Specialty Coffee Retailer

Specialty Coffee Retailer February 2014

Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.

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36 | February 2014 • www.specialty-coffee.com Standing bars are also ideal because they work well for solo guests or pairs. "ey also eliminate the problem of having too many two- or four-top tables with one person at them, he says" Another way to avoid this problem is a communal table, and Dave's Coee Shop will have two, as the centerpiece. ese will also be high - 40 inches - and each will be eight feet by 10, able to seat six to eight people on stools. ere's another advantage to communal tables, Lanning says. "ey encourage social interaction, which is what a coee shop is about. at factors into business by dening how we want Dave's Coee to be perceived in the community. We want to encourage groups to come and meet up at Dave's and make it a hub of the neighborhood." To encourage this social interaction, Lanning's also deliberately not putting any electrical outlets on or near to the communal tables. Instead, they'll be around the edges of the room, where there's some bench seating and four two-top tables. "I have mixed feelings about outlets. I wanted to keep the communal tables more of a social center. At our existing bar we have outlets everywhere and everyone is on their laptop, immersed in what they're doing and doesn't know there's anyone else in the room." ODOR EATERS One of the biggest problems Lanning is facing with his new coee shop is its odor. Before he purchased the location it had been a cigar shop for 20 years. What's helping most in this regard, says Chris Bardt, principal with 3Six0, the architecture rm Lanning is working with is the removal of the surfaces "because the odor clings to the pores of the surfaces." e paint will be removed, and the concrete oor will be ground out to remove the very top layer, then acid etched and sealed. Lanning is also planning to mix an inexpensive odor-blocking additive called ZorbX in with the new paint. Also key to keeping odors under control is a brand new air ltration system, including an air handler (which removes and replaces the air in the building), air conditioning and new ductwork. "We're replacing and upgrading it to do it faster and more eciently," Lanning says. If all goes according to plan, it won't be just the air system that's improved. e second Dave's Coee promises to be everything customers have dreamed of, but didn't realize they had. DON'T FORGET THE SOUND As important as the physical properties of Dave's Coee is the music. "Music has always been an integral part of our bar," Lanning says. "e volume and the tempo of the music have so much to do with the atmosphere you create. I have read how music determines how long a customer will stay and it inuences the time they're there." Slow, deep music, he says, gives customers the feel that they've been there longer than they have—so it's ideal for when Lanning wants to turn over the tables and not have customers stay too long. More up-tempo music makes people think they've not been waiting as long—ideal for the morning rush. Bradley Newberger is the co-founder of Ambiance Radio, which he launched in the fall of 2011, a program that uses proprietary soware and cutting-edge technology to provide customized A 3S0 . 34-37 sensory feature SCR0214.indd 36 2/6/2014 12:37:23 PM

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