Yeah, sign me up for some of those 2 and a half day old muffins.:eek::D

JJ

Vagabond, Just out of curiosity, did you talk to Corina Bakery in Tacoma? It's one of our favorites and they supply pastries for a few coffee places in town.

UPS routinely, as in everyday, has team drivers moving from the west coast to the center of the U.S. in less than twenty-four hours.

Vagabond... Lafeen's is all there is when it comes to breakfast in B-HAM! Will they give you their fine goods?

I agree, also let local musicians 'advertise' their music by playing at your shop for free. I love to go to one local coffee shop in particular because they always have live music. Also, make sure you have many newspapers and magazines available.

Another coffee shop owner rebranded his business as a 'net-caffee' - he has free wi-fi but also several computers set up with numerous online games on them. People pay anywhere from $5-10 an hour to play the games and everytime I go, people actually wait in line for their turn to play... Last time I was there they had a "tournament" where the patrons of that coffee shop were playing a game against a bunch of other net-caffees all over the US (and even overseas - the Internet makes the world smaller).

Either way, often I'll go just to watch others play and in the meantime lots of muffins, coffee (and beer!) gets consumed... ;)

Good luck with your bidnez! :D

Thanks everyone for some good suggestions. I'll call on those bakeries and several others that were suggested to me.

The original business model includes free WiFi, but I probably won't offer it until later. Can't really afford a router right now and more importantly, I don't want people using my WiFi to spam others or surf porn while sitting outside in the parking lot.

Anyway, sorry for contributing to the extreme thread drift in my own thread no less.

I've spent quite a bit of my personal money to get the shop going. However, I know I am not the only one to start a new business. There are many out there willing to risk something in this economy. I've had UPS deliver my new panini grill. I am not singlehandedly taking us out of this recession, but a lot of small business owners together are doing what we believe in. The original thread premise was that things are picking up. I think it's true in one way or another, albeit very slowly when compared to past recoveries. The most intractable problem is unemployment.

Another unsolicited opinion
 

I would go out of my way to frequent a coffee shop that sold good tasting coffee that didn't make me wait in line behind the ones ordering the 15 minute hifalutin drinks--you know how it goes: "I'd like a large mocha with 1/3 decaf and 2/3 regular. Use skim milk from the front teat of a virgin nanny mountain goat and the organic whipped cream should lean toward San Francisco....". I'm sure those people and their drinks are important to the atmosphere and the bottom line of the shop, but I'll only wait in that line once.

Have a cash only reg coffee line.

WW

Winged,

You must not be from L.A.:)

YouTube - LA Story Ordering Coffee

...this is a classic from the early 90s!!:D

Totally agree - if it takes more than 3 syllables to order it - then it aint coffee anymore :eek:

Where are your manners - 4 syllables "Large coffee, please" ;)