Coffee

Preparation

Put together a business plan for your café. Every successful business starts with a business plan. Begin with an executive summary, which tells what the business is and what it plans to do as a business. The business plan will list the business' objectives, planned keys to success, its mission, about the ownership, startup expenses, funding and its location. Further, it tells about the products to be sold, market analysis and the competition. A business plan gives you a clear picture of what the business is, how it will conduct business and it will achieve its goals.

Product

Taste your own product. The basis of the modern café is the coffee or espresso. Before you do anything else, make sure your coffee taste good. That means trying different beans and learning how to make espresso properly. Serve food, more than just pastries and cookies. You need choices that are delicious but don't require that you hire an expensive chef. Healthy salads, sandwiches, wraps and soups make the difference between keeping your customers in the café. After you are in business for a time, rework your menu to eliminate items that don't sell well. Restructure the menu to feature the best-selling products.

Atmosphere

Create a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere. Frequent other cafes or coffee houses and make notes about what you like and don't like. Add a comfortable couch along with bistro-type tables and chairs. Be sure the café is spotless inside and out. Stay open later in the day. Don't close your doors at 2 p.m.; stay open until 9 pm and even later on Fridays and Saturdays. Get a liquor license so you can serve wine and specialty beers in the evening. Offer entertainment on the weekends, even if it is just an open-microphone night that costs you no money. Other times, offer gentle music from a stereo system, or satellite radio, that will be enjoyed by all. On the other hand, if there are particular days, such as Sundays, when there is little evening traffic cut...