# New café – help needed



## Sizzler

I opened a café/food place and need some help. The café has 20 indoor seats, facing a street with reasonably high footfall, about 150m from a major transport stop. There are plenty of other cafes about, including in an indoor shopping mall at the transport stop. The premises is small, entirely glass-fronted. The cooking area is intentionally in the window, with seating to the rear. There is on-street seating, with a brightly-coloured branded wind-breaker, and on-street signs.

There is a big takeaway coffee market in the area and we should get a chunk of it. The food concept is hugely successful in other countries, includes sweet and savoury, not so well know here but by no means unknown. It is very suitable for eat-in or takeaway, and we have branded packaging for takeaway.

There is a strong tradition of takeaway food here, with a huge number of outlets serving a pretty narrow range of food, often low quality.

We are open 10 months, and the business is growing, but it's much slower than I would like.

First of all, the things that I think I have right:


The food - we have large portions and more than 95 per cent of plates are scraped clean.

The coffee - we go for an expensive brand and people like it

Friendliness - in the city where we are, service can be distinctly abrupt. I hired/trained people making it clear that they always had to be cheerful and welcome with customers, and I'm confident that they do this in a genuine way.

Cleanliness - again, our city has poor hygiene standards and we are way above the standard

Online - we have a website including location and menu (a couple of hits a day) Facebook (260 fans) and are listed on all the review sites.

Trip Advisor: ranked in our (large) city's top 5 per cent, plus good reviews on Yelp/Qype, Google and Facebook


A huge portion of our custom is repeat business, frequently tourists who find the location come back several times during a short stay, and the locals that keep coming back, to the point that I fear we are over-reliant on a small number of customers

Things that may be going wrong:


The core problem is getting people to come in. New customers often comment that they hadn't noticed us despite living on the street.

There are advertising A-boards, outdoor seating, a brightly-branded windbreaker, and the exterior is brightly painted in the branded colours.

We opened last March, and hoped the summer would build business, but this wasn't helped by the landlord, without warning covering the building with a scaffold for six weeks from June, making the place invisible

Three brightly-painted old bicycles at nearby junctions with advertising boards attached


Despite all this, I think we lack a certain street-shout that would bring people in. Perhaps the vision of the interior from the outside is not so appealing. I wanted a busy counter with cooks making food visible from the street, with a till at the end of that counter, but because of the low activity, that space is not so busy. Busy spurts are often self-perpetuating.

We have very quick service and the turnover rate of the customers (even eat-in ones) is fast. This would be a plus if we were busy, but it can make the place look empty even on good days.

The interior has off-white walls and (an inherited) linoleum floor, which is a bit soulless, but I have tried to fill the walls with menu blackboards, posters, wall decorations and other items, but I don't feel that we are quite right yet.

I have tried Groupon, but it mostly attracts the sort of extremely price-sensitive customers who I would hardly want even if they weren't moving straight on to the next offer.

When the weather allowed, we gave out street samples and this works, but is not so time-effective, and both staff and frequent passers-by are resistant to it.

Basically, once people come in, they love us. Getting them in is the problem. Anybody got any ideas?

I'm happy to send private messages with menus, photos or whatever other information to anyone who is interested in making suggestions.


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## Mrboots2u

Can you people out with coffee samples , food samples , flyer the area yourself with an offer on something ( food - drink ).

Where are the rest of the market going ? Somewhere cheaper, closer , with different offer?


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## Sizzler

Thanks for the reply. I was trying to keep the post brief, but



Mrboots2u said:


> Can you people out with coffee samples , food samples


 Done, works but it's slow and labour-intensive



Mrboots2u said:


> flyer the area yourself with an offer on something ( food - drink ).


 Done. Not much of a response in terms of the flyer offer being used, maybe raised the profile a bit though.



Mrboots2u said:


> Where are the rest of the market going ?


There are loads of takeaway coffee places with a wide range of quality and prices. Price typically tracks quality, the range would go from pure muck at about 40 per cent cheaper than us to a large chain with a large outlet right opposite the transport station with prices up to double ours. I like to think our quality is, at absolute worst as good as theirs, if not better.


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## Mrboots2u

Ok cool , my examples are what I use in my business (not coffee or hospitality. ) . Sometimes building up that market share after opening is a longer term project . Getting a few people on through the ways mentioned , building up word of mouth from them.

Quick wins would be pricing out the competition but this isn't long term profitable and someone else can it to you In turn.

Things like tasting and flyers are a long term project , labour intensive and hard work.

Perhaps try generating PR through being interactive with your community , support a charity close to the area. Can you oarrnge people In quiet times or evening though book clubs, mother and baby evenings, music and poetry . They will be loyal and psread the word too.

None of these will make a business grow 10 percent in 2 months but are worth trying .


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## garydyke1

Well as this is a coffee forum . Lets focus on the coffee : )

You say an 'expensive brand' this doesnt tell us very much?.

IMO - If you had a reputation for the best coffee around this would be a huge reason for people to go out of their way, now if your food and service are as good as the coffee thats a bonus.


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## Chris_on_caffeine

Could you post some photos of the place? Might help identify areas for improvement.


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## Glenn

Welcome to Coffee Forums UK Sizzler

Where in the UK are you based?


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## radish

Maybe give us a sample of your menu as well - perhaps your not supplying what people want day in day out in the area you are in?


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## Sizzler

radish said:


> Maybe give us a sample of your menu as well - perhaps your not supplying what people want day in day out in the area you are in?


Thanks very much for the help so far. I have sent a link to the website with photos and the menu to all the posters, and will send to anyone else who requests it too.

I think that the issue is getting people in for the first time, our return rate is extremely high. I am reluctant to do any further discounting because I think that signals low quality, that we are like the low-quality operators around, and we are pretty competitive anyway. In any case, people don't see the pricing until they come in anyway.

all ideas welcome.


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## coffeebean

Hi Sizzler,

What coffee are you using at the moment? I would be happy to send you some samples of my coffee to try if you let me know where to send it

Andy


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