Caffenation Start up Help

Last year and a half I helped 20 or more people starting up their bar. Most were espresso bars and also asked us for equipment supply.

I've seen it as a big honour to help all those people. For many this start up was a life changer, so I felt it sometimes stressful to advice them.
But bit by bit we became experts on all the facets involved in the opening and daily management of a coffee specialised entreprise.

There are a lot of different chapters in between the willing and the final completion of a start up.
It mostly starts with a meeting. Lots of interested 'partners' are already known to Caffenation and the way I think or act, but some of them need a bit more info to start with.

Then we start talking about their ambitions and marketing plan. What are the main products, prices, place to act and people to attract? We learn this in school of course, but in real life it's not always that easy.
I'm doing this kind of thing - and I love it - for half of my life I also like to help the starters to judge locations or sometimes even find a spot.
An profitable espresso bar needs a lot of coffee drinkers a day, so a busy street, square or center is necessairy.

Later on we start working on budgets, break even point calculation and targets.
Then the menu.
Then we decide what equipment to use.
Eventually we help searching staff.
And of course, the training.

Roeland has become our first Barista trainer, but actually everyone working for Caffenation help to train all rookie or experienced Barista's.

As important as the quality is the atmosphere in which we're drinking our black gold. Without the right music, furniture, light, decoration and staff there's not enough reason to attract a lot of people every day of the week.

Then we have a look at the right suppliers. Bit by bit we see more and more professional company's in the coffee world to help us achieve our goals.

Final round is the installation and tuning of the machines and training on the premises.

Of course there's always a lot of follow up to do and we continue to give coffee classes and cupping sessions and give every pro a lot to read and follow.

For new starters in Belgium, Holland or surrounding country's, don't hesitate to contact me if you have the ambition to start an espresso bar with us, or if you want to improve your cup quality and atmosphere around it.