Where can we all satisfy a burning desire for a cup of coffee, enjoy delicious pieces of crisp pastry and just have a lovely time in a calm atmosphere? You’re absolutely right – in a coffeehouse.
A coffeehouse, or also known as a café or a coffee shop, is a HoReCa (Hotel/Restaurant/Café) type of food service establishments that usually serve various beverage and refreshment including tea, coffee, juice, different desserts, light cocktails, ice cream, sparkling drinks to name a few. These shops are designed for people who look for a place to meet and chill – and this place isn’t that fancy as a restaurant and not so crowdy as an average café. Lots of shops around the Middle East and Asian countries can also have a hookah lounge or just offer a choice of favored tobacco to smoke a hookah in addition to the assortment. Some shops might sell coffee beans or tea leaves.
And you’d better be ready if you want to open a coffee shop of your own – there’s so much you need to know, not to mention that you’ve got to be a real pro when it comes to coffee in general. So, if you’re, just like others, too overwhelmed by the multitude of information associated with the business, this practical guide will break down every step you need to take to start a business.
There are several legendary accounts of the origin of the drink itself. One account involves the Moroccan Sufi mystic Ghothul Akbar Nooruddin Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili. When traveling in Ethiopia, the legend goes, he observed birds of unusual vitality, and, upon trying the berries that the birds had been eating, experienced the same vitality. The drink was primarily consumed in the Islamic world where it originated and was directly related to religious practices. For example, it helped its consumers fast in the day and stay awake at night, during the Muslim celebration of Ramadan.
Coffee was first introduced to Europe on the island of Malta in the 16th century, according to the TV documentary Madwarna. It was introduced there through slavery. The vibrant trade between the Republic of Venice and the Muslims in North Africa, Egypt, and the East brought a large variety of African goods, including coffee, to this leading European port. Venetian merchants introduced coffee-drinking to the wealthy in Venice, charging them heavily for the beverage. In this way, it was introduced to the mainland of Europe. In 1591 Venetian botanist-physician Prospero Alpini became the first to publish a description of the plant in Europe. The first European coffeehouse apart from those in the Ottoman Empire and in Malta was opened in Venice in 1645.
Meanwhile, the drink had been introduced to Brazil in 1727, although its cultivation did not gather momentum until independence in 1822. After this time, massive tracts of rainforest were cleared first from the vicinity of Rio and later São Paulo for plantations. Brazil became the largest producer in the world by 1852 and it has held that status ever since. It dominated world production, exporting more coffee than the rest of the world combined, from 1850 to 1950. The period since 1950 saw the widening of the playing field due to the emergence of several other major producers, notably Colombia, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, and, most recently, Vietnam, which overtook Colombia and became the second-largest producer in 1999 and reached 15% market share by 2011.
Source: Wikipedia
You surely need to start a successful business so that your coffee shop could unleash the full potential right from the start. In fact, opening a café that makes a good profit is relatively easy, but opening a really profitable coffee shop needs you to show the best of your commitment. If you keep walking the consistent path, you’ll flourish in no time.
These are your steps to starting a coffee shop:
Even though it may appear that starting a business in the suburbs has a profitable appeal, coffee shops there don’t grow quickly.
In case you don’t know, water, this essential liquid, makes up almost 98% of your cup. Conclusions? Poor-quality water can become a real scarecrow for your café and turn coffee into a flat and vinegarish experience for the customers. Besides, water quality impacts equipment ‘ life expectancy’, so you want your water to be just perfect. That’s why good coffee shops utilize reverse osmosis filter systems that produce almost distilled water, but diluted a bit with saline water. This helps keep the ratio of minerals and water hardness in balance.
You can’t use either tap or 100% ultra-pure water. First off, tap water has too high mineral content, so your coffee will taste too metallic and acidic – by the way, minerals damage the equipment. Distilled water cannot be a good substitute either because it lacks mineralization, so the drink will be sour.
There’re three important water parameters:
Surely you can just buy water from a supplier, but then you have to find a good one that offers all the right water parameters of the production because every water manufacturing company sets their own criteria. Scrutinize chemical composition of water to make sure the supplier requires your water demands.
You choose a machine depending on the size and needs of your café, but mostly take into account whether the place is going to be crowded or not. Also, your staff experience matters: why does a rookie need a full-packed machine if they don’t even know how to use it? Every supplier catering for HoReCa shops can give valuable advice and help you choose all the right thing for the café. Some guys might even train you to use the machine for free.
Generally, espresso machines are divided into four major groups according to their automation features:
As far as you can guess, the most common commercial models for coffee shops are semi-automatic machines since they give an opportunity to control the taste and have a little bit of automation. They are relatively cheap and make a fast brewer.
Automatic espresso machines are not widespread in cafés and other venues because they can’t make coffee that meets the espresso standards established by the Italian Espresso National Institute. Besides, these machines don’t show the right level of coffee extraction and brewing. Super-automatic machines are widespread for domestic use. Some food service establishments utilize these types of machines as they are able to process large quantities of cups while no proficient operators is needed. In truth, they cost a pretty penny, so not every Michelin-starred restaurant could afford such a device, except for big market sharks like Starbucks or McDonald’s.
To serve traditional Turkish coffee you will need a special copper sand brewer.
We’d highly recommend you to read «The Professional Barista’s Handbook: An Expert Guide to Preparing Espresso, Coffee, and Tea» by Scott Rao. This book is a Klondike of relevant and factual information on how to make the right espresso, cappuccino, latte and contains a great deal of tips you might find useful. Rao’s ‘coffee novel’ is a great guide to understanding how coffee business works from the inside. His tips are based upon large personal experience in the industry, but Rao did authentic research, too. You’ll find detailed instructions – explicit and well-written that any beginner to coffee may become a pro in a few moments.
Watch this video to learn the keys to start a coffee shop:
Additionally, you can take a specialist course to train yourself or your staff members – courses can teach you how to make coffee and start the business smoothly.