 Has it always been a dream of yours to build your own coffee house in your own cafe? If it is then you are in luck because we're going to be diving into the step-by-step process from A to Z and Building your own cafe. So make sure you guys keep watching. Hey guys It's Wilson here zero entrepreneur and owner of multiple seven figure business Just sold my ice cream chain And that's reason why I'm creating this video for you to give you the step-by-step guide and creating your own cafe If you guys want to learn more about restaurant strategy small business tips tricks hacks strategy of all sorts Make sure you subscribe along the journey because that's where I'm going to be sharing a lot more of these with you now without further Do let's dive right in the first step and building your cafes identify Your why identifying your why is not some kind of cliche out there It's not kind of things that people talk about just for the sake of talking about it It is the motivating factor that pushes you out of bed to work 12 hours 14 hours days and then go back home and repeat this whole thing day in day out for years to come It is the sole reason of your existence sole reason of why your cafe isn't existent This is What you stand for and why is it that you want to bring? Your creation to the world by you identifying your why you now have a guiding post now You have a lighthouse in the middle of a storm that guides you through all the hardship It becomes that light of yours that is a necessity for any business out there because When building a business without this lighthouse, you're gonna get lost you're gonna be running into hardships You're gonna be running into Issues with your staff issues with the city issue with health authorities issue with cash flow without this light post Without your why you're gonna become lost You're gonna give up way way faster than if you were to identify your why this becomes your story And this becomes why people come to you and how people identify with you and this becomes a reason of You pushing through all the hardship Now I understand that this concept is very hard and very difficult for people to visualize and conceptualize Which is the reason why for every step that we have we are gonna build this restaurant together We're gonna build this cafe together and this cafe's name is called Wilson's cafe now. Let's dive into Wilson's cafes. Why? Wilson has a cafe. He wants to build this concept in order for him and his friends to come and hang out He wants a place where he doesn't feel obligated to spend a lot of money He wants a place to actually hang out with his friends to communicate with his friends to play games with his friends He just wants a place outside of his own home in order for them to gather everyone together Which creates a sense of belonging and that's the reason why he chose to create a cafe concept And that is his why and as a side note Wilson's why might seem very very out there very very in the cloud very very generalized and it is completely fine Having a wise statement does not have to be something that is Rocket science it could just be something that feels right to you because this is what motivates you to jump out of bed It is what motivates you through all the hardship for me for wilson's cafe If I can create a place where all my friends can come and hang out and to feel belonged That's what makes everything else worth it. And that's what I need to identify my why The second step in creating your cafe is to identify your concept And what I mean by concept is do you want to have a cafe that has Seeds for people to come and sit and enjoy their food and also their offerings Or do you want to create a space where people can come and grab and go? Or is it going to be a food truck kind of space kind of cafe where you know People can come and go as they wish and have minimal seating at the end of the day Identifying your concept is key in order for you to know what you're trying to build If you guys want to know more about key concepts of restaurant types and cafe types Definitely check out this video. I dive deep into the four different concepts pros cons, etc Now as we build wilson's cafe wilson's cafe is all about creating a space for people to feel belong for people to connect Free from all the different distractions from their phone Which is the reason why wilson's cafe is going to have intimate seedings We're going to have a lot of comfortable seats which allows people to come and sit For hours to come which is completely fine because all I want to do is to create a space for people to feel belonged And thus i'm choosing concept number one is going to be a dine in cafe As a side note when we're choosing the different concepts We need to identify the different types of stress level we want Do we want to have people and do we want to have waitresses go out there and serve our customers? Or do we not want to have to deal with extra labor like that? Do we want to have a place that is going to be a lot more investment? Or do we want to have a smaller space for people to grab and go? All this needs to come into consideration when the Deciding on the concept that you choose for your cafe and once again check out this video If you want to understand a little bit more about the different variables that come into the concept of your restaurant The third step in building out your cafe is Location location location location This is something that we always hear about and for us to identify our location is key when it comes down to it We always want location that has high foot traffic now with high foot traffic comes high rental costs Now it's your turn to determine How much traffic you want and how much money you want to spend if you have deep pockets And you want to spend $10,000 on rent on a month every single month Then you can perhaps have a coffee shop in a very highly densed location such as a downtown financial district Etc. At the end of the day, it's identifying your budget and identifying the fact that if you have lower budget Then the walk in traffic would be less Again with location. There are a lot more variables for you to consider such as visibility How visible is your storefront? How visible is it for drive by traffic? That's also very Important for you to consider whether this location is good for your cafe or not The crime rate whether you want to have a location in downtown east side That is super a lot of juggies and so on and so forth or is that something that you're okay with Well, all these different variables comes into play when it comes to the rental rates And should come into calculation when you're deciding on the location that you're choosing Whether it's going to be fitting for your concept or not We also talk about the the accessibility the more accessible your location the higher the rent as well So identifying the different components is crucial in order for you to decide the location You want your restaurant and your cafe to be at if you want to learn to learn more about location Selection definitely check out this video because I dive in deep about how to choose the right location for your restaurant and your cafe Now for wilson's cafe, we're choosing a location that is around two to three thousand dollars in rent We're choosing a location that is 10 minutes away from the university We're choosing at a way at a location that is right in front of a bus stop We're choosing at a location that has drive-by traffic and the location is relatively smaller because We need to be able to justify the rent which is at two thousand to three thousand dollars And on top of that we need to have a place that is cozy that has a lot of seatings around as well So that's the reason why we chose our first location at west broadway Additional for you when you're choosing a location for your cafe is to look and hunt for multiple locations Never really fall in love with one location. Just because Everything just looks right Never fall in love with that because once you fall in love with it, you neglect all the variables You neglect being analytical. You're now using your emotions. You're willing to pay additional premium Because you fell in love with the location So never ever fall in love with location because you want to be able to have the best rates for the best bang for your best buck So look at multiple different locations and by then you're going to be able to choose the right location for your cafe The fourth step in building up your cafe is to have your budget have your costs all identified when we're talking about cost We're talking about the rental cost for your location Understand how much can you budget for your rent? Understand how much the location is going to cost you for the build out I highly recommend choosing a location that has already built out look items For example, they're sink the grease trap and that way you're going to save a lot more costs Then if you were to choose a brand new retail location Then you have to dig up all the floorings create your own grease trap have your own plumbing So on and so forth and that's going to be super costly for you to have this build out Your renovation cost is going to be skyrocketing and that's not something that you would want Which is the reason why whenever you're going to go for your location scouting I would highly recommend to go with your contractor because They're going to have a better idea of how much things are going to be for your location Mixing with costs aside from build out is your equipment. How much are you going to be able to spend on your equipment? Do your budgeting based upon the different equipment that you need for your cafe If you guys want to learn more about the equipment needed definitely check out this video right here Every setup is a little bit different But nonetheless the basic components with ice machine under counter cooler stand up chest freeze POS system. These are all fundamentals for your operation And it's not something that we want to cheap out on but we always want to have a bargain and a discount for these items Now where are you going to be able to get them? It is okay to go to auctioneer sites and a lot of times They these items are from restaurants that close within a year two years of operations And they are in pristine condition at 20 30 even 40 percent off So this is a place where you're going to be able to find a lot of good bargains And in addition to that make sure you calculate the cost it takes in order for you to operate your business Costs it takes for you to break even and all those goodies for you to Identify all the costs that's involved with running your business is key for your success because now you can budget accordingly Without understanding your costs you're going to be basically rolling in the dark You don't know how long you're going to last you don't know how much you can afford for marketing You don't know how much you can afford to be without business for months and end Which is the reason why having clarity on your cost is essential for your cafe's success For wilson's cafe, we basically Our cost is broken down into our location our location is amazing It was previously a cafe already, which is the reason why we were saving a ton on renovation costs We're basically only doing lipstick renovation, which means painting Um, some wall graphics and new furniture and that's about it We don't need to do any structural change, which is the reason why our cost is much lower than expected In addition to that our furnitures are leased and on top of that we go to auctioneer sites like what I was recommending And thus we're able to keep our build out costs below $100,000 the fifth way to build out your cafe is branding. What does branding mean? It's way way more than just a logo creation Okay, a lot of people think that branding is just about the logo Unfortunately, it is not branding is everything that your customers experience Whether it be from the logo to your interior design to how you put together your menu to how you you put the uniforms To basically how your website looks your social media all this comes into branding And it is essential for you to understand and identify all the different branding pieces Right from the get go so then that way you can find alignment across All the visual aspects that your customers would see whether it from the logo whether it be your banner Whether it be the sandwich boards all this thing needs to be able to align in order for you to create this coherent Image for your customer and at the end of the day, it's all about the experience Branding is about the experience that your customers feel when they come into your cafe Definitely if you guys want to have more resources in building out your brand There are definitely multiple ways to do that. You can either check out Online resources such as Upwork or you can check out this video Where we talk about branding and this is a huge video that we break down everything from scratch And it's super super helpful. If you haven't had a chance to check out that video, make sure you guys check it out Super super helpful Now the branding for wilson's cafe is going to be hip. It's going to be inclusive It's going to be Instagrammable friendly because at the end of the day our clientele is amongst friends Okay, we're talking about the millennial crowd that we want to be able to hit which is the reason why everything in there is that Modern but Instagrammable friendly vibe to it. We also have a communal table right in the middle So then that way everyone can pull in together We're going to have board games on the middle so then people can actually feel belong they're connecting with each other They're playing games. They're not on their cell phone We also have side tables for the couples that just want to come in enjoy a cup of ice cream Enjoy a cup of coffee and just chat and that's the ambience that we want to be able to create the music that we're going to be playing Our smooth jazz kind of music. So then that way it gives us really relaxing type of feeling We're going to have a lot of greeneries in our shop as well because Young millennials love greeneries. They love that hip Feeling to it and that's the branding that we're going for for wilson's cafe If you find any value from this video whatsoever, make sure you smash the like button because it only shows me that This is the right content that I need to create more for you in the future Now let's dive right back in the next step in creating your cafe is menu design Menu design is huge when it comes to profitability of your cafe A lot of people think that you know what I'm just going to sell coffee, sandwich, and that's it Well at the end of the day you need to understand one thing menu items needs to be a year long items Okay, what we're talking about is that every single day of the year you're going to be able to be busy You're going to have food offering that is acceptable for your customers This is one mistake that we made very early on with our ice cream shop Initially, we were selling ice cream and we're super busy during the summer months once we got into the winter months We were not busy at all We're in the reds because we don't have offerings for customers during the wintertime and in turn We learned a hard way to have items that is good for year round We and we then offered hot chocolate. We offered hot food and so on and so forth And that allows us to balance off the revenue for a whole year's worth of revenue instead of just banking on the summertime In addition to understanding that your menu items needs to be year round You need to identify high profit margin items and mix that with items that don't have much margins As an example If you're creating a cookie creating a cookie it would cost you around 50 cents yet you sell for $5 That allows you much much more margins to play with and in turn allows you to actually compensate for items that has Very little margins to play with and in turn allows you to create a profitable Menu mix and that allows you to have more profits in your pockets at the end of the day Understanding the math and the cost of goods sold behind every item that you sell is crucial to your cafe's success Now for wilson's cafe. We're going to be offering drip coffee. We're going to be offering Expresso we're going to be offering ice cream. We're going to be offering Sandwiches and on top of that we're going to be offering to go items And the reason why we have a wide range of items that we're serving Is because I want to be able to have a food item that allows people to come in for breakfast People to come in for lunch people food come in for takeout people to come in for dinner time And then that way I can run up my revenue and on top of that I'm creating a lot more items that are high in margins that would subsidize for my sandwiches Which costs a lot more to make and I'm going to make a lot less money with it and that's wilson's cafe Now that we're getting closer. We have our wise. We understand our concept We understand the location cost branding and menu. It's time to put everything together into a business plan Why is it that you need a business plan? First of all, you need a business plan for your own guidance This becomes your own roadmap that allows you to have clarity to go and actually from point a to point b At the end of the day business is only a vehicle to bring us from point a to point b So identifying this whole roadmap to the best of your ability is key to your success If you don't have this roadmap, it's like rolling the dark You don't know where you're going and you're just going to be going in circles And that's the reason why having a business plan is crucial for your own success If you guys want to learn more about how to build a proper business plan, definitely check out this video I dive deep into all the components necessary for a business plan Another reason why having a business plan is crucial for your success is because If you like funding if you want investments from either angels from banks or venture capitalists You need a business plan Your family members the angels investors the venture capitalists, none of them know the vision that you have in your mind They don't know where you're trying to go. They don't know where you stand They don't know your roadmap, which is the reason why if you ask them for money They're not going to give you money your family is not going to give you money Your friends are not going to give you money Whereas if you have a business plan that has everything well thought out If you have all these things components in it and checking out this video You're going to be able to create a bulletproof business plan that answers all the questions that your investors are going to be asking And once they have no question, no doubt Then you're going to get your funding and you're going to have the investment it takes in order for you to start your cafe Now with wilson's cafe I put in the concept that we have the car target audience Where we want to be in the next year where we want to be in the next three years Where we want to be in the next five years We have our financial projections all this good stuff into our business plan And we've submitted to the bank and the bank gave us a two hundred thousand dollar loan to start our cafe Now for the most important part of running your cafe staffing staffing is one of the biggest Components of your team and your project without your staff You're going to be left without arms. You're going to left be left without legs You're going to be running everything by yourself And that's not what we want to do which is the reason why having proper staffing is so so important Right from the get go we need to identify the culture and that really comes back down to your why you need to hire people That believe in your why they believe in the mission that you want to achieve and in turn They're going to be on the same boat. We're going to be all rolling in sync On top of that you need to create your own policy manuals that it manages the different expectations That your staff might have for your company and that you have for your staff at the same time This creates a much better culture because now that everything is written everything is clear It creates and actually removes a lot of friction from a lot of the occasions that might happen in the future Now with wilson's cafe not only do we have a policy guidebook that sets the right expectation We also have manuals created manuals for every single role from barista to cashier to general manager We have a policy and we have a manual for each of these roles Why is that the case? It is because I don't want to be at wilson's cafe working 12 hour days I want to be on the beach sipping on pina coladas. Now. How do I achieve that? I need a team that knows what they're doing I need a team that has the proper culture a team that's going to fight for our why and that's the reason why we have these manuals I'm going to train the team properly. I'm going to incentivize them by giving them proper training and all the goodness Definitely check out these videos up here. We talk about how do you retain your all-star team? We talk about how do you hire the best talent and all this good stuff As a side note when we're creating a business it's all about a vehicle a vehicle to bring us from point a to point b You know, so what that means is the more and the faster that I can pluck myself out From the working in the business then I can work on the business I can create an environment that is going to be belonging for everyone that comes in and I can work on Building up a culture that really works and that's the reason why you want to be able to build a team that can serve Your customers for you while you build everything else So there you go the step by step process in creating a cafe at the end of the day creating a cafe is not rocket science You just need to follow the steps to do that Basically, I broke down how I built my ice cream shop and turned that ice cream shop into a seven location chain Which ended up being acquired and I broke down all the fundamental steps and put it on the board all for you So then that way you can too can build a successful cafe out there If you guys want more resources make sure you download from the link below Otherwise subscribe along the journey because I'm going to be sharing a lot more of these goodies with you I'll see you guys in the next week