Opening a retail coffee house - part 7

The first few months of having the business went by really fast. We opened in September and before we knew it, Thanksgiving was just around the corner. We closed on Thanksgiving Day and the day after. It felt great to have two whole days off of work. But the problem with having your own business is that when you're closed you don't get paid. There's no vacation pay you can use or holiday pay, you just get NO pay. The first few months were hard because business didn't boom like we had thought. We were naive...perhaps we watched that baseball movie too much and really believed that "if you build it, they will come." Well, it doesn't really work that way, there's something called marketing that you had to do. So, we started making flyers and putting it on people's cars. But did you know that you need a permit from the city to do that? Well, we didn't know...oops! The flyers didn't really work anyways. We didn't seem to get any new business from it. What helped us was that we were open next to a dry cleaners. I don't use dry cleaners very often, but alot of other people sure do and this dry cleaners was open early at 7am for their customers to pick up before work. We made sure we would open our front doors and let the great smell of coffee flow out in the mornings. We also started advertising in those coupon books that get mailed to homes. Those coupon books actually did quite well especially when we were offering buy one get one free.

Opening a retail coffee house - part 6

When we first opened we decided we would be open 7 days a week. We were young, didn't have kids and full of energy, so we didn't mind all the work. Oh, but did I mention that we didn't hire anyone either. We didn't want to borrow any money to start the business, so we just used our savings and a lot of sweat equity. Our hours were Monday - Friday 6:00am to 7:00pm and Saturdays and Sundays 8:00am - 5:00pm. It was alot of hours and soon all the days became a blur. When you're working every single day, it becomes hard to distinguish between the days since there is no looking forward to a weekend...or a day off. Sundays were our slowest days in sales. In the beginning, we would sometimes only do sales of $50 that day. After a couple of months we decided that we would at least close at noon on Sundays, so that we could have 1/2 a day off. It was very exciting looking forward to those Sunday afternoons. Looking back, we should have planned to be closed on Sundays or at least 1/2 day. Opening a business is very exciting and rewarding, but everyone needs a break to rest and relax and rejuvenate. It's hard to be creative and think of marketing ideas for your business, when you are exhausted.

Opening a retail coffee house - part 5

A month before we opened the shop, we had to start thinking about our food menu. We had decided on all the coffee drinks and now had to decide on what pastries we wanted to serve. It was a harder task than I had envisioned. I looked through the yellow pages for wholesale bakeries but there really wasn't very many. I actually found only 2 in the area that would come by and give me some samples. They were Le Boulanger and Fullbloom bakery. For those of you not familiar with the Fullbloom name, they are one of the main suppliers to the bay area Starbucks. When I called upon them, they had only been in business for about 1 year and was just a new business. The owner herself came out to see me with the samples and while we were talking she mentioned that she was making a bid on the Starbucks business and she was keeping her fingers crossed. I guess things turned out well for her as she is supplying all of the Bay Area Starbucks from Sacramento to Monterey. They have the best blueberry scones. We decided to order from them and also from Le Boulanger. The hard part was deciding how many to order for the first day. We were very naive. We didn't plan any big grand opening and didn't do any advertising and yet we still thought we would have a mad rush of people. So for our first day we ordered 12 dozen assorted croissants. Yep, 144 croissants in total. What were we thinking? Needless to say, we had ALOT left over. We only made $78.00 in sales that first day!

Opening a retail coffee house - part 4

After all the logistics of the coffee house was getting in order, I had to start thinking about the menu. I fell in love with coffee while attending U.C. Berkeley and was accustomed to the coffee there. My favorite place was a cafe on Bancroft called Cafe Milano. They made their coffee strong and tasty. My drink of choice was the "wet" cappuccino. Which was basically a cappuccino with not only foam but also steamed milk. So when I started my shop, I knew I would fashion it after the Berkeley style of coffee. My husband and I spent a weekend at the shop just making drink after drink after drink...trying to figure out the best recipe. We were completely WIRED after tasting all the drinks. In the end we decided we would have 4 sizes; small = 8oz, medium = 12oz, large = 16oz and a XL at 20oz. We made brewed our coffee strong using 1/5lb (.20) for each 64oz pot of coffee. And for our lattes and cappuccinos, we used 1 shot of espresso for each size, so that a small had 1 shot, medium had 2 shots, large had 3 shots and XL had 4 shots. If you are a coffee drinker, you know that is alot. I think at Starbucks, their standard is 1 shot of espresso for any size even a XL or as they call it, a grande. That just seems so weak to me. On our menu board, we even had a statement, it said "WARNING OUR COFFEE IS STRONG!"

Opening a retail coffee house - part 3

One of the most frustrating tasks was dealing with the city. This was not only frustrating but very intimidating. I don't know why, but every time I walked into the city planning office, my heart would race and my palms would sweat. I kept telling myself that these are only regular people like myself and yet in the back of my mind I would know that despite them being "regular" people, they could make my life hard. Every city is a little bit different, but in most you would go into the planning department first and fill out an application. You need to include the address of your proposed business and the first step they check is the zoning for that location. You can't just open up a retail coffee location anywhere. It needs to be in an area approved for retail. That was the easy step for me. The part I had a problem with was when they wanted the plans for my shop. I am an organized and detailed person and I would say a "DIY" (a do-it-yourself) type of person. I've seen blueprints before and thought I could draw them myself. Of course, I'm not an architect or an engineer, but I figured I'm not drawing a house or even walls that are load bearing. I was just drawing the layout of my coffee house; the counters, refrigerator placement, tables, sinks, pony wall, etc. I even went to a blueprint business and had my drawing printed on blueprint paper with the funny smell. It looked great, if I say so myself. I took the drawing to the city planning department to have it approved. The planner looked at my blueprints, checked that it had all the necessary information on it, and was just about to stamp approved on it, and then he stopped. He looked at it again and asked where was the architect wet stamp. I smiled and said proudly, "I did it myself." And he said, well I can't approve it without an architect stamp. I asked him what was wrong with the plans, did I do something wrong, was I missing something. And he said no it looks fine, BUT, it needs an architect stamp before it can be approved. So, I said, "you mean I have to pay an architect to draw my plans even though it's done correctly before you will approve them?" And he said yes. I tried to find an architect who would look at my plans and put their stamp on it, but guess what? Architects don't do that...they don't stamp other people's plans. So, I finally found an architect who basically copied the plans that I already drew so that he would stamp them so that the city would approve my plans...and all for the price of $1,000. Hmmm...now do you understand the frustration part?

Opening a retail coffee house - part two

It was easy to get overwhelmed with all the details. So, I found myself making more and more lists. I started carrying around a binder with college ruled paper and plastic insert sheets. This way I always had my many lists with me and I also had paper to write notes on. The plastic insert sheets were great because I could put catalog sheets or other info all in the binder and have them for reference. Here's one of the list I made once I found my retail space:
1) get ficticious business name filed at the county recorders office
2) get business license
3) submit drawings to the health department
4) submit drawings to the city planning department
5) submit sign plans
6) get quotes for signs
7) get quotes for ice machine
8) decide on layout and material used
9) open up 1 phone line
10) design logo
11) order business cards
12) decide on espresso machine
13) decide on grinder
14) call places regarding soda machine rental
15) get quote on insurance
16) get quote on scales
17) decide on uniforms
18) open bank account
19) find supplier of coffee to go cups
20) order printed plastic bags
21) order coffee bags
22) order labels for bags
23) decide on espresso bar menu
24) decide on merchandise to carry
25) find bakery to supply pastries
26) get resale license from State Board of Equalization
27) decide on decor
28) submit plans to the landlord for his approval
29) print gift certificates
30) get employer identification number and EDD #
31) open up PG&E

As you can see, there was alot of things to do.

Opening a retail coffee house - part one

It was in the fall of 1991 when I decided to leave public accounting and start my own coffee house. I had been in public accounting for 2 1/2 years and while it was interesting, I wanted to open my own business. We were living in El Sobrante, but my husband and his sister had an electronics business in Fremont, so we decided to open a shop in Fremont so that he would be able to help me when he had time. I quit my job in October 1991 and started my search for the perfect spot. At that time there was no good gourmet coffee place in Fremont, so it seemed like a great city to start one. There was no Starbucks in Fremont. The only place I could find in Fremont that was supposed to have "gourmet coffee" was a place called Penny University. It wasn't very good at all, not like the coffee houses I fell in love with when I was attending U.C. Berkeley. It looked like there would not be much competition. I didn't have any experience looking for a retail space and didn't know that you could get a realtor to help you without having to pay them. I didn't realize that the lessor (the owner of the space) typically paid the realtor's commission. We didn't have much money and I was determined to open the place on a shoe string budget with just sweat equity. I basically just drove around and looked at spaces that looked like it had alot of traffic. A few months into the search I settled on 1,000 sqft space that was located in a small strip mall. I thought it would be good because it was on a main street and it had Blockbusters as an anchor tenant. After I found the space I wanted, I had to start making plans. I made a list of everything I needed to do:

1) decide on a name

2) decide on the type of ownership entity; sole proprietor, corporation, etc.

3) file for a FBN (ficticious business name)

4) open a bank account

5) get a business license

6) get a permit from the Alameda County Health Department

7) design the space

8) build out the space

9) design a logo

10) work on a menu

The list went on and on and soon I was overwhelmed and questioning myself.