Jon Mitchell's Comments

Comment Wall (14 comments)

You need to be a member of Barista Exchange to add comments!

Join Barista Exchange

At 6:33pm on April 2, 2009, Laurie Criger said…
I finally figured out how to add pictures (I'm afraid I'm showing my age!!!) Check my page to see.
At 5:47pm on April 2, 2009, Laurie Criger said…
Jon, sorry for the delay. Busy week! Yea!! When doing my business plan 3 years ago, we found statistics that adjusted to our area, we could expect 200 - 225 customers a day. I average about 110 - 125 tickets a day which translates to probably 150 - 175 customers. Our average ticket is about $5.75 - $6. We serve pastries, muffins, sandwiches,desserts, etc. I feel that it's a necessity for us to offer these. It's what keeps customers coming in all day long.
Unfortunately, we are NOT in the black yet. Maybe we would have been close to it if the economy hadn't gone south, but I really don't expect to be there until closer to the 5 year mark. I will say, even though I still feel it's the best thing I could do, it has been way more stressful than I could of imagined. I see it slightly picking up now, but it has a long ways to go before I can breath a little easier.
One thing that has really helped it through these first years is that we have provided a music venue that was not offered anywhere else. We invite local bands mostly to play on Friday and Saturday nights. They are paid by tips and a percentage of the sales while they're playing. This encourages them to invite their friends and promote themselves.
I think the only other question I haven't answered is the annual sales. I will estimate it at about $175,000 to $200,000.
Your other email asked about equipment left at my location. It was a walk in cooler that was really handy, until it went out last year and I found out that the repair was going to be $1500 +. I've yet to get it fixed. We use our other refrigerators instead.
At 1:17pm on April 2, 2009, Kim Collins said…
We were delayed a few months on our opening; originally slated to open when school started last fall. We didn't open until the second week of November, which impacted the momentum of our "customer grab". Just as we got up to speed it, both with baristas and customers, school shut down for Thanksgiving and then two weeks later shut down for Winter break. We are performing a little below our expectation, but there are so many variables that may be effecting the numbers.

The demographics of the town are interesting...We are located across the street from a private Baptist University with a student population of around 5K. The city/county itself has about 300K people with only 97K of those living within the city limits. Much of the population tends to reside outside the actual city limits, commute into the city to work and school, which skews the numbers on median household income in the area and other key numbers that help you determine the viability of a location.

We captured the students immediately and have begun to reach out to the non-student population through newspaper articles, food reviews, and a morning catering offering for businesses. We did some fun stuff through finals last semester if you're looking for ideas there too.
At 4:33pm on April 1, 2009, Paul Yates said…
I would be glad to swap ideas with you. Right now it seems I have more questions than answers, as I am sure you can understand.
At 1:09pm on March 25, 2009, Dan Dean said…
Hey Jon,
Our Web site is www.latteyourway.com. It is pretty basic as we put it up just before we opened and have not touched it since. Just do not have the time right now. We are located in a very small town, Linden Michigan. It is southwest of Flint -yep - the very same Flint the Michael Moore made not so famous. If you go to my page on the exchange there is a photo of the inside. - dd
At 12:56pm on March 24, 2009, Laurie Criger said…
My shop is a stand alone building. It was a BBQ place before me. It sat vacant for 6 years. Already had a drive thru (which I would HIGHLY suggest!) and it's about 2000 sq. ft. I went through a local bank. The SBA has a lot of hoops to jump through. For instance, if the land was EVER used as a gas station, you have to have their EPA out to take samples which can take months to complete. You also have to put up a large percentage of cash yourself and they match funds. This was all told to me by my loan officer. There was something else, but I can't remember exactly what it was. Anyway, we decided it didn't look as good as we thought. We put up some collateral of our own and then our equipment covered the rest of the loan. So basically, the bank owns my business ;-) ! My equipment costs were about $60,000, and I even had some of it left from the previous business.
At 7:48pm on March 23, 2009, Laurie Criger said…
What great questions! I wish I would have asked someone about payroll before I did my business plan! I have 6 employees at this time; 1 full time (40 hrs.), 2 almost full time (25 - 35 hrs.) and 3 part time (15 - 20 hrs.). I take AT LEAST 42 - 45 hours a week behind the bar. My payroll is around $1,500 every 2 weeks. Payroll taxes are a lot. Off hand it's about 15%. I almost never have more that 2 on the clock at a time, some evenings I only have 1. The only time I have to have more is when we have live bands, then I try to be the 3rd. Hope this helps. Looking forward to talking with you.
At 12:41pm on March 12, 2009, Mark said…
Hi, I'd like to start an email chain for us that are in the process of opening a coffee shop/cafe. Are you interested? If so, send me you email and I will include it. I figure we can ask each other the questions we have, I'm sure we all have different experiences and knowledge that we can learn from each.

Mark
At 12:29pm on March 12, 2009, Andrew Jensen said…
Keep up the research. I read that you attended ABC school - They're great. It seems that you're getting all your ducks in a row! I'll pass on the good word to Erin. Thanks
At 7:19pm on March 11, 2009, Laurie Criger said…
I'm usually at the shop Monday - Friday from 7 AM until at least 2 PM. --- minus times I need to go to the store or something. I wouild be glad to show you the shop on a weekend. I'm not an expert but am willing to share my experiences with you. I was reading some of your threads and I think I remember you saying you liked the Aurelia?? That is the one I chose. I LOVE it! Before going to Portland, I was set on another machine, but after working on the Aurelia, I changed my mind.
Call me to arrange a time. Usually the best time to visit would be about 1:30 - 2:00 PM. In the coffee shop world, you never know when to expect a busy time! I look forward to talking with you.

Laurie
At 8:00pm on March 10, 2009, Laurie Criger said…
Hey Jon. I woiuld be happy to talk with you about your adventure. I've been in business for almost 3 years (in August) and although it's been stressful, it's the best thing I've ever done. It sounds like you've already gone to ABC?? That was the BEST investment I made. That, and a good quality machine! If you would like to talk with me you can get ahold of me at my shop most every day of the week (870) 743-3218. You also have a great distributor for most products right in Conway. Specialty Beverage of Arkansas is incredible. I look forward to talking with you.
Laurie Criger
At 10:29am on February 16, 2009, Shari Coia Fulton said…
Hi Jon! Thanks for your comment on the mid-life coffee thread! I'm a little bit ahead of you...I'm 43, turning 44 next month (gulp). I totally understand where you are coming from. IT project management just isn't "feeding my soul". You are also hooked up with a great group of folks at Bellissimo (Hi Matt!) and also Mike at Selby Soft is awesome too. Mike's been checking in with me and helping to keep me motivated.

I've been working on this for over a year now - no kidding. I've decided to take my time, save money like CRAZY, and educate myself as much as possible.
I've decided in this economy to try to find a location that has already been built out - either as a restaurant/deli/bakery/coffee shop etc., or is closing as one of the above. If you can walk into a place for $50K that already has most/all of the equipment, and is "turn key" than you are WAY ahead of the game...of course, it needs to be the right location, in the right market, and something you can "tweak" to give it the quality personality.
I have several coffee shop friends who have had to close their shops in the last year - many of them opened in the height of the "boom" here - 2005 - paying top rents, and paying a fortune to build out a brand new - plain vanilla space. When the economy fell, they couldn't afford the high rent, and keep up payments on big loans. So my lesson learned was get in as low as you can without sacrificing quality or location, and negotiation the tar out of your rent. And look, look, look for locations and be patient. I have 3 different brokers looking for spaces for me now, negotiated on one space that fell through, and am looking at 4 new options. Bottom line, be willing to walk away if the deal/location isn't right. I had to walk away from one I really liked. :-( But I'm not going to lose my house over this!
Btw...I used to live in Dallas, TX, and used to show horses over in Little Rock! I hope you are able to escape the corporate golden handcuffs! Best to you!
Shari
At 10:06am on February 16, 2009, Matt Milletto said…
Hey Jon! Welcome to Barista Exchange! It was great meeting you last week here in Portland. Talk to you soon.

- Matt
At 9:43am on February 16, 2009, Mike Spence said…
Hi Jon, As one of the sponsors here and of the ABC school I'd like to welcome you to bX! If you ever need anything, let me know!
Mike@SelbySoft.com
800-454-4434

Barista Exchange Partners

Barista Exchange Friends

Keep Barista Exchange Free

Are you enjoying Barista Exchange? Is it helping you promote your business and helping you network in this great industry? Donate today to keep it free to all members. Supporters can join the "Supporters Group" with a donation. Thanks!

Clicky Web Analytics

© 2024   Created by Matt Milletto.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service