help on coffeeshop ideas

[coffee821]

I'm opening a coffee shop with in house roasting next year and I'd like to get some feedback on my ideas.

Is it a good idea to offer different kinds of coffee beans and blends for my espresso based drinks? Or I should just use a house blend for all?

I'd also like to give my customers choices as to how they want their brewed coffee to be prepared. For example, a house blend prepared in a french press or a sumatra using a coffee syphon/vacuum. Will this be very complicated?

Thanks!

 

[JavaQueen]

Not all espresso blends make good drip coffee, and not all drip coffee blends make good espresso. I would be making a separate blend for each.

As for choice in brewing methods, don't overwhelm your customer with choices. I would offer either your standard brewed coffee with choice of a french press for those that know/want that. Otherwise, your typical customer will get confused :lol:

 

[cafemakers]

You may wish consider either roasting or opening a retail coffee shop rather than both at the start. The disciplines and equipment required to do both well can be prohibitive for the typical new coffee business owner. Any cost benefit that the novice roaster may obtain by roasting-their-own will likely be offset by the lack of sales volume in the coffee shop from roasting-it-badly. Not to mention, it can be tricky to find a good location that will accommodate both operations.

If a retail coffee shop is your business focus, I recommend that you select a roaster-partner that can work collaboratively with you and supply you weekly with good, high quality product. There are any number of very good full-time small wholesale roasters around the country that will gladly work with you to produce your own private label signature blends.

However, if roasting is your true calling, dedicate yourself to learning as much about roasting as possible, make it a full time profession and do it well. Be aware that any retail storefront is going to absorb a significant portion of your time, and you should be staffed and funded accordingly.

In either case, you are off to a good start by searching for more information.

 

[Alun_evans]

Andrew makes a good point. There are a different set of disciplines required to be a sucessful retailer vs being a succesful micro-roaster. Many roasters ultimatley do develop their own store-front to spotlight their product...but often this is happens as an after thought (ie: after they have established themselves as a sucessful roaster- supplying wholesale to cafes and institutional clients). I would agree with Andrew- select one of the disciplines first, get established then you can branch out later.

 

[coffee821]

Thank you for the suggestions.

Just a little explanation as to why I want a roaster in my coffee shop. My father has a wholesale roasting business selling robusta and excelsa coffee. No arabica. His target is the lower end market in the Philippines. I want to improve on this.

I have always wanted to open a coffeehouse. I know how to roast. It just seems logical to open a coffeeshop with inhouse roasting. I admit I need help in the cupping department though. But I believed that when I open my roastery and focus on selling the best beans that I can get here, I will sell the best tasting cup. I'm just a little confused on how to do this but I think I'm getting there.

I already bought a probat l5. It's been sitting in my warehouse for 2 years now.

 

[BaristaTrainer]

I agree with the posts above, but hearing more about your background I see why you want to marry the two into one store. Roasting in house is another animal but if you have experience in the business you may be able to make it work well.

I recommend having a professional work with you on blends, profiling, green bean sourcing etc. Do your research, buy a small 1/2 or 1 pound fluid bed home roaster just for test roasts on single origin arabica beans. Chuck at CoffeeWholesalers http://www.coffeewholesalers.com/ can set you up with a home roaster and 100% arabica green beans.

Join the Roasters Guild http://www.roastersguild.org/

Have you seen the Passionate Harvest by Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup?

http://www.espresso101.com/item/passionateharvest

Shot in Guatemala, Brazil, Kona and Ethiopia, The The Passionate Harvest takes a detailed look at the inner workings of the diverse processes involved in coffee production, emphasizing the enormous amount of effort and care required to produce quality coffee, and highlighting some of the issues and decision points that affect final cup quality and character. This video is a co-production by Bruce Milletto and Kenneth Davids, two industry experts.

Most importantly be passionate about your product. Educate not only yourself but your employees and your customers! Oh yeah, never lose site your end goal, to have fun ... and make a profit.

BT