Time Management Guide for Coffee Shop

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Running a coffee shop is not easy, you have to focus on a lot of things at once. 

From focusing on maintaining the quality of coffee to managing staff and improving customer relations, you need to add everything in one place to run a successful coffee shop. 

To make sure everything is under control, and you are giving enough attention to every aspect, it’s important that you are following efficient time management, and for that, here are some listed ways for you. 

What Are The Important Aspects In Coffee Shop For Time Management? 

There are different areas in your coffee shop that need to run smoothly to improve the performance and overall results. 

Improving and managing the time well can help you make sure you are not overlooking anything and also the work is getting done at the right time. 

time managing for coffee store

It includes : 

Your Daily Operation Of Coffee Shop 

The first and most important part is that you should have the right time management. Your daily operation includes different activities that happen on an everyday basis. 

To improve the daily operation, here are some of the points to know : 

Schedule Time For Coffee Tasting With Employee 

You need to schedule the time for coffee tasting, including espresso and drip coffee to the manual brewing. Make sure you are doing it with the staff, this can help you initiate the quality of the cafe. 

With this practice, you can engage the employee with the conversation and improve productivity. 

Make Sure Your Staff Takes Breaks 

To boost productivity and performance, it’s important that staff are taking adequate breaks. 

In between their daily work, enable them to take some breaks to rest and re-energize their body as well as mind. 

Limit Ordering To Food You Need 

Not just it will help you in decreasing the food waste, so make sure you are ordering what you participate in selling on that day. 

Do track what you are selling every day and try ordering the amounts that you will need. 

Schedule The Happy Hours 

Offer deals on snacks and drinks, and you can fix the time for it. This can help you in moving the pastries and perishable food items, but also boost the sales for your cafe even when the time is slower. 

Give Discount To Day Old Items 

You can sell the pastries at half price, especially if it’s a day old. Not only will you save the items to go to waste but also it helps in reducing time on managing what to do with such items. 

Donate The Leftovers 

It saves your time to arrange the food and drinks and also helps in boosting the reputation of the cafe. You can donate the leftovers to the food bank or local shelter.  It’s a good deed too. 

Customer Relationships

The next important aspect that you should be focusing on while you do the time management is the customer relationship. 

Because without this, you can’t ruin your cafe smoothly. well, to improve that, here are some of the points for you to consider : 

Focus On Developing Strong Relationship

This will encourage your customer to get back to the cafe, not just for what you sell but also you are offering good hospitality. 

Leading by example can put the better promotion to the customer service skills that your employees have. 

Learn What  They Want 

This will save a lot of time on trying and finding new things that your customers want. 

To learn what they actually look for you, you can engage them by having a conversation.  When you know what they are expecting, this will make it easier to find the right thing so you don’t have to waste time.  

Keep Cafe Accessible

Make sure your cafe is easy to access, there is the right technology and paying options so the customer doesn’t have to waste their time. Also, you can consider offering the tools to order their coffee and other items. 

Employee Management 

With the right employee management, not just you can save a lot of time on different sections but improve the effective chances of the cafe. 

There are different aspects where you need to focus, it includes : 

Allow The Employees To Find Replacement 

Scheduling can be challenging so let the employee find a replacement to seeking the time and it can be an impossible task. 

Empower the employee to find their shift replacements to make them easy to fix. The approach can help you in alleviating the stress and include the success impact; this also helps you in promoting the personal responsibilities among the members, 

Focus On Conflict Resolution Skills 

Conflict resolution reps can be really important especially when you are dealing with the whole thing as a manager. 

From the conflicts, it can be internal or from customers, when the teammates have the skills of conflict, then you can help in boosting the overall chances of improving the cafe. 

Also, conflict resolution skills can get the problem resolved before it can turn bigger which takes much more time and resources. 

Foster The Communication And Training 

Training your employees can help in getting their job work done better and also creates a positive environment to work with. 

It also encourages people to stay longer and boosts their confidence. You can conduct regular check-in meetings and boost open communication. 

What Are The Tips For Running The Coffee Shop With Time Management? 

The right time management can help you,  with this you can manage the operation and run the cafe better. 

tips running coffee shop better

And for that, here are some of the tips to consider. 

Take The Cafe Management Seriously 

Coffee might be the passion, but when you are running the shop, based on that where you need to be better at the passion. 

However, you can’t bury your head focusing on coffee with the hope that the shop will run. You need to learn how you can manage the shop. 

Learn about the styles you can consider for management, and be honest about what are the weaknesses or strengths. 

Be approachable and also listen to the employees, focus on taking a better management style. 

Be Clear And Focus On What You Do 

However it’s not about being the coffee expert, you might have the knowledge of what you are selling, taste notes, and offer the greater recommendation. 

But also let your employee be on the same point. When your customers ask questions or look for recommendations, your employee should know what can help. 

That means you are not just training but encouraged to taste your products. 

Show Your Appreciation 

Customer appreciation days are not that uncommon, you need to appreciate who is coming to the cafe. 

With this, you can boost the chances of getting repeat customers. However you don’t have to do something big,  you just give something like offer samples of the product for educating them regarding coffee. Use the loyalty cards to get free drinks. 

Show The Appreciation To Employees 

Not just the customers but the team too,  make sure you are appreciating employees as they are valuable. 

When you replace an employee, the cost can be high, not just for the money but for the time.  Show that you are praising them by offering : 

  • Flexible self-scheduling when they need to, this can give them control and give better work-life balance. 
  • Allow them to have fun and use the creating tip jars for recording. 
  • Celebrate the special events of your employees
  • Make sure you are paying them well and give them reasons why they should be working with you
  • Focus on their employee reputation, improving their skills and personal growth. 

Understanding Vision Of Coffee Shop 

Coffee shops should come with the concept and vision much early, you need to stay focused when you are planning how it evolves. 

Making the decisions on a daily basis that you need to make in order to support the USP or unique sales proposition, helps you in boosting focus and keeping on track on a mission. 

To make sure you remember, hang a sign on the wall, schedule the mini reminder on how you are going to reach the USP 

Schedule The Time Of Your Staffs 

Your shop must be staffed properly for all hours of the day, including the morning pre-work rush to the evening. 

Set time for the pre-work before the shops open for the people, make sure you have all the important work done, from deciding the menu, tasting coffee, disturbing the schedule, and managing tasks. 

Also, schedule your teamwork so they have updated work in their hand.  Give them the opportunity to manage their time, instead of micromanaging them. 

Create Work List For Yourself 

When you are an owner of a coffee shop, you need to handle a lot of things and once the shop is open, you can’t really get hold of things as it needs your full attention. 

So give yourself a time before the day starts or do it the night before. Create a list for yourself, add all the important things you need to do, maybe you need to refill the coffee beans or check the equipment. 

Schedule the important tasks in the calendar in case you end up forgetting them. 

Make sure you have a list of things you should avoid so it doesn’t end up being effective productivity. 

Train Your Team For Time Management 

Time management is an important skill, and your team should know how to do it too so they can save their time on their side and boost their effectiveness as well as productivity. 

Make sure they understand how to do time management, arrange the schedule before the day starts, and prioritize what is actually important to do. 

Focus On Better Communication 

When you are running the cafe, you need to be better at communication. not just you but the team should know this skill and have an environment where they can easily communicate. 

This will help in avoiding any kind of misunderstanding or wrong information. You can use tools and apps, or practice different ways to improve the communication between you and your teammates. 

Consider Adding Integrations 

There are a lot of apps, tools, and systems that can help you in running your coffee cafe much better. Also with POS, you can save a lot of time, energy, and resources as it will streamline the payment, takeouts, and other things for you. 

Don’t Stick With One Method 

You can try different methods, tools, and software to consider. So don’t get stuck with one thing, and try using what can help you in saving time and boosting productivity. 

Also, you can consider options as there is no way if something doesn’t work for others it will not work for you. So make sure you are updated and keep everyone on the same page. 

Learn To Highlight What’s Important 

When you are a coffee cafe owner, everything seems important to you at night. But focus on prioritizing what is actually important and what can be done later, so the valuable task can get done within the time period.

Also, make sure your staff knows the skills well, they also require this for taking fast actions and improving their decisions. 

Prioritizing can help in saving time, but also avoid multitasking. You can highlight the important tasks when you list all tasks for a day. 

Manage the tasks by scheduling them and doing the time blocking so you have time fixed to focus without any disturbance. 

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