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A colleague at a previous firm took his severance pay, and opened a coffee shop, right in the tech area. He does very well now, even worried about their jobs, e

A colleague at a previous firm took his severance pay, and opened a coffee shop, right in the tech area. He does very well now, even worried about their jobs, everyone still seems to buy expensive coffee!

enraged_camel 10y ago
>>He does very well now Does he really? That's very surprising. In a previous life, coffee shops used to be a big part of my client-base[1]. Out of all the coffee shop owners I knew, I didn't know a single one who wasn't worried about putting food on the table. It's a very cut-throat business with lots of competition, and even if you're located in an expensive area, the margins tend to be razor-thin. [1]I learned an important lesson from the experience: it is a horrible idea to have clients with little or no disposable income.
- askyourmother 10y ago
  In London, the coffee scene in shoreditch/the city does very very well.
  - petra 10y ago
    Doesn't the costa coffee machines with their claim to quality strongly affect that business ?
    - idiocratic 10y ago
      Not in the slightest
      - petra 10y ago
        But they have something like 3000 machines in the UK . How do they not impact the coffee-to-go market at all ?
        willtim 10y ago
        Because the coffee is not as good quality as the smaller independents.
  - nojvek 10y ago
    What is the definition of pretty well? Take home more than 200k after taxes?
- blue_dinner 10y ago
  "I didn't know a single one who wasn't worried about putting food on the table" You can put pretty much everyone that owns a business or works into this category. Unless you are the top 1% or have a VC subsidized lifestyle, you are always worried about putting food on the table. Most businesses in that industry have thin margins. But it doesn't stop people from being successful. In my hometown there are at least 5 competing independent coffee shops that are all doing pretty well.
- anonbanker 10y ago
  razor-thin margins on water strained through coffee grounds? or just razor-thin margins on the stale muffins and biscotti?

enraged_camel 10y ago

>>He does very well now Does he really? That's very surprising. In a previous life, coffee shops used to be a big part of my client-base[1]. Out of all the coffee shop owners I knew, I didn't know a single one who wasn't worried about putting food on the table. It's a very cut-throat business with lots of competition, and even if you're located in an expensive area, the margins tend to be razor-thin. [1]I learned an important lesson from the experience: it is a horrible idea to have clients with little or no disposable income.

askyourmother 10y ago
In London, the coffee scene in shoreditch/the city does very very well.
- petra 10y ago
  Doesn't the costa coffee machines with their claim to quality strongly affect that business ?
  - idiocratic 10y ago
    Not in the slightest
    - petra 10y ago
      But they have something like 3000 machines in the UK . How do they not impact the coffee-to-go market at all ?
      - willtim 10y ago
        Because the coffee is not as good quality as the smaller independents.
- nojvek 10y ago
  What is the definition of pretty well? Take home more than 200k after taxes?
blue_dinner 10y ago
"I didn't know a single one who wasn't worried about putting food on the table" You can put pretty much everyone that owns a business or works into this category. Unless you are the top 1% or have a VC subsidized lifestyle, you are always worried about putting food on the table. Most businesses in that industry have thin margins. But it doesn't stop people from being successful. In my hometown there are at least 5 competing independent coffee shops that are all doing pretty well.
anonbanker 10y ago
razor-thin margins on water strained through coffee grounds? or just razor-thin margins on the stale muffins and biscotti?