I have spent the last few blog posts discussing the more practical aspects of starting a café, and I thought it was about time we talked about the more fun parts – the product!
Generally, whatever type of cafe you are starting you will serve coffee, tea, hot chocolate and a variety of snack foods and possibly main meals.
But how do you choose what to serve? How do you identify a good supplier? What about portion size? How do you work out cost and sale price?
This blog should give you a quick insight into how to plan out your menu and how to choose your suppliers.
1. Look at your kitchen area
You can really only start to draw up a menu in detail once you have found premises and had the opportunity to inspect the kitchen and preparation areas. Commercial spaces, like in houses, can vary dramatically and what is possible to prepare in one space may be a nightmare in another. So be flexible with your ideas if the property you end up with isn’t quite fitting in with your menu.
Ensure that in your kitchen or preparation area you have specifically mapped out areas where you prepare, make food and plate up or serve. Ensure that you have your power points placed to match these points – there’s no point only being able to put your toaster in your serving area.
Make sure that your kitchen is logical and has flow, or it will be a nightmare to work in further down the line
Make sure your kitchen is working as hard as it can, whilst not overloading it. If your kitchen is large enough only to serve light lunches, be prepared for a rush during the lunch period by prepping as much as you can before hand. Then what you lack in space you can make up for in efficiency.
However, if you are lucky enough to have space for a full kitchen, serving hot meals will vastly improve your takings and profit margins, so try to factor those in to maximise the use of your space.
Just like you would in the home, consider the “magic triangle” of sink or wash area, fridge and cooker. Make sure that your kitchen is logical and has flow, or it will be a nightmare to work in further down the line.
2. Choosing your products
There are simply hundreds of food manufacturers. From cupcakes to chips, there are seemingly never-ending options of products to choose to serve in your café, and it can be hard to choose.
The best place to go when starting out is to a trade show. Shows such as Café Culture (at Olympia, London), Hotelympia (Earls Court, London), Lunch! (London) and the Speciality and Fine Food Fair (Harrogate) are all worth a visit to meet with suppliers, sample their produce and gain crucial contacts.
These shows are usually free to trade customers, and are packed full of suppliers looking for new business. Don’t be afraid to make the most of these shows, and sample as much as possible. After all, if you are impressed with something, your customers probably will be too.
If you cant make these shows, when contacting supplies don’t be afraid to ask for samples. Most suppliers will have complimentary marketing and sales packs they will send out to interested parties. If a company will not give you a sample, check why not before making a decision. For example, wholesalers of branded goods tend not to give samples for the simple reason that the goods can be purchased in any store. However, if a speciality supplier will not give you a free sample before purchase, seriously question if they are the supplier for you.
3. Picking a good supplier
In any area, there are dozens of food suppliers of fresh, frozen, canned, grocery and dry ingredients. They will all be vying for your business. Most representatives from these companies who visit you will be on a commission based wage, so will profit the more contracts they get for their company. Don’t be fooled by the cheapest price, in my experience, those that promise the most usually deliver the least.
When considering who to use as a supplier, ask around. Other business owners or chefs in the area will be a wealth of information, and usually will be honest with you. Go on your instincts too – if you like the way the company operates that’s half the battle.
In a food-based business, reliability is crucial. If your supplier frequently misses items off your order, is out of stock or changes prices all the time, consider looking for someone else. A popular tactic by food suppliers is to lure you in with the promise of great prices and a great range of products, only to then hike the price up several weeks later or simply never have what you ask for.
Where possible, try to use local companies for your “core range” such as meats, fish, vegetables and fruit, and if possible, locally roasted coffee. This not only makes a great selling point, but also cuts down on food miles of certain products.
For example, at my roasters, York Coffee Emporium, I buy unroasted coffee from importers then roast, grind, package and deliver all from the same location. Larger roasters tend to outsource each separate step of this process (it is not uncommon for coffee to be roasted in one country, shipped to another to be ground and packed, then shipped back to the UK to be sold to the consumer). The upshot is a product which is fresher, more controlled, has fewer food miles and usually more cost-effective.
4. Cost price versus sale price
Of course, you can serve the best products in the world from the nicest suppliers in the world, but this means nothing if you haven’t crunched the numbers. In a café, you want to aim for a consistent profit margin of between 60-75% across all your sales.
Coffee and tea sales generally achieve a profit margin of about 80%, and it is customary for food to be slightly lower. However, if you are not achieving at least 50% on your food sales you should either look at reducing your costs or putting up your prices.
When setting your prices, do a bit of market research to check you are in line with the nearby cafes and bars. If your prices are too high, they will scare people off, no matter how good the quality. Too low, and people may assume your quality is poor.
Overall however, make sure that you combine ability, quality and costs to make a menu to be proud of, and which will bring your customers back again and again.
