Featured Articles Winter 2007

Coffee Schools & Consulting: Buyer Beware?
by Bruce Milletto

I was recently surfing the web checking out the competition in coffee education and consulting. I wasn't surprised to see there were a number of individuals and companies now offering consulting services and opening coffee schools. Certainly, America is all about competition, and this industry is large enough to support multiple sources of information and assistance. After all, successful coffee businesses fuel the growth of our industry. Truthfully, what concerns me is not the fact that these other sources might be taking some business away from my company, but rather that consumers may make uneducated decisions about where to get good information... information that will be essential to their success and the continued success of this industry. Read more

The 10 Essentials in Starting & Successfully Operating a Specialty Coffee Business

If you are thinking of starting a coffee shop, Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup spills the beans below on how you can create a successful and profitable coffee business.

1. Create a Sound Business Plan
The first step in opening coffee business is to create your business plan. Writing a business plan will require you to focus on exactly what you are trying to achieve, precisely where you want to go, and exactly how you plan to get there. It will force you to detail the many expenses involved in opening your business, the projected sales and monthly expenses of actual operation, and the volume of business you will need to generate to be profitable. Read more

Operational Challenges For the Independent Coffee Retailer in 2007
by Bruce Milletto

In the early years of retail specialty coffee, few independents developed savvy marketing programs or strategized about how to grab market share. The industry was still new and the biggest challenge retailers faced was how to educate the public about the difference between a mocha and a cappuccino. Read more

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