Get ready for a dozen ideas for making a better third place. Pictured is Gathering Grounds coffee shop in Avon, Minnesota. Photo by Deb Brown.

At the Main Street Now conference, I sat in on a session about coffee shops. I wrote down bunches of ideas that the audience shared. I thought you might know a coffee shop person, or you might think of ways to use these with other types of small town businesses.

• Hold trivia nights or allow groups to meet in your space to drive more business
• Start a book club in your place
• Tell your story online. How were you founded? What is your history?
• Leverage your relationships with other businesses to put together a tour of businesses, or an experience that includes more than just your business
• Host readings, where customers can come in and share their writings
• Host adult coloring groups or game nights to bring in more evening customers
• Find out more about the people who work from your space, the people who bring in their laptops and work. What is their business? Is there potential to connect with them?
• Display coffee mugs from all the different businesses in town
• Provide vegetarian and vegan choices on the menu
• Support local causes and share about them
• Promote the chance to make friends, especially for new residents
• Reach out to new residents to make them aware of your place (You can find them through real estate agents.)
• Promote how people can connect with people not necessarily like them, how you play a role in strengthening community ties across groups in town.

Do you have any small town coffee shop ideas to add? When I asked in my newsletter, here are some ideas that readers shared.

“Whenever you get a new coffee, take an air pot around to all the business near you and give samples out.”
George M. Wurtzel

“Invite a well known Barista to run a Barista course at your coffee shop. Funding could be obtained from employment groups etc. Following on from that conduct a series of classes teaching people how to make simple things like vanilla slice and lamingtons. [an Australian cake specialty] This will follow on to your clients asking you to run classes on what they want to learn.”
Graham Reid

“Our trail organization co-hosts a #coffeeoutside gathering in a park each Thursday morning with a local bike shop. It is an opportunity to walk, bike or drive to share a relaxed social hour together. It is a great way to meet neighbors and solve the world’s problems. It could just as easily be set up outside a coffee shop. The point is: get outside, drink coffee, meet neighbors. We always have one type of coffee already made up, but invite roasters, shops and individuals to roast a pot on a camping set-up.”
Beth Nobles

Here’s the Coffee Outside website.

“We are test driving a coffee shop here in downtown Paulding, Ohio as a result of Deb Brown’s visit here a couple of weeks ago. The test is Tuesday and Thursday mornings through the month of May. First two days this week have been phenomenally successful. Using volunteer ‘baristas,’ the community support has been exceptional.
“Thank you Becky & Deb for all the idea sharing and leadership that you provide to our many small communities!
David Burtch

“All these ideas about coffee shops can be modified and apply to wineries. I say ‘modified’ because of the alcohol restrictions. We have been doing many of these practices at our winery in Knoxville, IA. Tonight I am hosting a fashion show with 5 women business owners in my community. It’s the first time doing this and I hope it works well. I reached out to our business owners that had fashions or a tangent business. I know a jewelry designer that will match her product with the clothes from the boutiques. A local photographer will take photos of the models and the event. A fabric designer that makes her own jackets will model her creations. I charged $5 advance tickets (available online or at the shops) and $10 at the door. The first beverage is free, so there is very little ‘risk’ to the guests, but allows me to gauge interest and attendance. You can see our story on our website NearWoodWinery.com. I think I have a pretty good origin story on the About Us page.”

Joann Schissel

Of course, I asked how the fashion show went, and Joann shared more:

“I think the fashion show went well. We had 15 models (includes kids) and friends/relatives were in the audience. I am focused on ‘gathering my tribe’ strategy and catering to established groups of people that have their own tribe. I loved working with the women business owners and promoting their products.
“Thank you for your great advice to help small towns. I think you and Deb fill a real need for our rural communities as mentors, strategists and cheer leaders!”

What other ideas do you have for coffee shops and other community gathering businesses?

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Photo by Glenn Muske

Late last year, I did a blog post looking at how clustering of competitors may have positive results (https://smallbizsurvival.com/2016/11/competition-and-clustering.html).

Recently I was asked about this idea in terms of small rural town cafes. If any of you have lived in the Great Plains region of the country, you know the towns and the cafes I am talking about. These restaurants are a crucial element in maintaining a viable community.

The question was in terms of competing with each other.

Let me outline the situation – Several small towns within a county have a cafe (one town has two). These cafés are open until mid-afternoon Monday through Saturday and closed on Sunday. Maybe once a month, the café may be open for a Sunday brunch/lunch. What often happens is cafes choose to be open on the same Sundays.

I was asked, based on my previous blog, was “is this a good thing?”

As we discussed the question, another piece of information arose. Sometimes a nonprofit will also have a benefit lunch at that same time, meaning more competition.

This question is a good example of where broad answers may not always apply in specific circumstances. I could argue that more opportunities would bring out a larger audience than might normally be expected. Now it would seem that the potential audience is being split as they decide which of two or more opportunities they will attend.

So the answer is an unknown. It’s probably unlikely that the entire audience for the two or more cafes and events that might be open on a Sunday would all go to the one open location. But would it increase the number of customers somewhat? Let’s think about this.

For some of the audience, it would be further to travel and time might also be a factor.

Also, people like being with other people they know and having conversation. Going to a place further away may limit such social interaction. That may be as much of a draw as the food.

Another way to look at the question is from a capacity stand point? Having a larger audience is fine but do these small cafes have the staff and the physical resources (seating space, kitchen space, kitchen equipment, etc.) to handle larger crowds?

And would the shift of audiences be a consistent thing? Such cafes have small margins. Cooking too much food and not having people show up would be hard on the bottom line.

And there is the other issue of not having enough food prepared. Since the capacity to quickly do more, even if the food is on the shelf, is limited, you may hurt future attendance not only for your café but for others in the group of these planned Sunday dinners (is it dinner or is it lunch – another question for another time).

Last, will it be possible to develop a cooperative plan? Owners have the right to do what they want. Experience may show that certain Sundays are better than others. From my perspective, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to try. And if there is a local tourism board or economic development group, they also might want to be involved. If other events were planned around this (rummage/flea markets; local food sales/food stands & farmers markets; sporting events), the potential market size just grows. Market it as the Sunday “comfort food” trail.

Just thinking about the question can be a great reason for the café owner to connect with his or her customers. Ask them what they think? Would they go to the other cafes? Would they encourage their friends and neighbors to also go? What would be the best way to market this plan if it should happen?

It would also encourage the owner to develop a schedule for themselves of when they will be open. People are a creature of habit so knowing when would help the owner and the market plan.

So does increased competition in this case translate into a better bottom line for the entities involved? We don’t know.

What we do know is that an exploration of the question would be a good thing in general. Plus whatever the answer is to that question should offer the owner guidance for his or her future direction.