Running a coffee shop requires a lot of research and knowledge into the intricacies of the business. One important thing that you may need to know when running a coffee is how many customers do most coffee shops serve in a day?
On average, a coffee shop in the United States will serve around 470 customers daily from open to close according to Quora. (https://www.quora.com/How-much-coffee-does-a-coffee-shop-sell-per-day) Factors that affect this number are:
- Marketing
- Location
- Brand recognition
- Reputation
1. Marketing
Marketing is going to have one of the biggest effects on the number of customers a coffee shop serves daily.
If a coffee shop has a great marketing campaign and has been able to get its brand and likeness out to consumers then it is going to increase the number of customers who visit that shop each day.
On the other hand, if a coffee shop has a bad marketing campaign or even worse, no campaign at all, a coffee shop is likely going to lose most of its customers to a coffee shop that does have a great campaign.
- What are some good marketing campaigns that can help increase customer numbers?
Rewards cards
Rewards cards are some of the easiest and most effective marketing campaigns any business could run.
By utilizing reward programs, you are not only increasing the chance that a customer chooses your coffee shop over another but you are also increasing the frequency that customers buy your coffee overall.
For example, where I am from, we have a popular coffee shop chain known as Big B Coffee. If you aren’t from one of the ten states that have Big B, it is essentially the same as a Tim Hortons or a Dunkin Donuts.
A year or so ago my mom gave me a Big B rewards card that she didn’t want.
Previously to this, I had only been to Big B maybe 5 times or so.
However, since then, I have been going to Big B about once a week.
The main reason I go there now; my rewards card.
On that card, my 7th drink is free, which is awesome and it makes me want to go there more frequently to earn that free drink.
But in doing so, I am spending the money on six other drinks that I likely would not have gotten otherwise, effectively making Big B more money.
Thus, by using rewards cards, Big B is increasing its customer numbers. While it does cost them one free drink every once in a while, it makes them much more.
Support a local cause
Supporting a local cause is a fantastic way of increasing sales numbers.
Think about it, if you are deciding between two coffee shops of equal convivence and quality and one is known for supporting a local cause with a percentage of their profits going to it and the other isn’t which one would you choose?
For most, if not all people, they would choose the one that is supporting the local cause.
In doing so, this coffee shop is increasing its customer numbers easily and effectively that also bolsters its public image.
Make yourself unique
Today there are so many coffee shops that are so similar it’s almost impossible to tell them apart.
But if you can make yourself unique in some way you will set yourself apart from all of the other basic coffee shops out there.
It can be anything from a drink you offer to maybe a cool design that your coffee shop has or maybe your employees wear weird hats on their heads.
Whatever it is, your job is to find something unique that will get people in the door.
If you can do that, your numbers will increase and your business will thrive!
2. Location
Location is as important as any other aspect of a coffee shop and can help determine its success to a great degree.
The location of your coffee shop will determine both how frequently your coffee shop is seen, or in other words, have visible it is, as well as how easy it is to access.
If your coffee shop is in a location that is either hard to see or hard to get to, you may have some problems with the number of customers that you experience daily.
- So what should you look for in a location to ensure that it will be effective?
There are two main criteria that the location you are choosing for your coffee shop should meet.
It should be both highly visible and easily accessible.
High visibility
If your coffee shop is not visible to a large number of people you are going to find it difficult to attract customers.
Ideally, you should have your coffee shop in a location that is highly visible to both foot and vehicle traffic.
By attracting both groups, you are increasing the number of people who may visit your coffee shop which is after all the goal.
Easy accessibility
Even if your coffee shop is highly visible if it’s not accessible you are going to have a problem.
Instead, you need to make sure that your customers are going to be able to access your coffee shop fairly easily no matter what method of transportation they are using.
That means you need to be in a fairly populated area where customers and walk and bike to your shop while also providing enough parking spaces for those who chose to drive.
3. Brand recognition
Brand recognition is one of the most ignored aspects of advertising in business today but it can also be one of the most influential.
If you are driving down the road looking for somewhere to stop for coffee what’s the one place that everyone is going to immediately recognize? The answer of course is Starbucks.
Learn more about owning a Starbucks HERE.
Right now Starbucks is one of the most recognizable brands in the world and because of this it makes hundreds of thousands of sales a day.
So if you want to increase the number of customers you get in a day, making your brand more recognizable is one of the best things you can do.
- How do you increase brand recognition?
Utilize social media
By creating social media accounts for your business and tying your brand to these accounts you can help reach more and more people.
If you can increase the number of people who have seen your brand and your logo your brand recognition will only go up from there.
Make your logo unique
Too often coffee shops make their logos too similar to what everyone else is doing.
But if you can make your logo unique, it will help your brand recognition tenfold.
For example, look at Starbucks. Their logo has nothing to do with coffee, but because it is so unique you would recognize it anywhere.
4. Reputation
When we say reputation, we don’t mean anything bad. Rather, we simply mean what you are known for as a coffee shop.
If as a coffee shop, you are known for having great service, great drinks, special products, or anything else similar that makes the public opinion of your shop positive, then that is going to be great for your business!
On the other hand, however, if your reputation is negative for whatever reason, your business is going to suffer in terms of how many customers you see per day.
Once again, think about a very popular business in the food industry such as Chick-Fil-A.
Even if you have never been to a Chick-Fil-A, you most likely have heard of their signature “my pleasure” motto.
Where this motto started I have no idea, but it is a fantastic thing for the business as a whole.
This simple statement that every Chick-Fi-A employee repeats after every order has become a reputation for Chick-Fil-A, one that seems to be fairly positive.
This has even started a popular set of internet memes of how polite Chick-Fil-A employees are, and because of this, the average number of customers Chick-Fil-A serves is only increasing.
While Chick-Fil-A is not the same as a coffee shop, the same principles do apply in both cases!
A good reputation will drive more people to your coffee shop increasing the number of daily customers you serve. 
Frequently Asked Questions
According to a study done by Small Business Chiron, coffee shops in the United States make an average of about $215,000 per year.
If you were to do the math, that works out to be about $18,000 per month or about $600 per day selling coffee and other products.
Thus, if you can run your coffee shop well, it can make a good amount of money!
Some of the best-selling items in a coffee shop are cakes, cookies, wraps, and other similar food products.
Most of the best-selling coffee products are things such as espressos, lattes, macchiatos, mochas, as well as a few other drinks.
Offering these drinks as well as the other products mentioned can make your coffee shop a lot of money.
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
