Welcome to Cafe Success Hub
Dedicated to making more money for Independent Coffee Shop, Cafe and Tea Room Owners
How convenient are your facilities?
Recently I took my car to my local garage for a MOT, the while-you-wait type, and while I was waiting, I needed to answer the call of nature. The garage itself was typical of these kinds of places, on an industrial estate on the edge of town. When I have had to avail myself of…
Mums Bake Cakes
We are fortunate as in the course of our work we meet people that are passionate about what they do and we like to share this with our community. Recently we met Paula Wilkinson and Richard Watson who started Mums Bake Cakes. They have brought together hundreds of bakers across the UK who hand deliver…
How technology can give you an edge
This week, we met with Tom Dewhurst, Founder & CEO of Ordoo at their offices in Old Street, London. Ordoo is the UKs leading mobile ordering app for coffee shops. What’s the journey been like at Ordoo? Ordoo has been a rollercoaster! I wanted to save busy people time by using technology to stop…
REGISTRATION FOR COFFEE SHOP INNOVATION EXPO 2017 IS NOW OPEN!
On the 26th and 27th September, ExCeL, London, will throw open its doors to over 3,000 key decision makers, buyers and coffee shop owners, all looking to make big investments in-keeping with an industry that is currently evolving at an unprecedented rate. Here, all from under one roof, completely free of charge, visitors can find…
New to Caffe Culture 2017
Innate Foods So it started out with Elsa as a teenager feeling incredible weak and in poor health, the doctors proclaimed she was fine and so she set about my own explorations, starting with a complete renovation of her diet. This basically involved her paying great attention to what she felt like eating and…
Caffe Culture Presentaion
Here is our presentation at Caffe Culture at Olympia in London on May 24th about the Authors Andrew & Claire Bowen are the authors of ‘The Daily Grind – how to open & run a coffee shop that makes money’ Available on Amazon, and Founders of Cafe Success www.cafesuccesshub.com – the ultimate resource site for coffee shop, cafe and tea…
Caffè Culture
I’ve just sat down at my desk to work on my talk that I am delivering at the Caffè Culture show at Olympia in London on Wednesday 24th May at their Caffe Connections Conference. The organisers have asked me to talk about franchising your coffee business and other ways of raising capital. It struck me…
London Coffee Festival 2017 Video
We spent a fabulous few days at the London Coffee Festival. It seems that there are even more people interested in opening a coffee shop and we met loads of them! Here is a video we put together before the crowds descended About the Authors Andrew & Claire Bowen are the authors…
Why the Wait
Having a queue in your coffee shop or cafe is a beautiful thing to behold, but according to the latest research, if you have more than six guests waiting, then people are deterred from standing in line. There is another six that matters, and that’s waiting more than six minutes, where you perceive the queue…
Coffee Shop Pricing Principles INFOGRAPHIC
Coffee Shop Pricing Principles We have put together this Infographic to illustrate some of the secrets to setting the right prices and setting out a menu that will maximise your sales. Click Here to See the Full Article About the Authors Andrew & Claire Bowen are the authors of ‘The Daily Grind – how…
5 Emergency Plans Every Coffee Shop Needs
They say things always come in three’s; so when the coffee machine, dishwasher and high-speed oven decided to stop working in the week before Christmas, the good news is that we had all bases covered. What are your emergency plans? In the past, any one of these issues could have sent us into a…
The 5 Most Wanted for a coffee shop start up- Infographic
Jim Rohn, the renowned US motivational speaker and business coach famously said that “you are the average of the five people you spend most time with.” So when you are opening your first coffee bar business, who should be on your five most wanted list of individuals? It’s not just people you…
Interview with Ken Burgin
We were delighted recently to be invited on as guests by Ken Burgin, the famous Australian Hospitality guru. He had read a copy of our book, The Daily Grind and wanted to talk to us in more detail about some of things we go into in the book. His relaxed style and vast…
Coffee Shop Equipment Checklist
Before we give you the details of the coffee shop equipment you need take a few moments to understand your new business better… ‘Stop do not pass go, if you don’t know Your Why!’ So many people start in the wrong place when they want to open their coffee shop. The two things we get…
Christmas Checklist for Coffee Shops
The well oiled seasonal retail calendar drives sales throughout the year, and in many markets, Christmas is the biggest of them all. It’s not always a great trading period for everyone, though. Those coffee shops that are in city centres or shopping malls that attract the hoards are planning their big trading days, stocking up,…
Pokito – the answer to coffee cup reuse?
The environmental impact of the disposable but not recyclable cup is something that has been in the headlines recently. The exponential growth of coffee shops and takeaway coffee, in particular, has resulted in billions of paper cups going straight to landfill every year. There have been many attempts at promoting reusable cups for takeaway over…
Why Not for Profit needs to be Profitable
Why Not for Profit should still be profitable Profit is not always purely financial; it can be measured as an advantage or benefit derived from an activity. In particular for charities or social enterprises who will measure their success in many other ways. Every week we talk to many coffee shops and cafes from different…
Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast
We were delighted to be asked to be guests on The Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast by Eric Cacciatore recently. Eric invites the best mentors from the restaurant, bar and cafe industry to share their experience with his audience. If you want to listen to some our industries finest operators then you should subscribe and listen to the back…
Love at First Sight!
Love at first sight You only get one chance to make a first impression they say, and it’s never more important than when it’s your own business. Impressing customers on their very first visit is the most important transaction that you have in your coffee shop, get it wrong and you won’t see them again,…
Winking in the Dark
One of the biggest dilemmas or even traps the Independent Coffee Shop owner faces is getting themselves away from the day to day operation and getting more customers into their coffee shop. There can be many reasons for this, sometimes the overriding pride or passion leads the owners to believe that only they can serve…
Turbocharge your loyalty card
The Coffee Shops oldest and still the most popular loyalty scheme is the good old stamp card; most coffee shops use stamp cards or something similar to encourage repeat business, but most businesses are missing a massive opportunity to improve their impact significantly. It’s all to do with a psychological effect called ‘The Endowed Progress…
Brexit- Don’t panic, Keep Calm and Carry on
We were asked for our view on Brexit yesterday for CoffeeBI. If you are not in the UK you may have missed the fact that the UK voted yesterday to leave the European Union. This will be a seismic change in the way the UK does business with the rest of the world, but where…
Equipment Superheroes
You’ve got the plan, the passion and the drive and a great site to open your new coffee shop. The problem is you are not quite sure how busy you are going to be and what equipment to buy. Does this sound familiar? Do you need a two, three or four head coffee machine,…
Are you ready for a Bunfight?
This weekend marks the celebration of Queen Elizabeths ninetieth birthday. There will be many events going out throughout the world to commemorate this momentous achievement; there is none more unusual than the Bun Throwing from the top of The County Hall into the Market Place in Abingdon, UK. The tradition dates back 255 years, where…
Caffè Culture 2016 Highlight
This years Caffè Culture Show in Olympia London was a colourful affair; we wanted to share with you some of the highlights Peanut Hottie http://peanuthottie.com/ The Peanut Hottie stand was one of the brightest and busiest. Lisa Gawthorne has developed a unique and tasty new drink, that is low calorie, under 100 calories per cup, caffeine free and…
2000 Suspended Coffees
2000 Random Acts of Kindness We had a Facebook post from a customer in April 2011 that was intriguing and had no idea we would go on to raise over £3000. You see Megan, who was a student at the University of Oxford at the time, had direct messaged us to ask if we would…
Our first lie in for 9 years!
4am Today is the first May Day morning in nine years that we have not woken up at 4am to go to work. The reason we have been able to enjoy a well-earned lie in is that we no longer have a coffee shop in the centre of Oxford. You might know of the ancient…
Exciting New Suppliers We Found at The London Coffee Festival
During our recent four day spell at the London Coffee Festival, where we were exhibiting, we spotted some innovative uses of coffee as well as byproducts of the coffee industry and just some great products that would enhance your business. These make ideal add-ons to any range sold in an independent coffee shop. Pinwheel Balms…
Video of the London Coffee Festival 2016
We took a quick tour of the show before it opened one morning to give you a flavour of the event, before it got so busy you could hardly move. A great vibe! About the Authors Andrew & Claire Bowen are the authors of ‘The Daily Grind – how to open a coffee shop that…
What you wanted to know at the London Coffee Festival
We spent four inspiring days at the London Coffee Festival, held at The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London last week. We met hundreds of budding, and experienced coffee shop owners as well as some awesome suppliers of all things coffee shop related. The questions you asked us were very insightful to your stage in…
