Coffee is an amazing thing it's first
date it's business meetings I mean some
theorists say that you know coffee kind
of started the Industrial Revolution it
took us out of the Dark Ages that's part
of the love of coffee staying on top of
the curve ahead of the wave I don't know
there's nothing like it nothing like
there's nothing like is nothing like the
kind of person that excels it running or
opening a coffeehouse I hate to say it
but really unusual person you have to
have every skill set number one they
have to have enough capital to open a
business number two they have to have a
passion to run a business and you have
to be willing to learn you have to be
wide open to learning at all times and
never say I got this right I mean you
definitely have to have the quality of
being ok with the unknown you have to be
a perfectionist but you also have to be
half-assed about everything you really
need to sort of fall back on all the
things you've ever done in your life if
you don't talk if you're not out there
you're not gonna get anybody interested
in what you're doing they have to love
being around people because this is
really a people business from your staff
to your - it also helps to be community
minded because that's really at the end
of the day what a coffee shops all about
it's a it's a it's an odd skill set I
don't run across a lot of people that
can multitask that many things the
financial side the people side the
product side the equipment relations
with vendors watching numbers it's hard
my name is Marcus Kohler and I run
coffee houses I've been in coffee 35
years I've run probably the busiest
coffee house in the world
I've run really slow coffee houses so
I've done I've done it all all over the
country and so I grew up in California
and I went to UC Davis studied
psychology but I got a job at a cafe in
Davis they begged for it it's like you
got to hire me everywhere I went in the
Bay Area coffee scene I met wonderful
people people that were passionate about
coffee they just they just made me
realize what a fun occupation it could
be so I just wanted to be part of that
if you have any thoughts at all about
going into the coffee business got it
working so get a job at a cafe
especially try and go to a successful
cafe to one that's more craft so get a
job and then just excel at your job put
everything you got into it do it right
work with the team and try and work your
way up and gain more knowledge because
either you're gonna find you don't like
it or you love it and then also you can
through that job make some connections
that might help you open up your shop at
the end of the day if you don't know
something you can only google it so far
and you're probably gonna end up
spending more time on the internet than
you would if you would have just asked
someone you knew had the answer to your
question networking is essential because
we all have answers that we're ready to
give both you have to be asked the
question in order to give it and without
networking I think I would have spent a
lot of time second-guessing myself and
also looking for answers that were more
readily available if I had just like
look to another coffee professional my
name is Jess Harmon and I am the
director of coffee for cultivate coffee
and tap house outside of cultivate I
help other people who are interested in
starting up their own businesses and I
answer a lot of questions for people who
have general questions about roasting
questions about machines and also just
health code questions and concerns
if you don't have a good idea of what
your budget is going into it it's more
likely that you're gonna run on a money
sooner than later in reality if you're
serving coffee you're not there to make
money it's a not not a business people
should go in to make money it's a
business you should go into if you want
to be a part of your community and if
you want to serve people and have that
type of environment and just be that
kind of person there's not a very high
margin on a lot of coffee products in it
it takes a lot to end up turn a profit
you know the biggest costs that go into
starting a business how much you want to
renovate if it's turnkey or not you can
buy out coffee shops and have pretty
much all the equipment ready to go but
that's not usually what people are
stepping into when they buy a coffee
shop so a build-out can cost a lot of
money and then also your espresso
machines gonna cost you a lot of money
as well it's probably anywhere between
if you're gonna get a to group automatic
machines eight thousand to twenty grand
it's like buying a car yeah so just your
three big main pieces of equipment the
water system the grinder and the
espresso machine can cost you up to
$20,000 at least the number of things
you need are huge the only way to know
that is to have worked in the business
so then once you know what all your your
costs are gonna be add 20 percent I'm
sorry
you know as fine as you can get there's
always cost overruns and construction
unforeseen things you don't want to go
into the biz under estimating the cost
but you want to be as accurate as you
can add 20 percent and then think okay
what have I got
how am I gonna finance this can it be
done me sometimes you have to go back
and rework the solution except it just
may not work
not everybody can pull off you know a
half-million-dollar
coffee on fact they shouldn't it's not
smart well when I was starting I had no
finances I got a scholarship my finances
were dire I know some people cash out
401 K some people start with all kind of
stuff I had nowhere to go but up
that's one thing I really appreciate
about like the copra coffee is it's a
way to get into the coffee industry I
think when you talk to other people
coffee shops and stuff
expresso machines are like $15,000 or
you know like they're really expensive
and actually when I open my shop my
niche was everything is made with Coker
coffee so I could still make hot drinks
but I would make them with like I had a
thirty dollar frother and I would frock
milk and and stuff like that I didn't
have to buy an expensive espresso
machine because that would have been it
I would not have been in the business
just from that piece of equipment alone
ultimately I want the story to resonate
with people that look like me or have
the experiences that I've had so that
they can feel as if they can do it too
like oh yeah I don't have a trust fund
it's okay I can still do this
I had read a little story about coffee
roasting at home so I was roasting some
coffee in this garage I mean I did that
for four years exactly but during that
time I was sort of like you know slowly
methodically like learning about what
I'd have to do to open a cafe but I
mostly wanted to open a roaster so
that's what I did you know start off is
just roasting coffee I just kept doing
it thank you just kept bootstrapping it
and reinvesting and saving and
reinvesting in saving and saving you
know just saving and like I didn't pay
myself for probably the first you know I
didn't pay myself for the first like
eight years in this business I mean I
would I would drink coffee for free but
didn't pick myself like any money I had
another job you know unless you have a
rich uncle you're you're wealthy
yourself you're probably have to go out
and get an SBA loan or some kind of
private equity or family loan but
they're gonna want to know what are you
doing and what are the chances success
and is it believable to pass the smell
test
so Road a formal business plan it was
very thorough so it included executive
summary products pricing cost all the
financials for three years it's really
you saying that you know how to go from
point A to point B and that you've
thought through the entire process it's
also really important to look at your
business plan to see how well you've
thought through the thing and to know
that you it's not just at the end of the
day this is how much I spent and this is
much how much I have so that's my profit
it's like you really have to plan for
the whole picture the whole the health
of the entire business and it's
sustainability and then you really you
really have to to do a narrative on like
what what it is you're doing
so as best you can in detail like what
is the business what's it you know why
who what's the impact why this location
who's your who's your customer you need
to know like what's gonna what's gonna
bite you you need to list those things
out like if anything goes wrong what
could they be most likely a business
plan is meant to be changed and updated
but also the business plan is just like
the structure of where you're going and
if you're not willing to adapt that then
you're probably not going to succeed
over time it's really about setting
small goals and achieving those one
little bit at a time