Thinking of opening cafe in Seattle but I might be bonkers

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by elarbee

Hey there. So my girl and I moved here to Seattle a few weeks ago with some seed money and loads of energy. Got no kids, want to work together, like to work hard but not seven days a week. With a little previous expierence we are thinking of starting a very very small cafe selling breakfast lunch and kick ass coffee/tea maybe near downtown.

I've been speaking to a few cafe owners and geez none are making any money, some are hemoraging it by the week!

Anyone here know of any cafes actually making enough profit to pay themselves a wage from it? Don't need names but would really appreciate any opinions or stories.

Cheers

Go visit the HoneyBear Bakery. Study what they do. (Killer bakery goods and good sandwiches are key, + a couple of homemade soups/day, as well as fab coffee and great tea selection.) Replicate it somewhere, where there's a lot of traffic. Get cool, funky furniture, make it a comfortable hangout. The HoneyBear has been so successful, they've gone from one location to 3 in the last 10 years or so. It's known as a popular singles hangout. Wallingford might be a good location, or maybe around Ravenna Park/Roosevelt district. (Just thinking out loud.) Or Capitol Hill. You can Google the HoneyBear, but it must be experienced to be understood and appreciated.

P.S. There are almost no teahouses in Seattle. If you call yours a "coffee and teahouse", it would cover two niches. Cafe rents near downtown are very high. I wouldn't recommend starting downtown.

[poopskooper]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Go visit the HoneyBear Bakery. Study what they do. (Killer bakery goods and good sandwiches are key, + a couple of homemade soups/day, as well as fab coffee and great tea selection.) Replicate it somewhere, where there's a lot of traffic. Get cool, funky furniture, make it a comfortable hangout. The HoneyBear has been so successful, they've gone from one location to 3 in the last 10 years or so. It's known as a popular singles hangout. Wallingford might be a good location, or maybe around Ravenna Park/Roosevelt district. (Just thinking out loud.) Or Capitol Hill. You can Google the HoneyBear, but it must be experienced to be understood and appreciated.

P.S. There are almost no teahouses in Seattle. If you call yours a "coffee and teahouse", it would cover two niches. Cafe rents near downtown are very high. I wouldn't recommend starting downtown.

(good information, ruth, however, the OP just posted that he's left town and gone back to Australia. The opening post you quoted is almost three years old. )

[Vinylly]

Originally Posted by elarbee

Hey there. So my girl and I moved here to Seattle a few weeks ago with some seed money and loads of energy. Got no kids, want to work together, like to work hard but not seven days a week. With a little previous expierence we are thinking of starting a very very small cafe selling breakfast lunch and kick ass coffee/tea maybe near downtown.

I've been speaking to a few cafe owners and geez none are making any money, some are hemoraging it by the week!

Anyone here know of any cafes actually making enough profit to pay themselves a wage from it? Don't need names but would really appreciate any opinions or stories.

Cheers

I think you had better take advise from the cafe owners you have talked with. Most resturant businesses are like a revolving door, here today, gone tomarrow. Seattle diners are quite sophisticated. Unless you have a special talent for creating a great dining experience at a reasonable price, your gone. Just take a walk down Broadway, about every other storefront is a resturant or coffee shop of some sort. There are way too many good resturants in Seattle, -just forget about the bad ones. They won't be around tomarrow. You would have to be a highly trained resturantear and business person to succeed. Those who are successful can be very successful, it depends on whether you can develop a cult following of loyal patrons. : think:

[travelinhobo]

It really takes an exceptional relationship to handle also working together. Might want to rethink that.

[eskercurve]

Originally Posted by elarbee

Hi Guys

Well after meeting with several cafe owners, and understanding the local tax rules, we learned a few things. A single cafe has little chance of making profit and paying it's owners, the first cafe should help fund the second by the third, a liveable salary is possible.

We also learned that many small shops in Seattle are owned by people who don't need a salary (married to or ex employees of Microsoft, Amazon etc. who've already made their IPO money) Writing off losses for tax only really helps to offset other income but if we don't have other income, it's no good to us.

Anyway, in the end, we decided it was too risky. After that, and struggling to get good jobs, we moved back to Melbourne Australia where we now have corporate jobs, two dogs, a pretty good lifestyle and great memories of our time in Seattle.

I'm glad you two were able to find the right path forward! Congratulations! Also glad Seattle didn't leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

I've always wanted to visit Australia...

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by poopskooper

(good information, ruth, however, the OP just posted that he's left town and gone back to Australia.

Thanks Ruth for the info, there are zillions of folks wanting to do the 'Cafe-thing', and your assistance will prove helpful to the 'next guy'.

[JamesGTAIV]

Originally Posted by azoria

There is a monumental overabundance of coffee houses in Seattle.

There are hardly any fun night clubs.
There is almost nothing in the way of tea. (I love tea)
There is only one dedicated spice shop in Seattle proper.
There is only one hat shop in Seattle.
There are NO (zero) perfumeries.

Do something different. Settle has a lot of needs.

(I've been looking for fancy hairclips since I moved here two years ago. Can't find them anywhere)

Best advice you can get, right here.

Don't enter an over saturated market without experience in that market first.

EDIT: Successful experience*****