The launch of your new store (whether it is a secondary business due to expansion or a brand-new eatery) requires meticulous planning and tenacious decision-making.
Obviously, even with a wide range of unique yet affordable products and loyal, enthusiastic, and dedicated employees, without customers, your café will not last long.
With this in mind, continue reading to learn four top tips for encouraging customers to your new café.
Table of Contents
Hold a Fabulous Launch Party
First and foremost, you will probably have already planned to hold an opening party for your café, but it is important to ensure you have ticked all the boxes in order to ensure maximum exposure.
From looking into amazing gifts from maplegifts.co.uk for your customers and providing a welcome goody bag for every guest, to arranging small nibbles (sweet and savory) freshly prepared in your own kitchen, make sure the place is welcoming and exciting for people who may well become your regular customers.
Embrace Social Media
Next, whether you like it or not, the virtual takeover of social media now means that if your new café is not online—specifically on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram—you are never going to reach the heady heights of your competitors.
Luckily, proper social media management is fairly simple to learn and consists of the following recommendations, to name just a few:
- Stick to consistent brand guidelines
- Schedule your content ahead of time
- Make adjustments to uniform content depending on the platform
- Ask for audience feedback online
- Run a competition
Additionally, make sure that your official website is accessible both on a desktop computer and a cell phone and ideally, that there is an associated app that customers can download. Through the app, they could order from the table, order from home (if you are enrolling in the Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat schemes),and also collect loyalty points to redeem against certain food and drinks.
Always Keep Your Prices Affordable
Obviously, especially with the recent raises to the cost of living, your prices for both food and drink will have to reflect a profit from the price you pay. However, it is still important to attract customers—especially in the beginning few weeks—by devising offers that will be mutually beneficial.
You could always choose to raise your prices after six months or so, but make sure you do this incrementally and be sure to keep an eye on other local coffee shop prices too.
Remember That Aesthetics Matter!
Finally, a fundamental component of attracting customers to your business is to design a vibrant and welcoming space that feels simultaneously clean yet homely, and additionally, make sure there are enough electrical sockets and plug points, too.
Choosing to work around a particular coffee shop theme will not only make your café or coffee shop standout but will also bring together the different elements of your business. You could choose a modern exterior with wide glass walls (perfect for people-watching with an extra-large latte) or stick to a cooler and more chilled-out vibe with vintage black-and-white photographs.
