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ihavebigboobiezz t1_jcloc6p wrote

I’m gonna follow you’re account and watch like a hawk.

Recommendations I have, make sure you have decaf options. You would be surprised the amount of people that come into a café asking for it.

Even if you don’t want to spend the money on decaf beans for coffee advertise for decaf espresso to make americanos. That’s what we did at my café, the majority of people cannot taste the difference between a decaf Americano and a decaf coffee lol.

Also, it might do you some good to offer coconut milk. I don’t know if maybe it’s just a Newport thing, but a lot of people come in asking for coconut milk I have noticed and the request for this particular type of alternative milk has only been growing over the past year.

Sugar free options or options that aren’t overly sweet. I get a lot of people who come in and complain that it’s very hard for them to go to “New Age” coffee shops because it’s very hard for them to find drinks that they actually enjoy that are not overly sweet.

It might make your brand look more health-conscious if you take the time to put if a product has dairy, nuts, if it’s OK for vegans to eat, etc. etc. The only reason why I’m even suggesting this is because customers do this thing where they never say anything about their dietary restrictions or allergies. I can’t tell you how many times I make drinks that have dairy in them for vegans and the person in question just never said anything. Or the amount of times people with dairy allergies don’t actually say anything so I can’t account for a cross-contamination.

If you can, try to look for an area where tourists/locals are going to be walking around so people going don’t just have to drive there. The amount of people that are going to come inside purely because they want to window shops is very high and since so many people in Coffee they’re probably going to buy something.

Source for recommendations - have been a barista for 5+ years and these are commons things I’ve noticed :)

Good luck!!

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OutlandishnessNo7283 OP t1_jclrmfy wrote

Great tips/ideas, thanks for taking the time to list them! I've worked at restaurants but never a café, so your knowledge is very helpful.

We definitely plan on having all of the plant-based milks/creams on hand. The suggestion about decaf and sugar alternatives is a great idea, we'll probably also have some assortment of homemade infused syrups as well as agave/honey and your basic simple syrup. It's crazy how many places either don't know what simple syrup is, or don't leave it out for customer's and make you ask for it!

Also love your idea about listing ingredients and allergies. My friend has a gluten intolerance and my mother has Celiac's, so it's very important to us to make that info available and to avoid cross-contamination at all costs.

It will be very obvious what drink sizes and what milks/syrups are available. And there will certainly be no wobbly tables!

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