Coffee franchises 101: how to start your own business

Starting your own coffee shop franchise doesn’t have to tricky. Here’s how to get started on running your own cafe, coffee cart, barista or coffee business

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Congratulations! If you’ve come here, we’re assuming that you’ve decided or are deciding on owning your very own coffee shop franchise.

No matter where you are in your decision process, you’ve started a journey towards a very exciting new beginning.

Franchises are becoming more and more popular, and coffee is always an in-demand product. However, owning a franchise or even thinking about owning a franchise can be overwhelming.

If you’re worried about how to start your own coffee shop franchise, don’t worry. Just keep reading, and you’ll be an expert in no time.

1. Estimate financial need

The very first thing that you should do is get your financial situation figured out. It’s probably one of the most stressful steps, but it’s also one of the most necessary.

Your financial need will depend on which coffee shop business you choose. Some are more expensive than others, and you may find that you need financial assistance to get started.

Getting funding for your coffee franchise opportunity isn’t as daunting as it sounds. In fact, it may actually be a better decision to get some financial help so that you don’t completely drain your bank account by paying the franchise fee.

If you’re looking to intelligently plan your finances, we recommend stating the necessary fees for the franchise you’ve chosen first. After this, you should think about additional costs such as employee payments, maintenance costs, and emergency funds. You don’t want to run your bank account dry before you even open up shop.

2. Create a business plan

Now that you’ve sorted out your finances, you can look towards composing a business plan for your coffee shop franchise. Writing a coffee shop business plan is easier than you think, and many business owners actually love doing it.

Business plans are a way for you to show how passionate you are about your business and where you think you can take your business in the future. It just seems scary because it is a large document that requires some research and a lot of time.

The great thing about building a business plan is that it can actually be helpful outside of presenting your business idea to other individuals or other companies. It can actually help you make more sense of what you want to do and where you want to go with your business.

In fact, some of the components of a business plan are in the next few steps that you have to complete for your business. Your business plan is just a neat guide to sew everything together.

3. Finalise your brand

You have to have an idea of what you want your brand to be before you open up your coffee franchise. Just because your coffee shop is going to be a part of a chain of shops doesn’t mean that you don’t have to worry about branding or individualism.

Many aspects of your business may already be predetermined, but there are still strides you can take to make your business different.

Branding isn’t just found in a business’s name or logo. It’s found in the kind of employees a business hires, the arrangement of seating they choose, and the quality of product they bring to the table.

For example, you may want your coffee shop to be known for having really nice baristas, fancy espresso machine, specialty coffee or cosy seating. Whatever your signature touch may be, don’t be afraid to show it. This is your coffee shop, and - ultimately - your investment.

4. Find your target audience

Before you dive into making and selling coffees, you need to figure out your target audience. This audience will likely depend on the kind of branding that you hopefully just decided on.

When you’re thinking about your ideal customer, be as specific as possible. In fact, you should create a buyer persona.

The more specific you get with your target audience, the better you can actually communicate with that audience and tell them to come to your coffee shop. You can’t communicate with an audience that you don’t know about, so you need to do the research.

We recommend that you take this target audience and/or buyer persona with you when you’re making any changes, preparing any marketing campaigns, or generally making any rules for the store. Think about how that target customer would feel about any of those decisions and act based on those thoughts.

5. Handpick employees

If your franchise is allowing you to choose and hire your employees, take advantage of this opportunity. Being able to handpick your employees is important to your brand’s image and your shop’s success.

Don’t settle for anything less than you expect.

You should show grace, professionalism, and kindness. However, you shouldn’t expect the perfect human to walk through your shop’s doors.

Find out what your favourite quality is in an employee and look for that. Is it kindness or humour? Is it uniqueness or a nice smile?

Whatever you want your employees to be known for is what you should look for in employees. Take your time to get to know candidates before making a decision so that your coffee franchise’s branding is consistent and clear.

6. Prepare your coffee business

Now that you’ve constructed the basic building blocks of your coffee shop business, it’s time to get down to the small details of planning your coffee shop or coffee cart business. You’ve paid, you’ve hired, and now it’s time to get your working model down.

Before opening up shop, we recommend that you run through everything that your shop will need and train employees to meet these needs. Besides stocking up on supplies, you should ensure that you and/or your employees can run the shop smoothly before opening day.

You can practice orders, discuss how to handle customer traffic, and more. This is your time to get prepared before the masses start rushing into your store on opening day.

7. Start social media marketing

There’s still one more thing to do before officially opening your coffee franchise to the public. You need to create and start your social media marketing campaign for your coffee shop.

Even if you aren’t social media savvy, you need to build a social media strategy. This is the best way to bring in customers to your coffee shop. Plus, you can make an announcement about opening day before opening day even happens.

Creating a buzz around your coffee shop before you even open can help you rack up major business on actual opening day and plenty of days after that. Having this kind of exposure can make a difference in your first weeks’ success.

Even after launching your initial campaign, you need to stay consistent on social media. Like, comment, and reply to your customers so that they feel appreciated and wanted. They will keep coming back if they feel like they have a personal connection with your business.

8. Launch your business

Once you’ve prepared everything, it’s time to open up and let your customers flood in. Hopefully, you composed enough buzz about your business to make a great first day for you and/or your staff.

The first day is a great learning platform for any new coffee shop owner.

Use the first day to write down any mistakes you witness or improvements you think of. In fact, doing this for the first week can help your coffee shop exponentially improve in a very short amount of time.

You should also use this time to introduce yourself to customers and build relationships with them so that they are more likely to come back. Matching a face with your franchise will help you make more sales over time.

9. Organise your operations

Once you’ve got a few days of coffee making and selling under your belt, it’s time to reorganise anything that may need fixing. Remember to have your notes handy.

You may have noticed that some of the coffee creamers should be arranged differently or some of the tables are too close together.

Whatever you’ve noticed about your coffee franchise in the first few days should be fixed and experimented with until you feel that the problem has been fixed. This may take moving some chairs and tables around every few days.

10. Consider growth opportunities

Don’t be afraid to ask your staff or your customers where and how they think your coffee franchise can improve. They may have an idea for a new kind of coffee flavour or prefer you to get booths instead of tables.

Whatever the complaint, comment, or opinion is, take it kindly. Then, be sure to revisit the topic later and see about making some needed improvements.

Finding the perfect franchise

Ambitious entrepreneurs are taking advantage of any gaps in the rising coffee shop business market.

Luckily, there are a variety of business models in the coffee industry to explore from a coffee van with Cafe2U and Really Awesome Coffee to more traditional coffee shop setups like with Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks and Costa Coffee.

Opening your very own coffee business is an exciting step, no matter what your future goals are. Franchises like those that make coffee are extremely popular and can be quite lucrative.

While some people prefer to drink their coffee at home, 80 per cent of consumers buy coffee from a coffee shop at least once a week. 16 per cent travel to a local cafe daily. Signs of the £10bn coffee shop sector slowing down don’t seem to exist — the industry has been steadily growing for over 20 years.

7 things you should know about coffee franchise opportunities

If you’re worried about finding the perfect coffee franchise, we can help. We’ve created several different lists covering the best franchises, the cheapest franchises, and more.

After reading all of this information, you may still have more questions about owning your very own franchise. If so, feel free to check out some more answers to your franchise questions. Good luck!