Expert: Ebenezer Heng - 3/3/2009

Question
Hi, I'm from Eastern Europe.I'm planning to open a coffee bar in my town.But there is no many coffee bars since now.So my first question is :" What are the main parameters(generally), I have to pay attention before opening a coffee bar...Recently Costa-Coffee chain restaurant, opened its first restaurant.It looks nice, but I do not have to look the same :)...so any link or suggestion will be welcomed.... thanks in advance

Answer
Hi Boban,

There are many factors to consider in opening a coffee bar but the most important one is the location. This is key. And since the space is limited, I would only be talking about this because if you get this right, the other things are easy to get in order.

Now, by good location, it meant that there must be a lot of quality traffic, note the word I used is quality traffic.

A lot of shopping malls are situated in busy street intersection which meant that their human traffic is a lot but think about it, all these are people crossing the road, would they bother to drink coffee in your shop?

Then, another factor that you want to consider for quality traffic is also the tenant mix of the place which you are in. If there is a lot of coffee shops or cafe in that area, the strategy would be to specialize in one type of coffee.

But, if there is no cafe or coffee shop, then the strategy is to have cheaper drinks to really attract the crowd.

Still on tenant mix, who are your neighbour store? The best shops are retail stores and bookshops because people would be tired of walking and come into your coffee shop for a coffee.

I hope this helps. But location is key, and the above are some pointers for you to think about.

All the best

Ebenezer Heng