When you’re looking for help on how to manage your coffee shop, you’re looking for the best knowledge and resources. But how do you know what you’re looking for if your best experience with coffee shops is frequenting your favorite? Look no further than the following best coffee shop management courses.
The 5 Best Coffee Shop Management Courses are:
- Udemy Masterclass: Start Your Coffee Shop Business
- Coffee Business School of the Cascades
- Bellissimo’s Coffee Business Startup Course
- Texas Coffee School Management Training Course
- Texas Coffee School Three-Day Coffee Business Master Class
Whether it’s online or in-person, you can find the best management courses that will benefit your coffee shop. Consider any of the following before you sign up.
Udemy Masterclass: Start Your Coffee Shop Business
Udemy’s masterclass in starting your own coffee shop business provides real-world business knowledge for your coffee shop and does so through the online medium.
Many of the back-end business strategies are discussed in this class, including market research and competitor analysis. Like many of the other online classes, they offer on-demand videos. With this class, though, once it is purchased, you have unlimited, lifetime access to the videos and information that they provide for you.
This class is separated into several sections, including how to acquire capital, any industry trade secrets that their instructors have learned, how to develop your product, how to analyze the market and work with your local demographics, how to use social media, and how to operate your business from day to day.
While the cost for this class is $99.99, Udemy frequently runs promotions where you can get the class much cheaper.
Coffee Business School of the Cascades
If online courses are the thing for you, the Coffee Business School of the Cascades virtual school is worth considering.
This class will walk you through not only how to make your business profitable but walk you through the business side of your coffee shop. The program, separated into a four-day course load, will provide you with 30 different video lessons ranging over the topic of the day, including how to plan and create your business, how to open and run your business, making the espresso drinks, and how to create other coffee drinks, along with creating latte art.
They will go into detail about how to create your business plan, the layout of your shop, how to hire and train employees, how to manage your employees, and how to make coffee to the best of your ability.
One major benefit to this program is that you can look over all the information for a two-year period after you take the course. They also provide downloadable content to bolster your business.
If you’re interested in saving money, the Coffee Business School states that they can save you up to 80 percent of the cost of an in-person program. This program will cost you $199.
Bellissimo’s Coffee Business Startup Course
If you’re just starting out and looking to start your coffee shop business with no experience whatsoever, try Bellissimo’s Coffee Business course.
Like the other courses, this course hits four different topics—developing your business plan, creating your space, running your coffee shop, and marketing and growth.
The course also includes a complimentary one-on-one consultation session after you complete the course. Be prepared to do a final exam on the completion of this course, though—they want to make sure you’ve retained all the information they’ve taught you before you go out and start your coffee shop.
You will also have lifetime access to these materials, and everything is pre-recorded, so you can take the class and the exam at your own pace. While Bellissimo does over-in-person courses, you can still get the same information through this class as you would with their in-person programs.
This course is one of the more expensive online classes on the list at $499.
Texas Coffee School Management Training Course
If you’re looking to not only learn how to manage your coffee shop yourself but teach your managers how to run the coffee shop, try out Texas Coffee School’s one-day Management Training Course.
This course is meant to rapidly advance your or your managers’ coffee shop operations knowledge and increase their management resources. This course will help you and your managers learn how to operate day-to-day and is meant for either new managers or newly promoted managers. You can learn how to manage both employees and operations of the coffee shop through this course. Take-home references and resources are included in the cost of this course.
This course is in-person and costs $500 per person. The six-hour course is located in Arlington, Texas. They are meeting for in-person classes. While none are currently scheduled, you can be notified of future classes by visiting this link.
If you are looking for something more extensive on how to actually start your business, consider looking into the three-day Coffee Business Master Class.
Texas Coffee School Three-Day Coffee Business Master Class
If you’re more interested in in-person training rather than an online course, the Texas Coffee School may be the best option for you.
This class teaches you from start to finish how to open your own coffee shop business without any previous experience. They will provide a step-by-step plan of how to start your business, along with keeping class sizes small to make sure you get the care and instruction you need to learn.
Classes taught during those three days include hands-on barista training, detailed coffee business education, and coffee shop operations training. You will learn how to work on your own business plan and estimate costs, along with learning how to choose your own equipment, make drinks, and manage your operations.
You will come away with the knowledge taught in the class, along with detailed consulting resources. Because it is a three-day in-person class, you must register ahead of time. Class cost is $2,650 per person and is located in Arlington, Texas.
Out of all your choices, only you can know what you want out of your class. Whether it’s an online class or an in-person class, you can learn what it takes to start your own coffee business and how to make it thrive.
Frequently Asked Questions
You do not need a formal degree to open a coffee shop. While experience in the field or in business is encouraged to make sure you have the basic knowledge of opening and running your coffee shop, it is not required. More information about the education requirements to start a coffee shop can be found here.
Using marketing and your already existing menu, you can attract new customers to your coffee shop. You can also add new menu items to add to the value of stopping at your coffee shop, offer any discounts or promotions on your existing menu items, and market those promotions and your coffee shop to a multitude of generations. Additionally, you can work with a delivery platform to deliver your drinks around town or work with a non-profit organization to increase your visibility in the community and show that you are focused on your community.
To learn more on how to start your own coffee shop checkout my startup documents here
Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.
Hi! I’m Shawn Chun
My adventure in coffee began when I first launched my first coffee shop back in the early 2000s. I had to figure out so many things on my own and to make it worse within 2 years of opening two large corporate coffee chains moved in just blocks away from me!
As I saw smaller and even some larger coffee shops in the neighborhood slowly lose customers to these giant coffee chains and slowly close up shop, I knew that I had to start getting creative…or go out of business.
I (like you may be) knew the coffee industry well. I could make the best latte art around and the foam on my caps was the fluffiest you have ever seen. I even had the best state-of-the-art 2 group digital Nuova Simonelli machine money could buy. But I knew that these things alone would not be enough to lure customers away from the name brand established coffee shops.
Eventually, through lots of trial and error as well as perseverance and creativity I did find a way to not only survive but also thrive in the coffee/espresso industry even while those corporate coffee chains stayed put. During those years I learned to adapt and always faced new challenges. It was not always easy, however, in the end, I was the sole survivor independent coffee shop within a 10-mile radius of my location. Just two corporate coffee chains and I were left after that year. All told the corporate coffee chains took down over 15 small independent coffee shops and kiosks and I was the last one standing and thriving.
Along the years I meet others with the same passion for coffee and I quickly learned that it is not only “how good a barista is” that makes a coffee shop successful, but the business side of coffee as well.
Hence why I started this website you are on now. To provide the tools and resources for up and coming coffee shop owners to gain that vital insight and knowledge on how to start a coffee shop successfully.
Stick around, browse through my helpful blog and resources and enjoy your stay! With lots of LATTE LOVE!
Shawn
