Running a Café: The Importance of Your Layout

So, you’ve decided to open a café, that’s great news! You’ve found that you have a product that sells well and you’ve found a location where there’s a clear gap in the market and now you’re setting up your shop.

What do you need to think about? Well, layout is especially important – here’s why:

Flow of Customers

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The last thing you need is for people to walk into your shop and be hit immediately by a queue. This will put off many customers and could potentially lose you a lot of business. You need to make sure that you have enough room between the entrance and the display cabinets or till with allowance for queues.

Ideally you want your customers to have to walk past a display counter that features all your baked goodies. This can allow you to maximise the impulse purchases that your customers make, especially if you use window bags or other aesthetically appealing packaging to make your products stand out.

The Coffee Machine

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It’s a modern phenomenon, but studies have found that people like to see their coffee being made and believe that it strongly adds to the experience. Because of this it is important that you set your coffee machine in a position so that your customers can watch their coffee being made, but also without the barista having to turn their back.

If you have your own, branded coffee beans then it is important that you have custom coffee bags on display so that people can associate your logo with the amazing coffee they’re tasting. All the big brand name coffee shops already do this, so it clearly works and therefore should be something you’re doing.

Sit in or To Go?

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You’ve most likely already decided this in your business plan, but offering both services is one of the best decisions you can make. Having branded ‘to go’ cups gives you extremely cheap advertising and a healthy income from people who need their daily dose of caffeine, while a sit in service is much more likely to buy multiple drinks and food.

Careful with the layout as you don’t want your customers to have to dodge around chairs and sofas to get to the counter. Try to arrange your layout so that the seating area is behind or to the side of the till, allowing customers to come straight through the door and be able to order with only the display counter as distraction.

Maximise Impulse Sales

While the display counter is a great way to encourage your customers to buy that pastry, cake or muffin to go with their coffee, having an additional display by the till can see your impulse sales skyrocket. This is the perfect place to sell your unique coffee, organised in small, medium and large branded coffee bags.

Try to mix this display up on a monthly basis, introducing seasonal items, low cost products or interesting items that your customers are likely to buy. Simple changes to this layout can have a huge impact on how your customers react with them, so experimentation can be extremely useful.

At Charlotte Express Packaging we have a wide range of coffee bags available to help you make the most of your new café, so if you’re looking to sell unique blend coffee make sure you have best packaging you can find. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for or if you want to talk to us about getting branded packaging then call us today on 01495 750 311 or fill out our enquiry form and we’ll get back to you as quickly as possible