Add Value to your Business – Install a Coffee Station

In the increasingly competitive world of hospitality and associated industries, finding a way to add value to your business can help you gain an edge over your immediate competitors. Obviously, cafés and coffee carts have a well established means of generating regular income via coffee, as coffee hounds are well known for their loyalty to particular venues and/or baristas. But here’s the thing – you don’t have to be a café to set up a coffee station, and it could well give you that boost you need.

Think about it – you’re a bakery, or patisserie, or even a newsagent that gets a lot of passing traffic. People are in and out to buy cakes, bread, treats, newspapers – these are customers who will no doubt be regulars. Adding the facility to offer them a takeaway coffee is a service that could make you stand out, increase the business from your regular customers, and even gain new business.

Getting started

Remember, you’re NOT a café. You’re not setting up tables and hiring wait staff, you’re looking at a financial outlay that will equip you for takeaway service and a barista – or training for a staff member who could do that job. A good barista will have coffee making skills and be able to clean and break down an espresso machine, and do minor repairs and servicing when required. You will need to source a company for regular full servicing.

You will need a good espresso machine and a dedicated space for it that won’t interfere with your existing service area. It’s worth checking out second-hand possibilities if you’re on a tight budget, but do look at purchasing a reputable brand such as La Marzocco, Wega, Boema and Expobar. Also, check out different coffee blends, and find a supplier that can guarantee you prompt service with a blend that has good general appeal.

Source Quality Takeaway Coffee Cups

ou will also need to look at good quality takeaway coffee cups with well fitting lids. Remember, your customers will also be carrying other purchased items, so you don’t want to risk them having to deal with spilled coffee. For an added boost to promote your business, consider custom coffee cups with your business logo and contact info added. Takeaway coffee cups travel…they can be a simple but highly effective form of marketing that only cost you the price of customisation.

A Set-Up Checklist

Attention to detail is the key to setting up a new coffee station. This checklist may be helpful to get you started with your planning:

• Good quality espresso machine, new or second-hand, of a reputable brand. Check warranties on both new and second-hand machines, and service deals.
• Dedicated bench space for the station with built-in plumbing for the coffee machine
• Coffee cups and lids in various sizes for a range of coffee styles.
• Check out the price for custom coffee cups for added business promotion.
• Consider hiring a barista, or seeing if someone on your existing staff is interesting in training – compare the costs of each.
• Research coffee blends, and choose one with broad appeal – not too bitter, not too smoky, and one that works well for milky styles as well as black.
• Prepare an advance marketing plan to alert customers to this new feature of your business ahead of time, and consider offering complimentary coffees on your first day and establishing a loyalty program.

Adding a coffee station to an existing business has the potential to create a whole new stream of income for a relatively small investment. Why not do your research, and see if it’s something that could work for your business?