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Should You Open A Pop-Up Coffee Shop?

Tag：Should You Open A Pop-Up Coffee Shop? 2020-08-18 18:45

Opening a coffee shop can be expensive. Alongside buying stock and hiring staff, you also have to look for available premises, which is a major cost. However, if you’re looking for a way to cut down on your expenses – or even test a new idea or brand – you might consider opening a pop-up coffee shop.

To learn more about the process of opening a pop-up coffee shop, I spoke to pop-up owners and operators from around the world. Here’s what they said.

WHAT IS A POP-UP COFFEE SHOP?

Yeekai Lim is the owner of pop-up coffee shop Cognoscenti Coffee in Los Angeles, USA. He says that a pop-up coffee shop is “a loose term for a temporary setup that is done under the radar” and describes it as “a guerilla approach to serving the public without conventional advertising and signage”.

To put it simply: a pop-up coffee shop is one that is opened in a temporary space, usually for a limited period of time. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a stall or a kiosk; it could be in a typical storefront, an unused gallery or event space, or even on a truck or bus that moves between locations.

Opening a pop-up coffee shop allows business owners to sell coffee without committing to costly overheads for a long period of time – business leases can often run for months or years. This allows them to test a market and scope out interest for their coffee.

While the pop-up shop concept is by no means new, it has gained popularity in the coffee sector over recent years. For example, last year, Bandit Coffee Co. made its debut in the USA, originally inspired by Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee.

Bandit offers franchisees a fully outfitted kiosk that can be assembled anywhere near a power outlet. As its startup costs are lower than that of a typical store, it can offer drinks at more competitive prices. It also allows customers to order through an app for ultimate flexibility.

FLEXIBILITY AND COVID-19

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of coffee shops have realised that the pop-up coffee shop is a flexible, viable alternative to a bricks-and-mortar store. As retailers across the world are closing their doors as a result of government regulations and lower demand, flexibility is quickly becoming a priority.

The pop-up model allows coffee shops to operate without incurring the full cost and commitment of having a permanent location in a difficult economic situation. Short-term leases will also allow property owners to recoup or cover some of their losses in a tough property market. Some pop-up coffee shops have even seen sales increase in recent weeks, winning market share from coffee shops who have closed their doors.

Leslee Cross has run PUCS Pop-up Coffee Stop with her husband in Houston, Texas, for the past five and a half years. She says that business has been “insanely busy”. PUCS is located in a residential area, and has seen more custom from people who work from home.

Kevin Clark operates Vintage Coffee Midrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He agrees with Leslee: “I wish I had known it would’ve been this good, then I would have done it sooner. We have seen growth even in the midst of Covid-19 lockdowns.”

The cost of opening a pop-up shop of any kind obviously varies from region to region. However, short-term space supplier Storefront said that clients opening a pop-up pay up to 80% less than they would for a traditional store. According to them, this leads to quicker growth and more sales. Kevin agrees, saying that the main advantages of his pop-up have been “smaller overheads and quicker growth”.

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