Making Better Dinners With Less

Running a profitable coffee shop is not easy. If you're not earning as much as you would like, then there are two key approaches you can take. You can make some changes to bring more customers in and encourage them to buy more. Or, you can take some steps to reduce costs and retain more of your income. Of course, you need to be sure to cut costs in ways that won't negatively impact the quality of your product or the customers' experiences. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Serve coffee in reusable mugs to those who are dining in-house

Are you currently putting all of your coffee in to-go cups? If so, you can cut costs by purchasing a set of ceramic mugs and using those for your in-house guests. Your baristas will just have to ask customers whether they want their coffee to stay or to go. If they say they plan on staying, the barista can serve the coffee in a ceramic mug and save you the cost of a paper coffee cup.

Save the single-origin beans for special orders

Serving single-origin coffee will really bring in lots of customers. However, you don't need to be using those expensive, single-origin beans in mixed coffee drinks like lattes and caramel macchiatos. Find a good, but affordable coffee to use in these drinks instead. It's really hard to tell the difference between a good-quality and top-notch coffee when there are lots of other ingredients in the drink.

Find free entertainment to offer customers

Offering some form of entertainment for your customers will draw more people into your coffee shop. But since the entertainment is really secondary to the coffee, it does not have to be something you pay a lot for. Look for free books being given away by local libraries, and stash them on a shelf for customers to read. Put a basket out for customers to donate their own magazines. You could also offer open-mic nights, which is a good way to offer live entertainment without having to pay a band or musician.

If your coffee shop is not as profitable as you'd like, then look into some of these cost-cutting measures. They may not all work for you, but at least one or two of them should be things you can implement without too much of a struggle. Give them a try, and see what you think.

To learn more, visit a coffee shop such as Encircle Cafe.