Came close to actually buying space for a cafe/tea shop...

Why not have the coffee machines only in a certain area with vents above it? Perhaps not perfect, but should help. Just a thought :)

Kinda my thought... I had thought of brewing the coffee in the rear and then just having it in air pots up front to serve from. I think the issue is that everyone wants lattes/cappuccino which requires all of the noise and smell... I'd bet that even if I did sell regular cups of coffee no one would buy them. It has to have a ratio of 0.1 ppm coffee to 16 oz. of sugar/cream/water/syrup.

eh, the time wasn't right I guess... it'll happen when it happens. I mainly didn't want to compromise my goal after as much time, thought, and effort I have given it over the years. I'd rather not do it.

- Dominic

I was talking to the owner of my local tea shoppe who incorporated in January so he can sell franchises. I was talking to him about the apparent lack of tea shoppes in the San Diego area. He said something curious. He said you need a population of 100,000 with no competition to support a tea shoppe. Im sure that was within a given radius which wasnt mentioned. From what Ive seen even if you do survive youre doing it for the love not the money. If you get people in the store theyll usually buy something. My phone company now is sitting up free wifi spots around town. The closest two are Starbucks and a McD. Ill mention to the local owner he should look into it. I think you need a value added enticer.

Jim

PS A guy set up a coffee stand right > But the owner of the space wanted coffee and sandwiches to be served

Yes, you certainly need extra value and in my opinion even a totally different but complimentary revenue source in the same space. I'm a tech guy so good wifi is a given, even a public computer or two. My extra would be art. Both my own and on a consignment-type basis so that it was essentially a rotating gallery and tea shop. Neat Japanese and Chinese snacks and items as well... stuff you can't readily find outside of a few ethnic markets that I really love.

The amazing thing is that in my area we actually have no Starbucks within a 5 mile radius (yes, I know amazing) and only a single DD in a bad location. But certainly not 100k+ people. There is a high school and a hospital as well as some larger medical centers.

I actually think a smaller cart/kiosk is probably the better way to go financially and to lead into a larger venture but you just lose the whole concept then and it is just such a compromise. However it may be a good way to gauge public interest without a massive outlay of cash. it is amazing though how people will bypass an amazing small vendor for a garbage chain product. We have this cool local coffee shop "chain" (3 stores spread around Pittsburgh) that has the most amazing coffee and drinks yet barely stays afloat beyond the occasional hipster. *I* even used to get their coffee drinks because they were so good, and I don't even really enjoy coffee. Hand-selected beans, hand- roasted, organic/fair trade, and top quality ingredients not packaged syrups AND it is less than Starbucks yet people happily walked right by it to go an extra couple blocks for SB. It's gotta be tough.

I have no interest in becoming rich from it, but I also could not stand to steadily hemorrhage money. I've run the numbers and it is very tough to keep the volume needed to even eek out a basic profit without charging ridiculous sums. I really and truly would love to talk with some tea shop owners in areas outside of major cities knowing now what I know. It has to make for great tales.

- Dominic