Opening A Book Café: Enhancing Reading Experience With Coffee And Snacks

Statement of the Problem

Write an essay on of book cafes.

Over the past few years, number of book cafes has witnessed a spike across many states of India. Readers of all ages squeeze out hours from their busy life to grab their favorite book from the shelves and fix up a perfect sitting in the nearest coffee shop to have a best time of their day during late evenings or lazy weekends. Given the growing popularity especially among youngsters, readers prefer reading in an isolated corner away from all the hustle and bustle of the chaotic life. There are various types of books available in the market belonging to a wide variety of topics around the world. It attracts readers to browse through the vast collection of books and spend hours in the café.  Thus the café would generate revenue through selling coffee and scrumptious bakery products to book lovers. It will be a paradise for ardent readers of any age in the region. Henceforth, opening a book café is an apt business idea which would allow voracious readers to invest in generating regular revenue and growth in Delhi city. The business intends to attract and retain customers over a long period of time through enriched services. This business is aimed to enhance the experience of book lovers by providing them myriad choices through its unique set of books for different sections of the readers along with coffee and quick snacks.

The region has many cafes and shops for book lovers to gather and read but the ambiance is unsatisfactory. Moreover, there is limited variety in the books available in the cafes. With the chaotic life people live in Delhi, there should be a peaceful and balanced place to relive the old habit of reading books. Thus it is important that the desperate need of the book lovers is catered by clubbing both a café and book shop together. The business idea would allow customers to engage in quality reading along with enjoying delicious snacks.

As the business concept is unique enough and allows using creative solutions to design the ambiance, food menu and collection of books, there is ample scope to expand the horizons and boost the revenues. However, it would require initial capital to begin with before the actual business concept can be formalized. The café would be rented from a local property dealer but all the remaining arrangements and activities would have to be performed and managed.

Business Project Goals and Objectives

The project requires diligent efforts from some selected people to manage important activities of the business concept including human resources, marketing, production, interior designer, chef and a few more. The project would take a time of 3-5 months to come into actualization.

The business project goals are as follows:

1. To create and develop unique collection of books.
2. To boost the revenue and growth potential of the business concept.
3. To enhance customer experience through engaging reading ambiance and quality food.
4. To provide interesting mix of delicious snacks and coffee round the clock.
5. To engage customers in long term relation with the café.
6. To build a positive brand reputation in the city.

The business project objectives are as follows:

1. To add 20 odd new books in the existing repository of books.
2. To find at least 10 business clients who can sell books at discounted rates.
3. To add at least 10 new customers for lifetime membership in a month.
4. To generate sales revenue to break even in a year.

1. List of enlisted books.
2. Food and beverages menu.
3. Food quality certification.
4. Maintenance manual
5. Energy and water bills
6. Profit and loss account statements
7. Balance sheet.
8. Interior design or project layout.
9. Customer feedback

The project requires some key personnel to start with in order to manage the responsibilities of important tasks. As commonly believed that employees are important to manage the efficiency in the restaurant industry (LeBlanc and Mills, 1994), there will be some job positions filled with to initiate the project. Following are the key personnel required for the project:

Project manager: Here in, the person would be responsible to manage the formulation and implementation of the café.

Interior designer: The person would have the big onus on designing the interiors of the café given the capacity of the café. The design includes the ambiance, theme, colour, furniture setting, wall decorations, and much more.

Human resource manager: human resource management has a huge role in the entire scheme of the project. It is up to this person to determine the roles and responsibilities of all other employees. The major responsibilities include recruitment, selection, policy making, training and development, performance appraisals, grievance handling and many others. HR has an important role to play in smoothing out the inefficiencies in the system, thereby establishing a balance in the café. It be noted that effective HR policies and practices once merged with the business and sustainability goals have more chances to improve the environment of an organization through positive morale, increased engagement, improved retention and more productivity (Meisinger, 2007).

Café Manager: It’s the supreme authority of the café who will supervise the day to day working of the café whilst keeping business goals in consideration. Managers are expected to boost organizational effectiveness by motivating others more than the desired level (Cheng, Petrovic-Lazarevic, 2005c; Yukl, 1998). Though HR manager manages he issues with employees, it’s the café manager who will be in attendance of what’s happening on the floor and hence will be crucial for the effective management of the café. The responsibilities include handling employee issues on floor, supervising all the administrative functions, managing the daily records, and more.

Administrator: The person fulfils all the administrative functions of the café including managing the official records, updating the documents, updating the list of books, and more.

Project Deliverables

Accountant: The café requires an effective accountant to manage all the cash flows in and out of the café. Known as the keeper of an organization’s financials, the person manages financial operations across all the departments.

Chef: The chef will decide on the menu of the café and will manage all the preparations of coffee and other snacks. The responsibilities include fixing café menu, quality checks, hygiene etc.

There are some of the key job roles that are to be filled for the business project to start in the first place.

1. Electrical equipment
2. Cooking equipment, utensils etc.
3. Furniture
4. Computer, software for billing and managing other records.
5. Stationary

As this is a private venture, an estimated amount of 10 Lac would be needed to open the café and make all the requisite arrangements. The plot or the shop would be taken on rent but all other arrangements would have to be done.

There is huge potential in this project given the fact that the business concept has the potential to generate regular revenues for the company. Firstly, the shop is located near some of the popular colleges in Delhi, and this allows youngsters to get attracted towards the café. As the café would sell books as the second channel for revenue generation, there is additional source of boosting the profit. All the remaining expenses would be managed by the head of the project. With such a good business concept, and backed with desired investment, this project will prove to be highly profitable for all the stakeholders.

The business project of starting a café for book lovers has all the deserving potential to succeed. However, there can be some unwarranted risks involved in different aspects of the project.

Operational risks: There can be delay in receiving the crucial resources else it can mar the services of the café.

Procedural risks: There can be faults in software systems due to any technical glitch. It can stall the regular updating process and hence delaying the processes.

Financial risks: Since the project is privately funded, there are certain limitations beyond which financial pressure can impact the services.

Customers: As reading books is more of a habit for people, many customers won’t get sufficient time to regularly visit a café.

Its important to understand that India is a large consumer market and starting a well-planned business is a good chance to explore the market. However, there are certain issues need to be taken care of:

Procedural delays: There can be unwarranted delay in certain procedures such as registration of the cafe, getting electricity etc.

Complicated demographics: There can be challenges in defining the target market and their triggering factor. Thus a thorough market research is needed find about the target market and other dynamics.

Regulatory hurdles: There can be regulatory hurdles in terms of food quality, hygiene etc. Thus its important to get a clear picture about the food quality. 

References

Cheng, J, S, L. and Petrovic-Lazarevic, S. 2005. Resistance to Change. Monash Business Review, 1(1),  pp.40-43.

Yukl, G. 1998. Leadership in Organizations. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Meisinger, S. 2007. HR’s Role in Social Responsibility and Sustainability. HR Magazine 52, 12, 8.

LeBlanc, C, L. and Mills, K, E. 1994. Retaining employees: Make them feel indispensable. Nation’s Restaurant News, 28(16),  pp.30-31.