14 Oct 2015 by Chris Brown

'11 Great Things To Learn From The UK's Best Coffee Shops' was catering consultant Chris Brown's presentation at the Local Shop Summit.  The eleven points were:

1. Margin - 70% in cafés (20% in stores)
2. Cannot be delivered to home so no internet competition
3. Footfall booster
4. Cafes used as meeting place,to  pass time, a work place, a treat
5. One product per category, unlike shops - Make it count and charge more for premium
6. Catering and Convenience Stores have much in common – long opening hours, open weekends and public holidays, low pay, high reward for entrepreneurs, buy with your eyes presentation
7. Keep it Simple – cafes should be systemised, no need to change menu often, cooks not chefs, avoid queues
8. How to succeed in competitive market – Differentiation.  Achieve points of difference by design, service offer (dogs, wi-fi, phone charging, baby offer, cyclists) and humour
9. Be Individual – corporates take lead from independents
10. Innovate – visit Shoreditch
11. The Power of passion – attack all the day parts.  Cafes moving into wine bar territory