What does Revscene want in a Coffee House
 

Hey guys,

So i'm opening a cafe in Richmond, and was wondering what people here in Revscene want in a cafe?

What sort of beverages would you like other than the usual latte's and brewed coffee? What coffee's (beans, flavor profiles ect..) do you like?

Any activities you would enjoy? Ex: book clubs, debate nights, discussion groups, board game nights, things like that.

It's a smaller place, so it won't be huge, or have 20 investors like Cafe 10134928 (whatever it's called). It's basically me, and a few other employee's. I have over 10 years of coffee experience, and i'm a pretty good people person, so I want a place that people can come and enjoy themselves, but not like a Starbucks. I want a good cafe experience, with quality being paramount.

I'd love to hear what you think would make a good cafe experience. Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

Toonie Tuesdays like Captain happy bubble.

:troll:

did someone say café lu?

Free LiFi! :alonehappy:

cafe dumb

Will there be food also?

High quality freshly roasted, from various single origins. Not just a bunch of different fruity Ethiopian beans either - though they can be good. Have some good African, South American, Central American, and Asian beans of different roasts - light, medium, dark - and vastly flavour profiles. At the very least, have something like 3 different flavours - fruity/acidic African beans, bold/aromatic Columbian beans, and savory/woodsy Indonesian beans.

Offer different brew methods - espresso is a must of course, but also pourover, siphon, aeropress, etc.

Also don't try to be too clever and hipsterish with decor/naming/etc

That's what I would like, but I doubt that would go in line with what Richmond likes

Honestly, opening a coffee shop in Richmond is a terrible idea. Your clientele will be 99% Asian. The older crowds drink McDonald's / timmys and the younger crowds drink crackbucks / blenz / waves.

Make a coffee version of CHB and it'll be packed with RSers

I don't mean this in a rude way, but please make it Caucasian friendly. As a white male who's grown up in Richmond, I'd say 70% of restaurants I would never even consider going in to without bringing a mandarin speaking friend.

So yeah. I know coffee places and bbt spots are usually pretty good, but just remember not everyone can read other languages

Thanks for all the responses so far. You guys are awesome!

Don't know if it matters, but I myself am Caucasian but am married to a lady from Hong Kong so there is a bit of influence there also. I spent a few years in Melbourne and they have amazing coffee culture that I would love to bring over here. It has been evolving over here over the past 5 years which is amazing!

Cafe Lu, not going to happen you DON'T want to see my in a bikini!

Driving Sims? Go to E Spot thanks, I don't quite have enough space for $$$.

Free Wifi? All day Err day!

Food?.. we'll have pre-made stuff from a high quality bakery. I don't have enough space in my coffee house to have a full on kitchen that can produce food.

MG1, thanks for the great answer. I can't totally see where your coming from, and i'll do my best to take people on a great journey of different coffee's from around the world. I want to be able to have the time to tell customers the history, facts, and interesting things about coffee. I have a coffee roaster lined up that it all about getting high quality coffee's from around the world, in small batches. I hope I can get you to come down when i'll be open in January - Feb 2016. Oh ya, I've got a name. It's in Richmond, i'm sure many people here have driven by it all ready, and maybe even noticed it.

Twoonie Tuesday? Sounds interesting actually. I can work it into it somehow. Maybe an RS discount?.. Hmm..

My coffee house will only have about 24 seat's max also.

Thanks again yo!

pastries.. decent affordable pastries. Not a $8 donut named pumpkin apple glaze.

will your shop have tea or is it just coffee?

lots of power outlets!!

decent lighting - maybe with individual dimmers?

unisex washroom x 2
dyson air blade in washroom

non-hipster! ie. if it's on pinterest..no!

Oh ya, TEA also! Good stuff too..

I like the idea of board game nights, but with 24 seats you have to remember about turnover rate. From a profit side of things you might not want to cater to a blends crowd (akroyd specifically) that buy one coffee, then sit there for 5 hours writing an essay. It's not like a bar where people buy beer after beer.

So things like mahjong, risk, monopoly, card games like magic or wtv. They are long and technical. Where as sorry, guess who, uno (cater do dem Asians yo), scrabble. They are all fairly quick to pick up. Yahtzee or jenga are fun but are quite loud sometimes. So that's up to the establishment.

The bubble tea shop in Richmond has seemed to do quite well so far (under superstore in Richmond). Bubble tea place that feels like t was started by a bunch of friends, not sure if that was the case. Big washroom, lots of trinkets and stuff to buy while you're standing in line. Stand up arcade machine and easy to read menu's. Only thing is the consistentsy of drinks has been not great. Some bbt will taste watered down versus the last visit. But I will assume bumps will be ironed out the longer they are open

It's actually started by my fiancé and myself :) we have been in the food business all our lives plus been owners of a cafe/coffee shop in Vancouver for 6 years prior. I'm a chef by trade, fiancé is a pastry chef by trade. Also good to hear the consistency is off. Will definitely grill my staff on it. If you're ever unhappy with your drink, let my staff know and they'll remake it for you. We're all about customer service and quality. Also, that RS discount :)

@boostslut Sorry to hijack the thread a little there, but if you have any questions regarding opening, I can try to help you out as best I can. Although it's only my opinion that I think it's not a great idea, if you believe in it, by all means do what you love to do.

Thanks again bro's!

kr4l, thanks for your help. I might just do that, or get you to drop by during the process to see how it's going. Or maybe, we can hit up your place and have a nice little chat! Personally, i might be totally wrong here and delusional but I thought in the area that i'm going up, it's such an up and coming area with a lot of younger people there it'll be a great area soon! I'm thinking about 2 years out at least.

Board games do sound like a lot of fun also. Also, i want some sort of intellectual conversation sort of nights also. I have some writer friends that might be able to help me out, and would be cool to get people have good conversation about the world, current events, books, and interesting topics.

And, i'm also quite sure that i won't have bubble tea in my shop either. Sorry!

Cheers!

Maybe have a wall of board games and cards that people can use. It's hard to find a good chill place for small groups to go, hangout, and have a nice cup of coffee/tea and play some board games.

You could do slam poetry nights or something. I know it's pretty hipster but you have to cater to the demographic

I feel like Richmond has a strong night life. So open late and have a couple of non caffinated drinks. Hot chocolate, coffee flavoured stuff, milk shakes. Home made coffee flavoured ice cream. Maybe USB ports everywhere or built into the seats where the seat meets the back rest.

Not sure if serious! Seriously though, i've already bought all the seats, and I didn't install USB's in them! ARGH! I'm taking them back! Honestly though, they are wicked awesome seats. USB plugs all over seem to be popular, i'll see and hopefully I can afford them!

I wanna be able to drink coffee and chill with dogs in a cafe.

You can now buy electrical outlets that have USB ports built into them. The cost of buying and replacing them, shouldn't be too high, might be worth it.

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.c...000806312.html

These one's are a bit on the higher cost side but if you contact an electrical store like Nedco or something they usually have better prices