games and coffee?

If so, starting a board game coffee shop may be just the right fit for you. The popularity of board games and coffee makes the combination of a board game store and a coffee shop an exciting prospect.

A board game coffee shop is one of the many coffee shop concepts and ideas that are both exciting and potentially profitable. The concept joins two complementary businesses to generate a unique experience for the customer and a profit engine for the owner.

This post will discuss how to start a board game café in your city. Specifically, we will look at the benefits, costs, and actionable steps you can take.

For a more in-depth discussion on setting up a coffee shop, please read our article, Steps to Starting a Coffee Shop Successfully.

Starting a Board Game Coffee Shop

I love the idea of starting a board game coffee shop because I'm a big fan of a local board game café here in Seattle. In addition, I have seen that this concept can be among the most successful of all coffee shop concepts if planned right.
Boardgame cafés can offer hours of entertainment, provide an excellent resource for gamers, and give the physical space for friends and like-minded people to meet, drink coffee, and have fun.

Even though there are plenty of opportunities for people to enjoy online computer gaming, I love that there is still a very strong segment of the population that enjoys meeting in person and playing games that they love together.

Let's consider some of the benefits that you may have when starting a board game coffee shop.

Board game café business benefits:

• Competitive advantage
• Multiple streams of income
• Expanded hours of service
• Dedicated customers
• Expanded menu options
• Great community hub
• Money-making hobby

Let's get more specific about each of these potential advantages:

Your Competitive Advantage:

There probably aren't many board game cafés in your area – but chances are there soon will be. The potential profit from this concept makes it an enticing choice for many coffee business owners.

Being the first board game café in your area offers you a potentially robust competitive advantage. In addition, offering games and bringing like-minded people together is a significant differentiation.

Many would-be competitors would simply not be able to provide them with the same type of experience and benefits.

Multiple Streams of Income

As a board game coffee shop, you have a variety of ways to generate revenue. Your first revenue stream will be your menu, including the possibility of serving alcohol too. The expansion of your menu will be a significant revenue booster as your customers could potentially spend hours at your cafe and want a variety of snacks, appetizers, or food.

Other income streams include table and room rentals, board and card game sales, educational classes, and other merchandise sales.

Each event, competition, or board game tournament you have will likely bring in various customers that will boost your daily sales.

Expanded Hours of Service

As a board game coffee shop, you'll likely have expanded hours. These hours may start in the early morning and last until late into the evening. Additionally, weekend tournaments, competitions, and birthday parties will likely keep your business very busy.

Expanded hours will likely bring in additional sales that can jack up your monthly revenue. For example, a typical coffee shop might be open from 6 am to 3 pm. A board game café can be open from 6 am to 10 pm.

While the additional hours will incur variable expenses (such as inventory, utilities, and labor), your increased sales will likely lead to higher profits.

Dedicated Customers

Weekend tournaments, group gatherings, and providing a space where gamers can play and socialize with each other can work to solidify the loyalty of your customers.

Whether they come to play, watch, or order coffee, you'll likely have a dedicated following of loyal customers who want to be a part of the nightly events, tournaments, and classes.

Even people who are not into games can still become your patrons if you provide them with excellent coffee and superior customer service.

Expanded Menu Options

To build off what I just mentioned earlier, you may consider expanding your menu options and having a small kitchen or food prep area. Provide menu table tents or signs that can remind your customers what snacks you have available. Make sure your coffee shop menu board highlights all the great options you have.

No doubt, your expanded coffee shop menu will provide your customers with food and beverages with potentially higher margins. For example, a soup and sandwich combo meal will have higher margins than a donut or muffin.

Consider high-margin, easy-to-prepare snacks, substantial food, and beverage ideas that you can provide for your customers as they play games that can last hours.

Great Community Hub

Besides making money, you want your business to be beneficial for your community. Look around in your area. Maybe it lacks a community place where people could gather, talk, and play? If this niche is already taken look further. A board game coffee shop has the potential to be extremely popular near student housing, high dense communities, or tourist areas.

Money-making Enterprise

Many of us have dreamt about a hobby that would bring us money. Every business owner who sets out on a private business adventure should think about a business idea that excites him or her in the first place. Being passionate about your concept and following your own interests will give you an extra motivational boost. It can be impactful for your staff morale and customer loyalty.

As a board game coffee shop, you want to create a space that you would personally enjoy if you were to go and play games with your friends. You also want to choose the games that you personally like, play, and can talk about. The same can be said about coffee. If these two interests of yours match then you might have a winning combination on your hands.

So now that we've discussed the potential benefits let's get more into the details of how to start your board game café.

Further Reading: How to Start a Coffee Shop Successfully

How to Start a Board Game Coffee Shop

How to Start a Board Game Coffee Shop

Steps to Open Your Board Game Coffee Shop:

• Develop your concept
• Choose a location
• Determine your costs
• Write a business plan
• Register your business
• Secure your funding
• Acquire your coffee shop equipment
• Obtain your furniture, displays, and fixtures
• Secure Your Inventory
• Market Your board game coffee shop

For more direct requirements to start a coffee shop, read Requirements to Start a Coffee Shop

Develop your Board Game Coffee Shop Concept

Before anything else, you will want to nail down your board game café concept. To do this, start by figuring out the type of experience you want your customer to have and then developing your café around that experience.

For example, do you plan on hosting board game tournaments or other competitions? This may require some extra space for longer tables or game rooms. This, in turn, will help you figure out your physical space needs, occupancy level, and space you'll need for your kitchen and storage supply.

If people stay longer than 30 minutes, do you want to offer a deeper menu with soups, sandwiches, and other food and beverages? This, in turn, may propel you to think about getting a location with a kitchen or an expanded food prep area.

Once you have your specific board game café concept and menu, you will write that down in a business plan. Within the plan, you likely offer more specific details on:

• Your concept
• Your menu and equipment
• Space and lease requirements
• Budget and forecasts
• Choosing your vendors (coffee and wholesale board suppliers)

Within your coffee shop business plan, you will finalize much of the details in planning before you start looking for a location.

Your plan will also include everything from analyzing your competition to developing your financial projections, cost factors, and funding mix.

For more information on how to write a coffee shop business plan, please read our post, How to Write Your Coffee Shop Business Plan.

Your Business Structure

Early in the process, you will want to create your business structure as a legal entity in your state.

For example, you may decide to create a partnership or corporation or enjoy the benefits of a coffee shop LLC.
Either way, you will need to register your business and get an Employee Identification Number (EIN). This will help you do everything from opening your business bank account, hiring employees, and applying for your reseller license.

The Costs of Starting a Board Game Cafe

We've previously written about the general costs of starting a coffee shop. A board game coffee shop would be slightly different, so let's focus more specifically on this board game café concept.

There are two general categories of costs for opening your board game café: startup costs and operational costs.
Both are linked, but let's focus on the startup costs for now.

Board Game Coffee Shop Startup Costs:

• Initial legal & administrative costs
• Research costs
• Initial lease & security deposit
• Café build-out
• Coffee shop equipment
• Furniture and fixtures
• Initial marketing
• Training
• Initial inventory purchases
• Games, games, games

Board Game Coffee Shop Operational Costs:

• Monthly lease
• Utilities
• Insurance
• Wages
• Inventory costs
• Marketing

For a more in-depth article on general coffee shop costs, read our article, How Much Does It Cost to Start a Coffee Shop?

Steps to Starting a Board Game Coffee Shop

Develop Your Board Game Coffee Shop Budget

As you research and develop your concept, everything else will start falling into place.
This is where you want to develop a solid budget for your coffee business to help you figure out just how much your venture will cost.

For more information on developing your budget, please read our article, How to Develop Your Coffee Shop Budget.

Creating Your Funding Mix

Once you know your budget, you will develop your funding mix. Your funding mix is your breakdown of the cash or investment pools you will need to get your money from. This can include money from your personal savings, business loans, and business partners, among others.

As you cost out your coffee shop startup, this important analysis will help you determine your strategy to get the money you need until you become self-sustainable or profitable.

Picking the Right Location

Choosing the right location for your game board coffee shop will require incorporating a variety of demographic factors that will be important for your specific type of business.

Depending on your city, you may need to be near public transportation, such as bus stops metro lines, or have ample parking.

You want to be easily accessible to your target market. For example, young people and students may likely play a large segment of your target market. Therefore, it may be helpful to be near schools, colleges, or universities and transit hubs.

The physical space also has to be large enough to accommodate the number of patrons you may want. Either due to availability or cost, this need for a larger space may limit your location options in your area.

For additional information on choosing the right location, please read How to Choose the Right Coffee Shop Location.

Board Game Café Design & Layout

A board game café may need a larger space for larger-than-average tables for games. You will also want additional shelving and displays for games and merchandise.

Your design and layout may include gaming rooms where groups can play or events can occur, such as birthday parties or gaming meetups.

You might want to plan out and invest more in solid lighting and sound absorption materials. Unlike a regular coffee shop where the light can be dim, board games require more light to read the manual or see the cards. Games can get very loud too, so if you have different rooms or sections in your board games coffee shop, consider using better insulation. It might also protect you from neighbors complaining about the noise in your business.

Getting Your Gaming Inventory

When you start a board game café, you will need access to various gaming products. Once you establish your business structure and get a reseller license, you will establish a wholesale account with vendors or boards game and card distributors.

Over the last couple of decades, consolidation led to larger national, international, and regional distributors of board games and card games. This means that you'll likely get your inventory from out of state.

Before you decide which distributors to reach out to, consider searching for the games you want to provide and those distributors that can best meet your needs.

Also, note that game board and game card distributors may require you to have a business structure setup and a reseller license before they sell to you.

Staying Ahead of the Competition

Opening a board game coffee shop can mean you have a variety of direct and indirect competitors. Therefore, staying focused on your competitive advantage and customer service will be necessary.

Like “typical” coffee shops, you will have to focus on offering a menu your customers want with quality food and beverages. To do this, it would be essential to hire amazing baristas and invest in quality barista training.
Consider offering the best coffee you can find locally. Offer gluten-free, kosher, or other higher-quality items (if that's what your customers want).

At every step of the way, drive your value, service, and products upwards – and then base your pricing on that perceived value.

For more tips, read our post, How to Stay Ahead of the Competition.

Marketing and Promotion

You will need to get the word out that you are now open for business. From posting banners and window signs to setting up your website and speaking to local media, you will want a full-frontal effort to promote your new business.
I recommend hosting a grand opening.

A grand opening will help mark the start of your new business but also help get the word out. Marketing and promoting your coffee shop will need a budget and strategy to maximize your profits. In addition, you will want to use your coffee shop website, social media accounts, and email to promote your various events, game nights, and product specials.

Board Game Options for Coffee Shops

There are hundreds or even thousands of different games you can play. The popularity of these games fluctuates. What is popular today may not be popular next year. And that might be a good thing because this keeps your customers coming back for more opportunities to learn and play new and fun games.

Getting feedback from your customers will be important as you continuously adapt your offerings (merchandise, public tournaments, and menu items). Your customers will often lead the way when it comes to deciding what types of tournaments, competitions, or game nights they would like to have.

Current Popular Board Games:

Additional Questions:

Do I need to provide computer monitors in my game store?

Today, board game coffee shops are often offline. Many of the games at cafes are actual board games or card games. However, if you do have online games at your cafe, you might want your customers to use their personal phones, tablets, or laptops. Therefore, you don't need to provide computers or monitors.

Could I serve alcohol at my board game coffee shop?

It is possible to serve alcohol at your café. However, you would need to check your local regulations and requirements. For example, if you serve alcohol, you may need an expanded menu; consider age requirements and staff ages. For more information on serving alcohol, read our post, Should You Serve Alcohol at Your Coffee Shops?

What's the best way to start your board game coffee shop?

A board game café or coffee shop is a unique coffee shop business concept with a lot of potential. In many ways, it's similar to other coffee shop startups; however, you have the added component of games. So, the first thing you want to do is understand the steps to start a coffee shop (a general coffee shop). Next, you will want to write your business plan and determine your funding options.

Are You Ready To Get Started?

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Coffee Shop Startups

Based in Seattle, Washington, USA, Coffee Shop Startups is dedicated to providing you with the most relevant information on how to start a coffee shop business successfully. Over the last 11 years, we've helped thousands of aspiring coffee business owners worldwide. We harness the experience, wisdom, and knowledge of many successful coffee shop owners to help you increase your chances of success and profits. We support business owners who want to start a coffee business by providing them with valuable information on starting their coffee business successfully.