Introduce Events

• 1). Introduce events that reach out to the community and draw in new and repeat customers:
  
  Host an "open mike" event every Friday night by setting up a microphone and letting people read poetry, perform a song, or dance. Advertise the open mike event with simple fliers on college campuses and church youth groups.
  
  Provide a kid's story time mid-morning once a week for all the stay-at-home moms. Have an employee go to the public library once a week and select a few children's books and have him read during the story time.
  
  
• 2). Create specials for the slow hours of the day. If the slowest time for your coffee shop is between 2:00 in the afternoon and 5:00 in the evening, create a happy hour with a 2 for 1 special. Market this hour to high school students who will be getting off school. Give people a reason to stop in during the slow hours, like free wi-fi, a free cookie for kids or a half-off special.
  
  
• 3). Add and promote a new flavor for lattes and cappuccinos every month. Lay out a list of the months of the year and assign a fitting feature flavored syrup for each month: a peppermint mocha for December, orange for April, pumpkin spice for October. Create fliers and promotional materials that let people know the various flavors for each month. Charge 50 cents more for this syrup than the others, because it's considered seasonal.
  
  
• 4). Add food items to your menu that are simple to maintain and have at least a 50-percent markup. Choose items that have a long shelf life and go well with coffee, like biscotti, cookies, cinnamon rolls and bagels. Buy pre-made, frozen pastries that you can take out on an as-needed basis. Minimize the amount of food you throw away by keeping a close eye on inventory and on how well one product sells over another.
  
  
• 5). Take a look at the slow times and see how many employees are on shift. Reduce the number of employees during these times, saving money and providing the employees on shift with more work to do.