Independent coffee shops are on the rise – and they are very much thriving, to say the very least. As a matter of fact, independent coffee shops throughout the United States have been able to pull in a collective $12 billion over the course of just one single year. In the years that are ahead of us, this number is only likely to continue climbing. But in order for the average independent coffee shop to find success, there are a number of things that they must keep in mind.
First of all, there are the basics. Having the right supplies is quite essential indeed for any given coffee shop. Cheap paper cups are ideal, as such white disposable coffee cups are critical for serving customers on the go – and this will likely make up the overall majority of your customer base. Cheap paper cups allow people to get coffee on their way to work, or on their lunch break, as the case might be. For many people, cheap paper cups are absolutely essential for running just about any coffee cup out there, even if these cheap paper cups are not necessarily used for customers who choose to dine in the establishment. Even with such efforts to be sustainable, cheap paper cups must be offered to those who need to get their coffee on the go and have not brought in their own cups to use.
In addition to this, wooden stir sticks for coffee are hugely important as well, likely just as much so as the cheap paper cups that are mentioned directly above. After all, drip coffee is still largely common, and many people don’t take their drip coffee black. As a matter of fact, only around 35% do, leaving up to 65% of the coffee drinking population adding in cream or sugar or likely a combination of the two. For a great many people, the importance of adding in their preferred combination is huge, and can make or break their coffee drinking experience. Therefore, wooden coffee stirrers can be just as important as cheap paper cups for the typical independent coffee shop at the end of the day.
An independent coffee shop needs to consider what they put on their menu as well. Drip coffee of many kinds is a must, but so too are specialty coffee drinks like lattes and espresso shots. In fact, very nearly one third of all espresso beverages are obtained from such coffee shops – after all, more than half of the population drinks them at some point or another. Offering such specialty drinks is likely to bring in a huge portion of the coffee drinking population. People can typically make their own drip coffee at home, but making espresso based drinks is often another story, and one that more and more people are willing to defer to the professionals for.
Offering food items is also something that many coffee shops have done to bring in an additional customer base. Bakery goods and breakfast items are common and popular, given that most people order coffee during the morning hours – likely on their way to work. Being able to pick up a bagel or muffin at the local coffee shop is just yet another way that people can streamline their morning experience and make it all the easier to bear (as not all that many people particularly love the mornings). Soup and more lunch based items are also popular – soup in particular. After all, up to ten billion bowls of soup are consumed by the American people over the course of just one single year alone.
At the end of the day, the independent coffee shop is a business that is thriving in the vast majority of places you might look all throughout the United States. More and more people are frequenting these independent coffee shops, and more and more people are even becoming repeat customers, for that matter. At the end of the day, the coffee shop is an important institution for a great many people, and taking small steps like having cheap paper cups on hand and serving soup can help a coffee shop to build up a loyal customer base.
