Hi, Friend,

Dark clouds are forming over the heads of too many coffee shop and cafe business owners. Inflation has taken its toll on their profits over the last few years; ingredients, labour, and energy costs have grown at a higher combined rate than ever before, nibbling away like unwanted mice in their dry store.

Owners and managers react differently to mitigate these cost pressures. Since the cost of energy is mostly outside their control, they can increase prices, attract more customers, reduce the cost of ingredients or portion sizes, or reduce staff costs.

While cash-rich companies can invest in new, more energy-efficient equipment or expensive labour-saving coffee machines like Eversys, most coffee shops and cafes do not have this option.

Many people have a foundationless pathological fear of raising prices, so the quality of the menu item is often downgraded or downsized, particularly if an accountant is involved in the decision-making process.

Your profit margin will immediately improve, and your accountant will be happy. Guess what? Your guests will notice.

Their single slice of cheese instead of a hearty couple of slices will make them feel short-changed after all; they come to you in the first place not because you're cheap but because you're better.

Lowering your standards will erode your point of difference, which is why many of your guests choose you over your competitors.

Why not do the opposite? Make your menu items even better and put up your prices, but tell your guests the story of everything you sell.

When we speak to owners of independent coffee shops and cafes, they repeatedly share how they support local producers, only choose the best-tasting ingredients, and do hundreds of other little things to make themselves proud of their business.

They go the extra mile in everything they do but don't want to charge more than the faceless chain across the road, where everything is made in a factory from ingredients sourced from the very cheapest suppliers.

The biggest issue is that they don't share the story behind each menu item or invest much time in naming or marketing. They expect all their customers to know what is inside their heads.

They sell a list of ingredients. How often do you see something like a mozzarella and tomato panini on a menu?

A few seconds on ChatGPT can inspire you - here is what it gave us as an alternative name for the humble mozzarella and tomato panini.

"Tuscan Sunlight Panini"

This name draws inspiration from the Italian countryside, where tomatoes and mozzarella are staples, and hints at the sun-kissed, Mediterranean flavours of the dish. It suggests simplicity, warmth, and freshness.

There are many more opportunities to improve a menu and increase profitability during tough times; that's what we do daily with coffee shops and cafes.

Don't dilute what makes your business great by penny-pinching or 'value engineering' as it's known in the industry; double down on your quality and tell everyone your story and the story of everything you sell.

If you need to improve your menu, operations, marketing, or any aspect of your cafe, restaurant, pub, or coffee shop, contact us, just reply to this email or book a free call using the button below.