I live in a city with a population of 85,000 and, over here in the northwest, coffee is a big deal. We have espresso stands all over but we only have a few coffee shops. One is at borders bookstore, the mall, two starbucks, and a coffee shop at a business site that had been growing alot. This site has a new bank, dentist, hair salon and a whole bunch of businesses. This coffee shop has no drive thru, it's hours are from 6am-5pm mon-fri, it's back off the road tied in with businesses and has a small 3x5ft sign on the road that you can barelly see, also this is a small shop with dimensions of about 50ftx25ft with 3 or 4 tables to sit at. People drive by on there way to work since its on the corner of two of the busiest streets in town. I think this would be a perfect spot to open a sit-in/drive-thru coffee shop because of the extra hours I would be open way more of a selection, and there aren't many places for the college students to meet up at when they have to do homework and everything because the college cafe closes at 5, also alot of people don't have internet and most shops you have to pay 10 dollers. Any input will be appreciated. Thanks

Have you considered setting up a coffee kiosk instead of renting space? Your monthly overhead would be less than renting a cafe building/structure (equipment loan for the kiosk -- I think they go for $16K - $20K). Look around online for kiosk suppliers.

Our neighbors started w/ one kiosk in a hospital and it grew to kiosks at 3 different hospitals. Their business grew so fast that the hospital built a cafe area for them. There are a lot of good books re coffee on amazon. Good luck!

Another great forum for coffee specific topics is: http://www.specialty-coffee.com/forum/login.asp?target=default.asp
Most of the people over there own coffee shops. Good Luck!

No message