Driving Traffic to Your New Coffee House

Many new coffee house owners have misconceptions about the work involved in opening a coffee shop. One of the most prevalent myths is that you will be inundated with business as soon as you open the doors of your coffee house.

If Crimson Cup had $1 for every person opening a coffee house who said, “Everyone is excited about me opening a coffee house and they all say they will hang out at my coffee shop once it’s open,” we’d be sitting on a mountain of money.

Here’s the problem: when people start a new endeavor, they begin by talking to those closest to them. Of course friends and family are going to be excited you are opening a coffee house. Unfortunately, this excitement often creates a false sense of enthusiasm, which causes you to underestimate the need for effective marketing.

In our experience, only 1 out of 100 new coffee house owners actually get the amount of traffic they thought they would. The other 99% must work at building traffic through sustained marketing efforts.

When opening a coffee shop, it’s crucial to get the community at large excited about your business, not just your friends and family. The only way to do this is by setting up a marketing plan that takes the focus out of your coffee shop and into the streets of your community.

In our opinion, grassroots marketing is so critical that we teach our new customers how to build and implement a marketing plan as part of our Seven Steps to Coffee Shop Success program. Greg devotes an entire chapter of his book, Seven Steps to Success in the Specialty Coffee Industry, to marketing.

If you are considering opening a coffee house and would like more information about marketing and our 7 Steps program, contact a Crimson Cup consultant today using this form, or by calling 888-800-9224.