What makes a café exceptional?

The search for the perfect café is a real struggle for coffee enthusiasts. Great coffee is a good start but attracting customers that will keep coming back time and time again requires more. How can you determine if your café has what it takes to become the next favorite place to go? Keep reading to find out what coffee enthusiasts look for in addition to that perfect cup of brew.

4 Factors that Make a Café Stand Out

1. Great Coffee

For me, one of the most important things that the café must have is excellent coffee. After all, as each day passes, more and more people are becoming more and more knowledgeable when it comes to identifying good coffee from bad coffee. As such, there must also be a variety of options to choose from, and ideally, the coffee shouldn’t take more than a few moments to prepare.

2. Places to Get Comfortable

There’s nothing more satisfying than coming across a newly established café that provides ample space for customers to get comfortable, work, and make their orders. Most people prefer a variety of seating, like “couches for conversing” instead of just being provided with comfy chairs to sit on. The tables must also be spaciously separated and be on the large and functional side of the spectrum instead of small and skimpy.

3. Curated Snacks & Meals

As much as quality coffee is important, it is also beneficial to have an assortment of snacks, pastries, and meals that can be served to those coming in for breakfast, lunch, or even late evening dinner. The more curated and personalized the menu is, the more likely customers are to return because you will be serving dishes that can only be made in that café.

4. Good Ambiance

This is probably the second most important thing after quality coffee. Customers will always choose to dine at a café that suits their mindset and provides them with relaxed décor, open spaces, good music, impeccable art, and even plant life. In other words, the more “Instagrammable” the cafe is, the better people will take to it.

The Ambiance is Comforting and Relaxing

Aside from cafés serving quality beverages and pastries, it is also a place where you can be alone to unwind or relieve stress. This place somehow gives us peace, space, and time to think about things deeply just by ourselves with a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. It’s also accessible since there’s already a lot of cafés available wherever you go. It’s a good place to run to when you need to relax.

Good Service Wins Customers

Warm and friendly service from the crew and staff is one asset of a good café. For me, it is more than just the coffee and the inviting ambiance from the café that will make your mood a bit lighter if you are there to take some time to relax. You can take out the coffee or have it delivered, but the ability of the café to invite the customers to the table is a winning thing.

3 Ways to Make a Café Appealing

Being a frequent traveler, I have spent my fair share of time in a variety of cafés in different cities and formed a pretty good idea of what makes for a good café.

• For me, service is number one. Friendly, helpful staff, a waiter or waitress with a smile on their face, who is ready to assist and willing to go the extra mile plus a visible manager who helps the rest of the staff when needed and checks up on tables regularly to make sure customers are happy [are vital].
• Great food and drinks, especially coffee, served consistently, and a good selection of food products with something special and unique each day is another way to keep customers happy and coming back.
• Going into a cafe should be an experience. The journey from the door to the table should be smooth with no obstacles in your way. [It should include] nicely displayed products and friendly “hellos” from the staff. There should be a good layout, and the equipment should meet all requirements, [including] volume, menu, and the skills of the staff.

A pet-friendly café is the new trend!

There’s a lot that goes into making a great café, from the ambiance to the seating space to the prices. One thing I always look for—and love when I discover—is a pet-friendly café that has good products. Dog and cat cafés are becoming more and more popular as small business owners realize there’s a huge market of people who want to go out without leaving their furry friends at home.

All too often, these cafés rely on the pet aspect as their sole business offering and forget that pet owners love good coffee, too. I’ve been pleased to find a couple of dog cafés in my neighborhood here in New York City that allow me to bring my puppy and get a top-notch latté, and I’ll be forever loyal because of it.