If you could have it any way you wanted

If one was to open a "coffee shop" and you could have a lasting effect on the way things were done there. What would you like to see, have or be around. (i.e. would you prefer cheap food or good food, possibly no food? Maybe you like couches over tables, what kinda of hours would you like to have them open and etc..) On the same note what would you not like to see or have?

I am defiantly taking advantage of this online community in order to a get an opinion from the community I maybe serving and for that I thank you.

Bjorn

- open late (11p or later)
- a few sandwich options... freshly made and healthy (a veggie would be nice)
- a REAL 'short' coffee... 8 oz... not everyone thinks a small is 12oz!
- i prefer no wi-fi because i'm tired of seeing places full of laptops and one small empty cup of coffee... give the rest of us a chance to sit down!
- good music

the one thing that will absolutely keep me coming back: COLD BREWED ICED COFFEE =P~

Coffee-shops that do the cold-brewed thing...soaking course coffee grounds in cold water for a day or overnight, then diluting it...make the absolute best iced coffee. Drip coffee that's just put on ice is usually bitter and burnt tasting. So my top recommendation is to cold brew your iced coffee.

Other things i like: the NY Times on hand for patrons to peruse...... and just good tasting coffee. That's it. (And maybe if they could invent hot cup lids that are 100% drip proof. Do those slightly leaky hot-cup lids drive anyone else crazy? The kinds where you're forced to carry a wad of napkins around the cup to soak up that never-ending leak around the brim?)

Bagels.

I agree - no wi-fi. Limited couch seating would keep people from lingering too long, too.
No need to get fancy with the food options. Keep it simple and complementary.

I'd echo the late-night thing. So many places to hang out around here seem booze-oriented.

Yummy cupcakes, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies!!

Most important is GOOD STRONG COFFEE.
You should have food, but not too much. You should have a few sweet and a few savory items. Good food would be better than cheap food.
I agree about being open late- 11pm seems reasonable.
Wifi would be a nice feature. You could limit it- maybe give out an hour of free access with each purchase. That would prevent people from lingering forever after buying just one cup of coffee.
Train your staff well, make sure they know that customer service is important, and that they should be nice to your customers. Joyce is a good example of a place that has this down pat.
The final most important thing- open it on Underhill between Sterling and St Johns! :twisted:

I like WiFi

open late with dim lighting
some couches
strong, organic, fair-trade coffee
soy milk
scones

***there is a baking co. in redhook that is awesome with HUGE & tasty treats; and blue sky bake shop might be a good place to get muffins, it's in park slope

something like the red horse cafe in park slope but less $$$ and a little more chill would be perfect for prospect heights, check them out!

and NO wi-fi

def no wifi - or limited times of day/night. also agree with someones comment about too many late night places being only booze related. a great place for me would be something simple yet cozy - great coff. simple bites and a comfortable chair to read.

yeah. as a sometimes omg-no-alcohol person, I would love a late night place to go and have an herbal tea and read my book without bullshit. and maybe a cookie.

The coffee would be free, and there would tons of hot girls waiting to have sex with me.

I also vote for no wifi. I'm sick of not being able to find a place to sit at coffee shops because of all the laptoppers.

Good, strong, nicely roasted but not burnt coffee.

A few pastries, sandwiches, and bagels for noshing would be great, but it doesn't have to be a full-on restaurant -- we have plenty of those.

Good beans for sale would also rock.

Music that isn't so loud that it drowns out conversation.

Nice people at the counter.

And a backyard deck or some other sort of outdoor seating for nice weather, if at all possible. Maybe a couple of sofas (inside, of course) in addition to tables.

I'm also in favor of cold-brewed iced coffee, and maybe a few good iced teas (at least in the summertime).

This is so f-ing cool. A quick response to a few of the things so far posted.

A.) most importantly the coffee-- we are going to use barrington coffee roasters -- same stuff as Red Horse(could these guys be any nicer) and joe, the owners of the co. are good friends of mine and are amazing at what they do. Dare I say better than fairtrade?

B.) No wifi, although no decisions are final I personally wanted to work around having wifi, personally I find it a killer of the social go between of the coffee shops I loved most. I am so happy to hear their are some supporters.

C.) we are currently sourcing all goods with a priority of organics, local and awesome...we hope to take the enviro friendly thing as far as possible...I will remind you we are not hippies just concerned about our own personal impact.

D.) as for late hours, it is something we cold work on but in the start we will not be able to support that niche. Our biggest hurdle is going to be staffing -- we will have train everybody routinely on how properly pack and extract espresso as well as milk texturing. In addition we are not looking to have a lot of employees. We have hopes of manning the ship by ourselves as much as possible (do I need to post a disclaimer with this? Ha).

Please keep up the with posts..

bjorngrimm wrote: This is so f-ing cool.

We're like a free focus group!

bjorngrimm wrote: Our biggest hurdle is going to be staffing -- we will have train everybody routinely on how properly pack and extract espresso as well as milk texturing.

SO many places don't train their baristas to pull the espresso a touch short, which keeps it stronger. If your folks can do a good ristretto pull, I'm yours forever!

bjorngrimm wrote: This is so f-ing cool.

Please keep up the with posts..

I'll say it again...Cold-brew iced coffee will get coffee-heads coming out of their way in the dog days of summer to quinch their caffeine fix and thirst. At least it will me. 8)

I don't drink coffee, so I look for decent tea and really good hot chocolate. And I find a lot of places play music too loud. If I'm with someone, I don't want to have trouble hearing them; if I'm alone, I don't want the music to distract me from my book. If it's softer, it's not so distracting.

And I don't have a laptop, so I'm also fine with no wifi.

A time limit per table. A smoking section ;-)

double-cream.

sprite wrote: And I don't have a laptop, so I'm also fine with no wifi.

BARBARIAN!!! :P

Think that's bad? I did my taxes by hand. With a pencil.

What's a pencil?

sprite wrote: Think that's bad? I did my taxes by hand. With a pencil.

I did that the first year I lived in NYC. well, with a pen. it was torture. between the ny forms and the federal forms I couldn't quite get a handle on what went where. thank goodness for turbotax website filing. no need for software, no need for comprehension. just plug in the numbers and bluff as much as you can.

thank goodness for turbotax website filing. no need for software, no need for comprehension. just plug in the numbers and bluff as much as you can.

I think I have to bite the bullet and get TurboTax next year. I made a major mistake the first time I went through my taxes, and thought I owed more than I do. I'd like to think that if I overpaid the IRS would find my error and sent me a refund, but...

sprite wrote:

thank goodness for turbotax website filing. no need for software, no need for comprehension. just plug in the numbers and bluff as much as you can.

I think I have to bite the bullet and get TurboTax next year. I made a major mistake the first time I went through my taxes, and thought I owed more than I do. I'd like to think that if I overpaid the IRS would find my error and sent me a refund, but...

I think you might be able to get a refund after the fact if you subsequently realize that you had overpaid. You should talk to an accountant. Seriously, accountants pay for themselves. It doesn't pay to do your taxes yourself.

Carnivore wrote: I think you might be able to get a refund after the fact if you subsequently realize that you had overpaid. You should talk to an accountant. Seriously, accountants pay for themselves. It doesn't pay to do your taxes yourself.

Yeah, you can - I had an accountant look over returns from two years prior and I received the difference.

As far as coffee shops go: if you can't keep the volume down and you have bad taste in music, just don't have any at all! Seriously. I can't stand hearing bad pop, rock or elevator music at places. There's nothing wrong with keeping it quiet.

Secondly, if you do have couches, keep them clean otherwise stick to chairs. I hate sitting at a bar or coffee shop with nasty stained couches. So gross. Especially if they get full of crumbs and stuff, yuck.

Lastly, make the coffee strong. I don't care how nice a place is, if the coffee doesn't kick-start me, I'm not going back.

Good Luck!

Lastly, make the coffee strong. I don't care how nice a place is, if the coffee doesn't kick-start me, I'm not going back.

just so you know...the "stronger" a coffee tastes, the less caffeine it has. so a lighter roast should actually kick-start you more. caffeine is lost in the roasting process.

too watered down, on the other hand, can be either dark or light roast, and still just sucks .

True. Watered down was closer to what I meant. :oops:

Give me sum flava!

WhyFi wrote: [quote=Carnivore]I think you might be able to get a refund after the fact if you subsequently realize that you had overpaid. You should talk to an accountant. Seriously, accountants pay for themselves. It doesn't pay to do your taxes yourself.

Yeah, you can - I had an accountant look over returns from two years prior and I received the difference.

I took a year of tax law so I'm not worried about what deductions I can take or how much I can fluff them. it's the actual fitting together the two types of forms that makes no sense to me. I'm not sure an accountant could find much more to deduct than me. I have faith in my ability to deduct everything.