# to buy and change focus or start from scratch



## Mr Alan (Feb 27, 2016)

Hey guys

Do you think it would be better to buy over another business and bring in better coffee and focus it to that a bit more and take away coffee or to try and find a new blank canvas


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

I suspect you will get answers for either solution, if it were me, I would try to find a new blank canvas. In this way I'm not paying for the customer good will (or not), getting a load of equipment, decor, layout etc.. that I'm not 100% happy with and would probably want to change. In some ways the costs could actually be higher. With an empty shop, everything goes where I want it, all the equipment is exactly what I choose, the layout is as I want. Plus you get the significant draw factor of a new outlet, one which has a reputation thats 100% what you make it.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I see people taking the same building -s near me every year as a cafe and one as a sham switch shop .

Must have been X 5 people trying to make either work - they never do .

My question would be of the old location is so great - why are they selling - what can you do to make of different . Sometimes

Location and established reputation ( if not good ) are too hard to break


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

I think both above are good points and maybe it depends how close what you'd be buying is to what your end vision would be?


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## jimbocz (Jun 5, 2015)

Mrboots2u said:


> I see people taking the same building -s near me every year as a cafe and one as a sham switch shop .
> 
> Must have been X 5 people trying to make either work - they never do .
> 
> ...


Man, this is so true. We've got a restaurant in our town that changes hands every 8 months. Persian, then Turkish, then Italian, it's been like that for 12 years. Each time there's some hard working guy busting his butt to make his business work but the grim reaper is always lurking around. Each one of those thought that he'd be the one to make it a success because he was going to focus on quality food. Until he went out of business as well.

I'm just an amateur but I'd start new.


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## PPapa (Oct 24, 2015)

No one mentioned that yet, but it makes sense to research how is the existing business doing and why is it being sold.

If I was unhappy about a certain place (not just coffee related), I would pass through, I wouldn't follow it on Facebook, so I would assume it's just as bad all the time. Unless it's really specialist shop, I would just never visit that shop again.

One of the coffee shops listed in Indie Scottish Coffee Guide sells a blend that says only "100% arabica". Served me a flat white with scalded milk with nearly no micro foam. Chances of me getting back there? Nil.


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## CoffeeJam (Mar 7, 2016)

We were having the same thoughts last year and decided to start from scratch. Been in talks with the owner since July and still haven't agreed on terms though. If a business gets a bad reputation it can be hard to change people's minds....even with a total overhaul.


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## Barry Cook (Feb 14, 2012)

From personal experience, I would definitely advise to start from scratch.

Our old business had developed a reputation for being more a cafe than coffee shop, until we were introduced to speciality coffee at which point we got trained and tried to change the look (and name) of our cafe, and obviously changed the products we were selling. No matter what we done, we were still seen as a "caff". So we closed down and started again in a smaller town a few miles down the road, and are doing rather well. I'm even pleased to say that several decent coffee shops have opened in our old town, and are doing well with a good "coffee shop" reputation.


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## Stevie (Nov 18, 2015)

Start from scratch is the best way, bur check your new premises can handle the power you'll need (a lot of smaller or older retail properties in lots of cities can't) and check the plumbing etc is all sound.


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