Coffee Shop Startup Consultant Shares Tips for Choosing the Right Independent Coffee Shop Location

Choosing the right location is the first – and most important – step in opening a coffee shop.

“Location will make or break your specialty coffee business,” said Greg Ubert, founder and president of award-winning coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea. “It’s important to choose a highly visible spot that is on the way to or near an area where your prospective customers work, go to school, shop or travel. In addition to being highly visible, he added that great locations are in high-traffic areas with easy in, easy out access. “You can get the traffic count by asking your city for the latest traffic study done on the address,” he said. “This will give you the traffic count by side of the road, hour of the day, and day of the week.” Ubert said the ideal location varies depending upon whether you want to open a coffee shop with drive through, coffee kiosk, drive-through coffee stand or mobile coffee bar. Profitable locations often are in or near:

• Strip malls with high-volume traffic
• Downtown office buildings
• Colleges and universities
• Tourist areas with a high volume of pedestrian traffic
• Airports

Ubert discusses additional considerations for choosing an ideal coffee shop location in his book, Seven Steps to Success: a Common-sense Guide to Succeed in the Specialty Coffee Industry.
Now in its second printing, this easy-to-follow guide is the foundation of Crimson Cup’s 7 Steps to Success program, which includes consultation on locating and outfitting the right coffee shop location, writing a coffee shop business plan and more.

Unlike a coffee shop franchise, Crimson Cup’s 7 Steps program allows business owners to operate a business that reflects their individual style. “From signage to seating, the owner is in charge,” Ubert said.

To learn more about the 7 Steps program or to schedule an initial consultation, call 888-800-9224 or visit the Crimson Cup website.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is a 2020 Good Food Award winner, 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazine’s 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year. Since 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced craft coffee for consumers and wholesale coffee customers. Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program, the company teaches entrepreneurs to run independent coffeehouses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into how much it costs to open a coffee shop.

Crimson Cup also supports life-enriching projects through its Friend2Farmer initiatives which promote the education, health, sustainability and economic growth of small-plot coffee farmers and their communities.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffeehouses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also operates several Crimson Cup Coffee Shops and a new CRIMSON retail flagship store.