Speciality Coffee Shop – Research

Ever wondered what goes into setting up a small coffee shop? Or what type of research has to be done before the big day?

It just so happens we are in the process of opening a speciality coffee bar in Knysna. Because I value service and appreciate good coffee, it seemed like the appropriate thing to do. But that was not enough. I wanted to take it to the next level. Often I have been disappointed by the lack of creativity from South African coffee shops. So, I will be trying my best to set the bar very high and to do something South Africa has never seen before. Are you ready? Here goes nothing!

For fun and games, and for the curious entrepreneur, I decided to document the progress and to share the adventure with everyone. Over the next couple of weeks I will post regular updates. Feel free to join in, to share your thoughts and input on our social media platforms. On twitter you can interact with @PolvoCoffee and on Facebook there is a page for Polvo.

Okay, so where do I find myself at the moment? Before you even start thinking about setting up shop, there is something that must be done. This is a golden rule: research, research, and more research. Before even registering the company, I have done loads of research. I wrote an article about coffee shops for The Coffee Mag, and from there I never really stopped researching the coffee trade. At times it went into the early morning hours, much to the annoyance of my wife.

Research done, I began planning the shell of the business, the legalities. Not unlike giving birth to an idea, the business needed a birth certificate, an Identification document, and a name. I acquired the necessary documents from our accountants and prepared everything. While my fancy pondered the abundance of coffee-sounding names and the play of words only a crime writer could enjoy, I began focusing on the other important part: the coffee.

This is a daunting exercise! If you are planning to open a coffee shop, then be unique. With all the competition in the Garden Route, we had to plan something so unique that when the customer tastes our coffee, they would remember who we were and where they bought it. A return customer is usually a loyal customer, and loyal customers are bread and butter. Here my wife and I set out on a coffee- and tea-sampling mission, meeting with coffee roasters and tea merchants until we had an idea what we were looking for. Here I often hit the Net looking for info. Yes, that qualifies as research as well.

 Where to open? The key rule to opening an eatery has always been location, location, location. But how important is that when you are planning a speciality destination coffee bar? It is still pretty important, but in essence it is far less vital than people make it out to be. We looked at the town through new eyes. Over a couple of weeks we examined traffic, type of client, weather, public transport, and we analysed all this information. It became clear that our target customer cancelled out a number of promising venues. So, I went back to town and took more notes, scouting for the prime location. I did warn you that research is important.

Then the theme of our coffee bar, became a focus topic. What would make us different to other coffee shops? How would we perfect the coffee experience? And how would we be able to squeeze all of that into a small manageable shop in Knysna? More research!

Now we have prepared the paperwork, a name was on the verge of being formed, some great coffees have been sampled, some great venues have opened up and an idea of a theme has appealed to us both. Our baby was taking shape.

Next entry I will elaborate a bit more on the above points and some new ones, like shop fitting, logo design, marketing, cutlery and more.