The Modern Times
Coffeehouse is
entirely inside the
separately owned
Politics & Prose
bookstore in
Washington, D.C.
in North Richland Hills, Texas, had about a year's experience
operating a small coffee bar inside the Compass Christian
Church in Colleyville. She had been supplying coffee for the
300-sq.-ft. nook for about a year before the church asked her
to take it over.
"They just wanted someone to come in and take it off their
hands," Townsend wrote in an e-mail. "We didn't pay rent
or a percentage. They saw it as value added for their church
members. We paid for all COGS [cost of goods and services],
employee labor, etc., but we also kept revenues."
The church wanted the coffee bar to be a gathering place for
the community. "Unfortunately, the problem we ran into was
that the community felt somewhat uncomfortable hanging out
in a church, except for when they were already at church (i.e.
services, events, etc.)," Townsend wrote.
Townsend ran, staffed and managed the church bar with
Roots personnel. "We did it mostly for the purpose of exposure
and marketing," she wrote. "We did make some money on the
operation, but not quite enough to make it worth all the time
that it was taking up."
Townsend's experience points up one advantage of a
dedicated operation for an existing coffeehouse or chain: Even
if it doesn't make as much money as a freestanding operation,
it's a relatively inexpensive way to get your name out there.
"It's more exposure and convenience than it was moneymaking in the beginning," Valente says of his courthouse
outlet. "It's held its own. It's had some months."
Groot says his venture ended up losing money under the
circumstances, but that the exposure gave it at least some value.
"Anytime you can connect with a community, connect
with people, get people to try your product, get to know more
of who you are, personal relationships, anything like that is
always of value," Groot says. "It was a great learning experience,
definitely." SCR
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