We are a small coffeeshop located in a small Northwest town that is near the Olympic National Forest. Summer months are extremely busy (compared to the rest of the year). We are located on the main drag and in a highly visible spot. Every business that has opened in our spot has closed within a year. The problem is that the tourism stops just after Labor Day and the locals are few in numbers so our business suffers. We have been open for 2 years now and I feel we are beginning to make some headway with the locals. We closed for 2 months last winter and when we opened people were happy. They said they tried other spots near by (20 minutes in either direction) but we were the best and they did not want us to close again.

Any ideas on what we can do during the winter months to increase service or sales? Or maybe cut back on expenses?

Has anyone trademarked their coffee shop's name or logo; are you in the process of doing so? What made you decide to do so? Is a trademark necessary or is a copywrite on your logo enough? How do you protect your identity?

Is $1500 to submit a trademark cheap or expensive? That's what our Specialty coffee consultant wants to charge us.
It seemed a lot less than hiring a local lawyer to do it.

Help!! I am having sooo much trouble with finding affordable sleeves. For the last six years I have been using perfect touch. Now I'm trying the cup and sleeve route. I have 3 stores on a university campus and they protested the free (maidenform bra) sleeves. Do you guys think it's actually more affordable to use this method than the perfect touch system?

We are in our 5th year of business and starting to bat around the idea of employee benefits, pay and retention. Does anyone out there offer health insurance and or spending accounts, vacation or sick pay? We have found that although high turnaround seems to come with the industry we want to encourage some and rewards employees who stick around. Here in NY min. wage is 7.15 an hour and to be quite honest that really isn't enough to live on in Westchester NY. Maybe one of you have some ideas, suggestions or comments on the subject?

I just had a french press and i don't know how to make a single shot of espresso....for a caffe latte

I am doing a school research on coffee habits. I would really appreciate any inputs.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=2cu4MHXg4k6FyqzkMy6xFQ_3d_3d

Thanks in advance

Hello. I am looking to purchase a coffee van in the near future, and I have a few questions about the biz. Please post responses if you can answer one or more of my questions. Thank You, and good luck to others trying to open their own coffee business.

1. Does anyone have a suggestion as to the best companies for buying equipped vans or trailers? Or trailers, sprinters, vans the best, most endurable bet. What does a fully equipped vehicle cost in general?

2. If you plan on vending at events and festivals, do you need to book in advance? If there are other coffee carts there, is there is a limit as to how many can show up, and if this is the case is the market saturated with coffee venders in the event/festival arena already?

3. If one is committed and finds events with high traffic volume on a regular basis, what can one expect in terms of profit?

4. Does anyone have any suggestions about books for people who want to crack the mobile coffee cart biz such as mobile coffee shops for dummies, etc?

5. I understand that it takes about a year for a new coffee cafe to break even. Is the same true for a mobile coffee cart, or are profits quicker because of the mobility and access to higher volumes of traffic? Do you think that its more profitable to park in a hospital/business building, or to count on being mobile, traveling to events etc.?

6. What is a good, quality, reasonably priced coffee to use for a mobile coffee cart?

7. Can having a panini press be profitable, or do you think that for a beginner it would cost more to make sandwiches than it is worth?

8. If you are cooking basic goods at home for the cart such as cookies, muffins, scones, is it necessary to get a food license for your home kitchen and list ingredients on the baked goods

9. Is it permissable to have one''s coffee van on a high school campus?

We have a few customers who use an entire sugar shaker in their two 16 oz. cups of coffee. This has not been a persistent problem until recently and usually the problem goes away. I am just wondering if this is a common occurance out there with condiment portion control. If so, what are your thoughts on it besides customers that will have a large dentist bill.

Thanks.

I have 5 women employees that are driving me crazy with jealousy, power struggles and hormones. We just opened our second location and the drama these gals create between one another is overwhelming. I find is hard to love my little drive thru coffee houses, I own 2, and ready to fire them all and work myself. My phone starts ringing off the hook everyday at 7am , everything from where's the sharpie pens to are we out of club soda? Oh and get this one..."you like her better than me, she's your favorite and I work hard too." By the way, 2 of these girls are motherless. I have tried to create an awesome atmosphere for our girls and they are all amazing in their own right regarding their skills and expertise when it comes to holding the title Barista. Although, behind the scenes their lives spill over bringing their troubles to work and I've had it quite frankly. What happened to the work ethics from yesteryear. Anyone else have the same drama?

Hello All, I am glad I found this website. It looks like alot of good info. We are becoming the 1st drive thru espresso stand in town, but we already know there is another one on are tails. There is only 1 walk in place, and there is one coming on their tails.

We thought we had decided on a smoothie base, that we could add fruit etc... We are deciding against that and need help and opinions on other products pros/cons Dr. Smoothie, Jet Tea, what else is there???

Also what type of Hot Chocolate do you do??

Any baked goods you would definatly recommend having, and any you wouldnt mess with???
We asked a couple of local bakeries if they want to do our baking and their label could be on the product, which they seem to be struggling to stay a float, they were not intrested.
So we are having to get it from the local grocery store, unless other recomendations.

We want to do things right, Any helpful info of mistakes we can avoid, Would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Kimberly