Tips to Have the Best Café Customer Service

Your customers are one of the most important factors in your café success, so treat them right!

This week we have been talking about a lot of ways and strategies to make sure you open your café or coffee shop successfully. From creating a killing menu to hiring the most professional staff members, now it is important for you to know a little bit more about customer service than just the obvious.

Experts in this matter suggest that main issue why so many businesses fail on customer service techniques is because most of them do not know what the differences between dealing with a customer and treating a guest are. These days, that approach is key to make your café way more attractive.

If your customer service is lacking, people will simply not return any more. There is not a big science behind that. So, when you treat them like guests and create a homey atmosphere, they will immediately imply that your place is sort of like someone they want to see again and again. They will develop a pleasant and ongoing relationship with your employees and products your offer, thanks to how warming the experience of drinking a cup of coffee at your business is.

Having said that, it is clear that you need staff members with the ability to build and nurture a continuing and profitable relationship with your café’ guests. That will get you a huge competitive advantage. Therefore, let them be talkative and motivate them to love your entrepreneurship as much as you do.

With that in mind you should coach your employees to perfect the following techniques:

Learn more about them

Yes, you should learn your regular customers’ first name. They will appreciate the fact that there is someone that ask them how was their day and know exactly what drink they like. Your guests will feel important among the rest, and statistics are highly surprising: according to a field study, 68% of people (which is a majority) that visit a café, leave because of perceived indifference. Pass this throughout your entire team, and you will see changes almost immediately.

Create a café loyalty program

Invest in printing loyalty cards in resistant materials to start a great program with which you can thank your regular clients. In the U.S this became a program that allows a retail business to gather data about its customers. For this to work, you should offer product’s discounts, coupons, points toward merchandise or some other reward. This strategy is one of the best when it comes to motivating people to choose your business instead of some other.

Paying attention to detail when serving food and drinks

A great customer service is all about getting into every detail. When serving food and drinks, please make sure plates and cups are clean. And because you run a café, always ask your clients in which temperature they like to drink their coffee. Also, have a sincere and friendly suggestion of the perfect food companions they can pair with their drink. Do not forget to ask, if everything is okay with their order.

Say yes, even if you have to use your imagination

Just say yes when your guests bring a problem to the table or have doubts. Most of the times you have to use your imagination. But it is not hard if you focus on what you can do for your customers as an alternative to the issue, instead of telling them what you cannot do first. For this, all your employees need to be on the same page, so they know what how they can collaborate in the matter.

These strategies are simple and will definitely make the working environment at your café more pleasant, because when your clients are having a good time and enjoy being there, the same will happen to your staff members. Be aware that you need to treat them with kindness, care, and discipline.

In the meantime, keep visiting our blog to deep into the process of becoming an entrepreneur in the world of coffee. If you think you are ready to make the next step, contact us at Coffland Corp to know about our services as specialty coffee providers from Colombia.   

If you offer poor customer service, your clients will not return.

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How to Hire the Most Professional Café Staff Members

The ability to hire awesome employees means that you know who will fit into your coffee shop culture.

There are a lot of good reasons why your café can be remembered: the quality of coffee, a great location, stylish interior design, and its signature drink. But among all of those, proper customer service will be essential for your clients wanting to keep visiting your place.

In one hand, your café staff members must be ready for the job. And on the other hand, you should know what the qualities you will evaluate to hire them are. They have to learn how your business works and manage their tasks efficiently. 

But how can you be sure of that when you first meet them?

The key to having the best café staff

Before you rely on your new staff members to make ends meet, you should establish what are the specific functions and contributions of each one of them, for the café to operate efficiently. This means that, during the interview, you need to define the job descriptions with reasonable expectations and attainable boundaries.

If you do not have those definitions already, you may want to write down a procedural manual for each personnel, so they know when their responsibilities start and when they end. Being said that, as a business owner, you must be aware of work ethic policies and that you are dealing with people: they have feelings, hopes, and dreams. 

The latter is vital to understand how to hire great employees. The most professional café staff members are easy to find when you are present in any grievances, stay firm, and are available anytime they need you. That is why you have to look for potential, significant willingness to learn and excellent social skills. Yes, in a sense, their professionalism depends on your ability to guide them.

Show them that you care, and do not forget to teach them everything you know about coffee. These days, everyone wants to be a coffee connoisseur, and your staff must learn about the business to be one step ahead of their customers. Remember that a café is a good place for a nice talk. It is more than okay to train your employees to start a conversation about coffee origins, and the importance of fair-trade and specialty coffee, for instance.

That is how this industry rolls!

So far, these are the key aspects you should consider to hire a professional café staff:

• Establish specific functions and contributions.

• Write down a procedural manual for each personnel.

• Define work ethic and customer services policies.

• Be firm, present, and available. 

• Look for and develop potential and excellent social skills.

• Assess their knowledge of coffee and their willingness to learn.

These are the job positions you can offer:

• Manager: a manager makes sure everyone else is offering high-quality customer service. He (or she) will be your right hand because he/she will be the person to train the staff and deal with several financial responsibilities.

• Barista: this is the position for which you should demand more professionalism. You can even make a competition to hire the best. The barista you hire must be a specialist in making sure that each cup of coffee is perfect.

• Marketing and administration teams: choose people with great ideas and the ability to be organized. In the world of coffee, the right business decision can give you the chance to be the owner of everyone’s favorite coffee place.  

• Cashier and waiters: these two have to be your nicest and most tolerant staff members. Make sure that they know how to take customers' payments and petitions fast, and as well as having the skills to balance the books at the close of the business day.

• Other positions: if your place starts growing, you might need a greeter who opens the door for customers and makes them feel welcome. You can also hire people with artistic skills to throw private shows.

The list can go on, but what it is important for you to consider at this point is to hire passionate people with great work ethics. At Coffland Corp, we enjoy when we come up with ideas to help you start your journey as an entrepreneur in this industry. Feel free to contact us to know about our service as Colombian coffee providers!

You want someone who is reliable, honest, and good with people. 

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How to Start Writing Your Coffee Shop's Business Plan

Having your coffee shop business plan available to easily refer to, will help you to keep on track.

At Coffland Corp, we love to encourage you to know more about the amazing world of coffee as much as inspire you to create your own business in this industry. We bet one of your dreams for this new year is to become an entrepreneur. If that is your case, we have created this article to teach you how to start writing your coffee shop’s business plan!

But if you are already the owner of a coffee business, and have some lack of orientation, our tips would also help you a lot!

There is no limit when it comes to writing length if it is cohesive. Remember that what you put in your business plan can be submitted to lenders or investors for debt or equity financing. Try to make solid research and analysis in a concise form, because most lenders do not have the time to read a very extended document.

We know it can be difficult to start writing, but remember that having a coffee business plan can save a lot of money. You will know how to plan efficiently and manage your coffee shop budget. It also will save you time by forcing you to be more organized. Just imagine dealing with every detail of your business without writing them down! Impossible!

Stages of a coffee shop’s business plan

Executive summary

In this part, you should describe if your coffee business is a café, or a coffee house, for instance. Explain in detail about the products you offer and its varieties, if there is any. Include the location and expansion. And because it is a summary, you can write about your objectives, how you can stand out of your competition, and the possible development of its finances.

Mission

A coffee shop is now one part of the routine in the ideal American life. Before explaining about your services in the mission, describe how you want your clients to feel when walking into your place. Explain what that experience is all about, and your work ethic process to make it happen.     

Objectives

Although it is quite self-explanatory, in the objectives you must put in order all your ideas. Your coffee business will definitely grow if you divide your priorities in services, product quality, and infrastructure. Break down these three subjects and create a step-by-step plan!   

The competition

You need to be clear about to who you are competing with in the same field. Describe your primary business competitors by doing a general survey. With that information, you should write down the three most common complaints about the existing competition in the area and how you can please that demand. 

What makes it unique

To stand out is difficult when frankly everything seems to have been invented now. Again, try your best to make your coffee shop special. You can twist traditional coffee names, serve a private label coffee, offer discount services, live shows and more.

Market analysis

Establish what your clientele profiles are. Once you know your niche, it will be so much easier to make the right decisions, especially if you want to save some money. For this, you may have to do more research to learn how to study your market.

Sales and promotion plan

Yes, there are probably too many coffee businesses around, and you were not aware of this. In this section, you have to plan how you will sell and promote your products. First, think about the conventional ways to do it, and then, try to break the mold a little. When it comes to coffee, you want to sell, experience, and promote a lifestyle. That is what drinking coffee is all about!  

Pricing strategy

If your business is starting, you should do some research on how to tabulate your prices. Please do not follow any guessings you might have. Make a record of your short and long-term assets, think about your budget and consider an Economy Pricing or maybe a Price Skimming.  

Management plan

Now, when it comes to management, it is all about your functions as a business owner, the way you want the services system to work, and your employees’ tasks. Having said that, describe who is in charge of what, their limitations, and even how their income can be. You can make departments if it makes the system easier. 

Other tips

• Include photos, infographic, interior design ideas.

• Use graphics for financial information.

• Design a temple in which you are going to maintain a record of your profits, losses, and expenses.

• Make a list of potential product providers.

• An environmental friendly policy can assure you more recognition.

Once you have everything figured out, please contact us at Coffland Corp. We are specialty coffee providers with a distinguished fair trade policy. Also, if you want to stand out from your competition, we can work together to create a unique private label coffee. In the meantime, keep visiting our blog for more inspiration and follow our social networks to delve deeper into the world of the coffee industry.

Having a business plan before you open a coffee shop will be one of your smartest decisions!

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Cafés: Regulations and Licenses You Must Comply With

 There are specific technical and legal procedures to do before starting a business.

If you are thinking about starting a coffee shop or a café in the U.S, you have to follow current regulations and ask for special licenses. Opening a business in the food industry is neither a short nor a simple process, but we are here to help you.

Once you comply with those requirements, the rest of the process is fun and exciting. As an entrepreneur, you should know that success carries lots of responsibilities. If you are one step ahead of everything, in legal and financial terms involving the opening, then it will be a piece of cake, paired with a good cup of joe, of course!

To get to have all food and drinking licenses and permits, you need to do a lot of paperwork and develop patience. These documents do not differ that much from the ones required for opening a restaurant because a coffee shop is usually considered as a small and informal type of restaurant.

We have tackled a simple list for you to start making the necessary diligence, so take notes!

Business license

You are probably already aware of this one. To operate any business in the United States, you need to legitimize it as an entity. If you want to add some alcohol to that coffee, you better get a Federal Business License and a State Business License. For this you have to pay a fee, the percentage will depend on the location, and they will be charged annually.

Employer Identification Number

The EIN is a registration you need to get for every employee you hire. It is assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the good news is you do not have to pay any fee. You can apply for an EIN through the IRS website, by fax, phone, or mail, but you can only request one per day.

Certificate of Occupancy

In this aspect, every state is different. Overall, zoning department in your city will issue a certificate of occupancy, which declares that you passed the inspections and your business location is properly constructed and in good conditions.

Food Service License

The city or county Health Department will give a food service license as long as you pass an in-person visit to your establishment to make sure you have accomplished every food safety regulations in the book. But remember these visits will happen regularly, so stick to the rules!

Liquor License

Are you a fan of Irish coffee? You need a liquor license issued by the state’s Liquor Authority to serve it. The prices to get this license differ in every state, but they are the most expensive. The process is long because the department investigates you, and the neighbors near your establishment.

Sign Permit

Sign permit from the city government will flash the green light to draw attention to your restaurant. Size, location, and lighting vary by city. Do some research before making any investments.

Music License

Even for entertaining your clients with some music you need a license. You do not want to pay the expensive fines for playing copyrighted music! You should contact The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers or Broadcast Music Inc. to ask for the right permission. You do not want to be sued by Adele, do you!?

Health Permits

As it happens with the food services license, the Health Department of your city will regularly inspect your coffee shop and has the power to issue a fine or revoke the health permit.  

Seller's Permit

Your state government needs to know to whom collect taxes from. In the food and beverage industry, this permit is obligatory. Visit your official state website to know how to ask for one. This permit has no cost when applying, but you'll need to pay a security deposit.

Resale Permit

Some states require business owners to charge their customers with sales taxes. This permit allows you to make certain non-taxable purchases for your coffee shop. It avoids you the double collection of sales tax in food products. That being said, the second part of the taxes come from your customer's purchases.

Other permits you might need

As this list goes on, other permits and licenses will depend on what you want your business to become or the special products and services you wish to offer to your clients. These are other permits you might need:

• Dumpster Placement Permit.
• Building Health Permit.
• Employee Health Permit.
• Valet Parking Permit.
• Live Entertainment License.

At Coffland Corp, we want to make sure you have all the requirements to open your dreamed business. Once you finish all this process, please contact us to know about our services as private label coffee and specialty coffee providers. We want you to stand out from your future competition!

 Keep in mind certain laws when opening a café.  

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How to Promote Valentine's Day at Your Coffee Shop

Valentine’s Day is great opportunity to attract new guests to your coffee shop or restaurant.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  As that old says: "love comes through the stomach." Today, and probably this whole week, is a perfect opportunity to attract new clients using the most effective strategy in the food industry. If you do it correctly, you will probably receive a big crowd of lovebirds. Also, an opportunity to show them that you care!

February is a great month to boost post-holiday sales. Nevertheless, it also increases the competition among business in the coffee sector. If you want to stand out, you must offer them an experience they’ll remember forever; in a pleasant way, of course. On February the 14th, your customers will expect more and want to spend more money, so you could also make a small investment for the occasion.  

If you did not have time to plan something, do not worry! Most people, coffee lovers, for instance, prefer when cheesy propaganda is not all over the place. They will visit your place with their significant other to enjoy a good cup of coffee with a sweet meal, and to have a pleasant conversation in a cozy environment. In this article we have prepared simple tips for you  to supply your clients' demand for romanticism:

Foster love

Coffee shops on Valentine’s Day are there to softly push you to embrace romance, which is always better with some caffeine and a little bit of chocolate. Here is what you can do to create the perfect atmosphere to foster love!

Touches of red

It is not a cliché. It is a must! Red is the color of love and passion. The reason is both scientific and poetic: it makes you feel excited, just like when you get butterflies in your stomach. Use red to decorate your tables, counters, and meals. What about some red velvet crumbs to top a good cup of mocha? Most importantly, do not forget about red roses!

Coffee cupping

Restaurants around your business will probably be hosting a wine tasting or a beer tasting dinner. As a coffee shop owner, why don’t you try to attract clients with a coffee cupping party? There are different types of coffee, you for sure have a talented barista and a killing menu. Use that to your advantage and inspire those couples to become coffee connoisseurs.    

Play some music

Hire a band or a musician to play the most romantic songs ever created. But not too loud. You want in-love or soon-to-be-in-love clients to talk without raising their voices and feeling uncomfortable. There is nothing better than live and acoustic entertainment to set the mood. 

Use a different lighting

You can play with colors and candles. Warm and low lighting will set a calming atmosphere to induce some hugging and kissing. Your clients will relate those memories to your business forever, which is always lovely.    

Social media engagement

Take pictures of them enjoying their time in your coffee shop today. Tag them on your business social media accounts, and get ready to get more followers.

Of course, you could also offer some discounts or different menu set-ups! At Coffland Corp, we want you to be the best entrepreneur you can be and to make wise business decisions that will benefit you and your treasured clients! Keep visiting our blog to find more information on how to distinguish from your competition in the coffee industry!  

 There are so many ways to attract new guests on this special day.

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How to Tell What is the Customer Profile of Your Coffee Shop

The key to determining what kind of products to sell in your establishment.

After you define which is your coffee business customer profile, selling will be easier. And in many instances, you will be saving a lot of money and gaining loyalty among the citizens in your area.

Although almost everyone loves coffee, not all coffee lovers are the same. You can create a profile with a general description of your ideal client. It can include age range, motivations, professional and personal background, and even preferred media channels. But what you don’t want to do is to narrow it too much. Please, avoid sticking to a specific age, gender, and race. Instead, try to think about their behavior and menu choices.

Believe us when we tell you, this is basic entrepreneurial skills! Soon enough it will be easy for you to identify the behavioral patterns of your customers. Watch the way they eat and evaluate the attributes of their most asked drinks, the favorite snacks they pair them with, and the people they come with to enjoy a cup of coffee.

Observation is a great way to collect that data, but you could also start engaging conversations with your clients. Think about email marketing, customer feedback, and maybe developing a good customer loyalty program. You can do surveys on your social media accounts to find out more! These are the topics you may use to learn about their preferences:

• Quality of coffee
• Coffee origins
• Customer service (staff's attitude and speed of service)
• Comfortable sitting
• Latte art

The responses you will get, plus the data you and your employees collected by observing clients, could fit into one or two of the following profiles:

Coffee boost hunters

This group consists of students and business workers who want a cheap cup of caffeine on their way to work or class. These are people who drink coffee daily and have the sufficient income to spend what it takes to have at least five cups of coffee a week. Students’ age groups are between 18 to 24 years old, while office workers go from 25 to 39 years old. They are just to busy to deal with fancy nonsense!

Social drinkers

Café lovers engage with the whole being-in-a-coffee-shop experience. Rather than coming in to grab a cup of coffee, they want to stay and have a good talk with real cups warming their hands. The ceramic ones, not plastic-made. For them to feel like the cast of Friends in Central Perk is the ultimate goal. These customers like to pair their drinks with food, choose the place for business meeting, and have semi-romantic dates.

Specialty coffee exclusive

Living in the third wave of coffee. Specialty coffee drinkers are willing to pay more as long as the beverage they are drinking is high quality. The target market in this scenario is people who love extra ingredients in their coffee, not just everyday espressos, cappuccinos, lattes and mochas. If this is your case, you should create marketing strategies to communicate the origins of the coffee you serve and the transparency in every stage of its production.

Bean aficionados

Whole beans buyers are everywhere these days. They like it when you give them the option of seeing how your baristas ground the beans in the coffee shop. It is a game and a challenge for them because they can tell the difference between coffee beans from Colombia, Ethiopia, and Kenya with only the scent. They can probably distinguish when they are arabica or robusta. These customers don’t care how cute the foam art turns out to be. What they want are balance and fresh flavors, so you better buy a fancy ground machine!

Once you know what they crave and offer them quality products, you will win their hearts! As providers of exclusive private label coffee and specialty coffee from Colombia, in Coffland Corp, we aim for high-standard businesses with a modern vision. Contact us to know about our services!  

Know the targets and needs of those who buy and drink the world's favorite beverage.

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How to Open a Successful Coffee Shop with Simple Strategies

High-volume coffee sales are the foundation stone of every coffee shop.

If you are still exploring the idea or are already convinced to open your coffee shop once and for all, you must consider that this market is as demanded as it is competitive. For it to be successful, some simple strategies have to be applied. Especially if you are a new coffee shop owner, who does not know where to start. 

Before we continue digging into this subject throughout the article, we need to make something clear: it doesn't matter how much money you have because, in the end, attracting your customers is all about the little things!

In Coffland Corp, we are more than aware that running a successful café, a drive-thru espresso stand or a coffee shop, doesn't have to be difficult! As coffee providers, we know what our clients do to stand out of their competition, and we want to share those methods with you, so keep reading!

Simple strategies when opening a coffee shop

There is no magic secret to a successful coffee shop. But planning in the early stages of starting up will help cement your business success in the future. Here is how you can do it!

Visual appeal

Nowadays, everything is about how the outside of your business looks! Make your coffee shop appealing to people that are passing by your local. You can invest in coffee signs and decoration material. These can be made out of recycled products! Not only is this a trend that's here to stay, but a cheap and conscious way to spend your money.

A soft opening

Marketing experts are recommending to do a soft opening before a big inauguration. For at least two weeks open your business without thinking about how much people are aware of its existence. This soft opening will give your staff the time to learn with real customers and make any necessary reforms. Also, during this period you can offer your establishment as a place to host local organizations’ events. Remember, visitors will be the best publicity! 

Free samples

Bring customers to your shop offering free samples out of your business. If it is a good quality product, they will instantly trust your service in the future. Believe us when we tell you that word-of-mouth works, especially if you know how to play with your clientele’s palate!

Loyalty cards

Invest in printing loyalty cards in resistant materials. In the U.S this became a program that allows a retail business to gather data about its customers. For this to work, you should offer product’s discounts, coupons, points toward merchandise or some other reward. This strategy is one of the best when it comes to motivating people to choose your business instead of some other.  

Help your barista

Make sure the coffee workstation and layout is comfortable enough to help the barista without stumbling around. In this matter try to create an atmosphere that allows efficiently working. It will make each service faster, so you don’t make your customers wait for no reason.

Manual for customer treatment

There is nothing better than a happy customer. Successful companies around the country create customer service’s guides to help their employees.  Why? To have a good reputation and let people know that when it comes to serving, the coffee shop is not acting selfishly. Educate your employees with that extra effort which can actually be a life lesson experience!

Listen to recommendations

In the first few months, be open to recommendations and criticism with a positive attitude. When you listen to your customers, they feel connected to your brand. It might surprise you how much your business will appeal to people if you know what they need.

Social media accounts

And of course, the best way to attract clients for your business to be successful is by creating social media accounts. But remember that you have to sell experiences, not just products. With so many options out there, your clients expect a consistent flow of content from your coffee shops online as a reminder of why they followed you in the first place. 

As we said, In Coffland Corp we want you to enjoy your journey as an entrepreneur without hesitation. Also, make sure you have the best coffee to serve your clients, so contact us to know about our 100% Colombian coffee products and how we can become your primary provider!

Make sure that traditional coffee's snacks are also on the menu!

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