Planning to open new coffee shop at Saudi Arabia

[Mustafa_AJR]

Hi brothers,
I am planning to open coffee shop at Saudi Arabia. I was very happy to discover this forum. It is rich of useful information. I have read a lot of posts. However, it is funny that, according to some of the posts that I have read, I have got all the things that would make you worry : I have not got a lot of money, the location is not involved with heavy morning traffic, I have minimum knowledge about coffee other than its taste ( I have not even tasted all the types, so I used Wikipedia during the last month to see what are espresso and latte), I have not working in this business before ( I was not involved in any sort of business other than working as electrical engineer in the oil industry for 7 years).

I wish to me to you all good. My wife is preparing a floor plan through a software in her iPAD. I will share it with you for the purpose of getting and advice and critique. Thank you very much again.

Mustafa.

 

[PinkRose]

Hello "Mustafa_AJR"

Welcome to the Coffee Forums website.

Since you already know that you're not prepared to open a coffee shop, why are you still considering doing it? Do you have a partner who has a lot of experience and cash?

Rose

 

[Mustafa_AJR]

Hi Rose,
I paid the rent for the place. I have now only the path to forward.:mrgreen:

Edit: Regarding the second question, we are partners but none of us have experience. Regarding the cash, we thought previous we have enough but now I know we should have more.

 

[eldub]

How much money do you have available?

What is the coffee culture like in SA?

What about the location? How did you choose it?

 

[tazzadiluna]

Believe it or not, there are loads of Starbucks locations in Saudi Arabia and most of the middle east in general... the mermaid/siren logo is very controversial there, however. I believe they also used to be in Israel, but they pulled out. For the most part though, I've read that they've been doing pretty well in that region.

 

[Mustafa_AJR]

How much money do you have available?

What is the coffee culture like in SA?

What about the location? How did you choose it?

The total is 190,000 SR which is equivalent to $ 52,000. What we paid now is $14,800 to rent the place for 1 year. The remaining is $37,200.

In SA, people go more to traditional coffee shops. Only a minority will go to espresso coffee shop, which we call "western style" coffee shop, but this those minority are good enough.

I am not sure if you know what the SA Traditional coffee shops look like. They provide the hookahs and tea. Saudis who are looking for hookahs would not go to starbucks. The second thing about Saudis is that they drink tea more than coffee. That is why the traditional coffee shops have been focusing on the hookahs and tea. you don't find espresso in most of them.

When starbucks and other "western style" coffee shops came, they attracted a portion of Saudis. I personally never tried the hookah and I like to go "western style" coffee shops. I drink tea there more than coffee. The first coffee shop I visited was Starbucks. That was 12 years ago when I left my home town, which did not have any western style coffee shop at that time, and went to a university at a bigger city. I always see customers in the western coffee shops which is a good sign to me, but they are also not as crowded as the traditional coffee shops. Most of the customers in the western coffee shops are the young ones. I think the drive through coffee that started appearing years ago, usually at gas stations, have made impact because they made more people try their products. Every one like to have a warm cup of coffee while commuting to work. Coffee shops near universities and in shopping malls and at airport for sure have better business than the rest because it is more often to have a Saudi (enjoy a cup of coffee while he is waiting) than (deciding to leave home and spend good time at a coffee shop). We have Starbucks, Joffreys, casta coffee, Barnies, Seattle's best, and others in addition to coffee shops owned by Saudis. Apparently they have good business.
Caution: The information above is only my personal thoughts. I am afraid somebody will take it as a professional advice and make decisions based on it.

I selected my location because it is adjacent to a woman hairdresser shop and a woman training center so I thought I would attract those woman also to have drinks and light food from my coffee shop.

 

[Mustafa_AJR]

Believe it or not, there are loads of Starbucks locations in Saudi Arabia and most of the middle east in general... the mermaid/siren logo is very controversial there, however. I believe they also used to be in Israel, but they pulled out. For the most part though, I've read that they've been doing pretty well in that region.

Yes we have a lot of Starbucks branches. We have one at my home town in a shopping mall. I remember they were not so good rumors about Starbucks that spread which caused some Saudis to refrain from visiting it. I would not know how much that impacted Starbucks but those rumors forced them to issue declarations statements printed on papers in every branch here confirming those rumors are not true.

 

[eldub]

LOL What were the rumors?

 

[PinkRose]

What were the rumors? Our curious minds would like to know.

 

[John P]

I think with the money you have available, it may be best to forego the espresso and do a pour-over bar and tea.
Do coffees by the cup. Interact with the customers while you brew. Talk to them about the coffee and about the process.



The trickiest part is sourcing good coffee. You will either need to import, or hope there is a quality roaster somewhere near or in the region.

Without good and FRESH coffee beans to start with, nothing else will matter.

 

[Ronaldaynn]

great idea man ..but you have to maintain quailty must otherwise you will loose.

Hi brothers,
I am planning to open coffee shop at Saudi Arabia. I was very happy to discover this forum. It is rich of useful information. I have read a lot of posts. However, it is funny that, according to some of the posts that I have read, I have got all the things that would make you worry : I have not got a lot of money, the location is not involved with heavy morning traffic, I have minimum knowledge about coffee other than its taste ( I have not even tasted all the types, so I used Wikipedia during the last month to see what are espresso and latte), I have not working in this business before ( I was not involved in any sort of business other than working as electrical engineer in the oil industry for 7 years).

I wish to me to you all good. My wife is preparing a floor plan through a software in her iPAD. I will share it with you for the purpose of getting and advice and critique. Thank you very much again.

Mustafa.

 

[tazzadiluna]

What were the rumors? Our curious minds would like to know.

I remember reading about accusations that Starbucks funded the Israeli Army/Government when they had locations there. I think that is why they pulled out from there, I'm not 100% sure on that fact. The mermaid/siren logo was also a problem where some claimed that it was actually Queen Esther (Jewish Queen in the Old Testament), instead of a mermaid/siren.

Starbucks also had to alter their logo in some Arab countries, due to her "lack of modesty"... the altered logo was just a crown floating in the sea. I'm actually wondering what it is now that they removed the wording "Starbucks Coffee" from the logo. Is it just a floating crown on water now? Hardly the Starbucks logo, but I guess it's recognizable in that region.

 

[Mustafa_AJR]

LOL What were the rumors?

That starbucks owner is donating hundreds of millions of dollars to Israil army. :razz:

 

[Mustafa_AJR]

What were the rumors? Our curious minds would like to know.

Starbucks owner is donating hundreds of millions of dollars to Israil army (according to threads in forums written by anonymous people). Starbucks confirmed that they are 100% commercial entity that is not related to any political issues.

 

[Mustafa_AJR]

I think with the money you have available, it may be best to forego the espresso and do a pour-over bar and tea.
Do coffees by the cup. Interact with the customers while you brew. Talk to them about the coffee and about the process.

View attachment 1561

The trickiest part is sourcing good coffee. You will either need to import, or hope there is a quality roaster somewhere near or in the region.

Without good and FRESH coffee beans to start with, nothing else will matter.

Thank you John for opening my eyes to this idea. I spent good time today reading and watching youtube videos on the pour-over bar. I like it because it is also a visual entertainment. We will also not give up the espresso and latte easily. We are searching ways to get extra funds.

Regarding the coffee beans, we plan to get the roasted coffee beans from two local suppliers or one of them. They made the best lattes that we tasted so far, so their beans must be good (It would be weird if they are not using their beans for their lattes:decaf:.) I won't actually buy the beans before I got the barista because he would have more sensitive to coffee taste than myself, so I will make sure he recommends them.