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I know of a cafe that's in a pretty secluded location (so very little passing traffic), but at a back way into a very popular forest which is also decent for mountain biking (good singletrack within 200m). It's also on a route used by a fair few roadies.
It's never really done very well and has changed hands a few times but could do much better I think. The guy who has it now only took it on for his girlfriend who's now left him and he's looking to move it on.
It has parking and could offer free parking for people going into the forest instead of £4.00/car at the official car park.
So what makes a great cafe for riders and walkers alike?
tits and cake
Good food at the right price .Home cooked stuff not plastic frozen stuff.Real butchers sausages for brekkie etc .Some of the best cafes are not the poshest inside.Free parking is ok if it has the room ,or free parking if spending a tenner maybe .Could carry a few bike spares if you are looking at us as a market ,tubes etc .?
Could carry a few bike spares
Good idea that. A bike wash and track pump wouldn't go amiss either.
Somewhere to put your bikes that you can see while you eat.
Fresh home cooked food
Great coffee and cake
Friendly staff who don't turn their noses up at muddy bikers or wet notes
Good locally sourced food, if your selling coffee make it good stuff.
Fresh cakes
Sensible prices
Proper portions
On a more serious note, if you ever went to Stella's in the quantocks that just about nailed it.
If you offer free parking your car park will be full, but the cafe won't make any cash out of it - like Edric says, make the "free" parking conditional.
Good cake and proper coffee at sensible prices.
proper butches sausages and nice bacon etc if doing cooked breakfasts.
Bike parking in view of the café - you could also provide some posts/rings for people to lock their bikes up?
Access to a pump would be good?
Sell a few spares - tubes/C02 canisters/maybe even brake pads?
Flap jacks and a few other wrapped items for people to buy and take with them.
there would be no harm in having a few 'energy products' such as drinks and gels on the counter aswell?
If you offer free parking your car park will be full, but the cafe won't make any cash out of it
I know what you're saying, but at the moment their car park is empty and maybe they just need to get more people in - does more footfall naturally lead to more custom?
I know what you're saying, but at the moment their car park is empty and maybe they just need to get more people in - does more footfall naturally lead to more custom?
Possibly but more chance of people just taking the piss. That would then lead to your car park being full of free loaders when paying customers turn up. Also expect some backlash for poaching £4 that probably goes into/pays back trail building. Perhaps a limited bookable number of spaces for 3-4hrs but the rest short term.
Advertise at the trail head, get online, get the name out there, make it the place to meet on the way. The downside is once people get back into the car they are not likely to stop until they get home unless there is something very good.
2 or 3 pay showers/changing rooms might be a hit.
That would then lead to your car park being full of free loaders when paying customers turn up
Good point.
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Bike stands with built in locks (or locks to borrow).
Actual good coffee - talk to someone who is into coffee, most coffee owners seem not to care at all.
Good food - home cooked is fine if the people at home can actually cook. I've had home cooked food that was way worse than bought stuff.
Make sure service is prompt too.
Good coffee is a must. Homemade flapjacks as trail food is another good one.
First of all the food. Learn how to make a decent coffee and get a reasonable brand, one that offers support for training etc try a local roasting house rather than a name for the sake of it. Keep the menu short and simple but the emphasis on quality and value for money. Getting a rep for your product will take time, make sure you do it for your customers and not yourself, too many people take on these businesses and struggle because it's what they want in a place not what the market will support.
I do consultancy on this type of thing so pm me if you want, the first 5 questions are free 😀
How about parking say £4 a car, but it includes a free coffee/hot drink. People are likely to go for that after the ride, they come in for the free coffee and see lots of nice cake. Cake gets bought, more money goes in the till.
Great cakes and infinite coffee
On a more serious note, if you ever went to Stella's in the quantocks that just about nailed it
Yeah, this.
Good portions of nice simple food at reasonable prices - proper jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings, interesting pies, good cakes, etc
Also, may be worth looking at a couple of late evening openings, encourages riders to get out and even better if you are open a late evening in winter.
It's all about making the place buzz.
opening hours...
there is a uk phenomenon of cafe's shutting at 5pm... ...consider evenings especially in summer. And it should be a criminal offence to be shut on a Sunday/Bank Holiday!
Not so much a "bike cafe" thing - but free Wifi.
Take cards - nobody on a bike wants to carry loads of cash. People will spend more with cards.
Word of mouth is always the best recommendation. Most importantly, people don't want to feel ripped off and the Cafe at Swinley Forest springs to mind for being mediocre and over-priced.
Local produce and home-made is always a winner. Decent non-designer coffee served in decent sized mug.
I do find sometimes that people, ie cafe owner or Joe Public, can be quite unaccommodating towards mountain bikers or people who look a little different.
On a more serious note, if you ever went to Stella's in the quantocks that just about nailed it.
Yes, I only went there once but was seriously impressed. What a shame it closed down. 🙁
Drinks in big mugs and not too expensive. Don't mess around with fancy coffee machines etc. unless you really want to become a chic coffee destination (in which case you probably want to buy something in a city). Big lumps of simple food that isn't too expensive and is quick to prepare - dirty breakfasts, baked potatoes, soup.
Look at places like Petes Eats in Llanberis, Lakeland Pedlar in Keswick, the sort of destination outdoors cafes that have been around ages, they all do simple food in large quantities, for not much money, and actively target outdoorsy types, and seem to do well out of it.
Best road bike cafe around us is the Tor Cafe (link below): not fancy, not open in the afternoons, but when it is open it is usually busy, even gets decent numbers of oldies cycling out there on weekdays in winter. And you can get tea and a double fried egg cob for not much over 2 quid. Brilliant.
http://www.bolsoverwheelers.org/CafeReviews/cafereview032.html
For me it's:
Good coffee
Friendly service
Good food
Good wifi
Comfortable seats
No screaming kids is close to the top of my list, but that might be only me.
Conwy Falls cafe but with the service just a smidge faster would be great.
Depends as well if you want to cater for the "quick coffee and a cake" market or people that want to have a decent meal before/after a ride as well. The former is a lot easier, obviously getting the coffee and cake quality right is paramount as well as speedy(ish) service and decent seating inside and out (with clear views to a bike park area).
For the car parking thing the free coffee voucher mentioned above is a good idea, or even just something like £5 parking charge but you get a voucher for £2.50 off your cafe purchase (with a 1 voucher per order qualifier to stop them being hoarded)
What makes a great cafe? Or what make a successful cafe?
A great cafe is what everyone is telling you, but that aint a business plan. You cant rely on MTB'ers, they are not regular traffic (maybe huge influx some, not all, Sat/Sun then nothing) and are not generally spenders - think of all the moaning on here about even paying for parking.
Take the Swinley cafe, it probably would not exist but for being next to the best kids play area & discovery centre for miles around. Just the forest walkers/MTBers wouldnt sustain it (at least during the week and off season) its the mum's that keep it going during the week.
cafes we use riding mostly have one thing in common. ability to see bikes.
outside seating is nice.
good coffee is a necessity.
location is important; i can think of a few places that are great - but too close to home to be used as halfway round a road route. they will never be much use to me for that.
I do go there with the OH though...
Real coffee from a proper roasters using a decent grinder/commercial machine. No big mugs of stewed filter coffee made by the gallon and served in big mugs, it's not the 80's anymore if you want a mug its for tea only.
Home made cake/flapjack not those crappy baking boys things full of vegetable fat.
Agree with the good coffee, bike parking, and considering evening opening in summer.
Catering for coeliacs! Lots of the bike/walkers cafes are a gluten fest, so anyone who can't have gluten can't eat there. Keep some gluten free bread rolls in the freezer so you can offer GF sandwiches or a roll with some soup, and get in some gluten free cakes or bars etc - if you can't make them on the premises, there are lots of companies that will supply them in sealed packs.
All good stuff.
Re the coffee - this may be controversial , but why not use a commercial Nespresso machine? The coffee is good, you can easily offer a choice of blends and it's easy to use so the quality is 100% reproduceable [is that a word?]
Perfect bike type cafe...
MTB type remember the Hub at Glentress....that
Road type, Ronde in Edinburgh, only really coffee cake and soup there though, but great coffee, great cake and great soup.
I travel over Scotland all the time and now carry a jetboil, an aeropress and a jar of freshly ground coffee. Most places are appalling. Exceptions are the Mountain cafe in Aviemore and a few in the central belt.
Like others have said get a in touch with a good coffee roaster, get a great machine, grinder etc People just wont put up with sh*t coffee anymore.
Love them or loathe them Starbucks, Costa etc have made people realise there is more to life than nescafe!
The last thing a mountain bikers cafe needs is a million and one poncey coffees! Think of the queues!! If people can't decide on tyres then how on earth can they manage with a coffee blend? Defer to STW? 😆
Nespresso machine? No thanks, it's glorified instant.
Proper coffee can be quick you just need to know what your doing. I'd recommend a tax deductible trip to somewhere like Melbourne for some fact finding 🙂
and please don't check out Pete's in Llanberris gone so far down it's shocking. Crap cheap food over priced.
Like others have said get a in touch with a good coffee roaster, get a great machine, grinder etc People just wont put up with sh*t coffee anymore.
+1.
Go on a barista course, get a pro grinder and machine (it WILL cost LOTS) and do it properly. There's a new-ish cafe not far from me catering primarily for cyclists and the coffee they do there is fantastic. No huge mugs of hot milk with a bit of coffee, no poncy flavoured/soy stuff, it's just COFFEE. Good, proper coffee.
Good range of cakes, some easy snack type things (panini, sandwiches, soup etc). I'd think twice about doing bike spares, you can pretty much guarantee that no matter how many weird and wonderful rear mech hangers and brake pads you have in, it'll never be the right one. Track pump and bike wash are good but you need to literally chain the pump down otherwise it'll disappear in minutes.
If you have a bike wash you'll probably need to put in some kind of water recycling system - depends on the location, a lot of conservation areas won't put up with vast quantities of water being sloshed down a drain anymore.
Agree.Conwy Falls cafe but with the service just a smidge faster would be great.
However a slower service usually means good, home made food in my mind, not just 'ping' out of the microwave, so takes a little longer.
Also clean premises. Good food and dirt (I know we're going to be bringing in large amounts of mud and grime as mtbers) don't mix.
+1
Go on a barista course, get a pro grinder and machine (it WILL cost LOTS) and do it properly. There's a new-ish cafe not far from me catering primarily for cyclists and the coffee they do there is fantastic. No huge mugs of hot milk with a bit of coffee, no poncy flavoured/soy stuff, it's just COFFEE. Good, proper coffee.
Spot on - espresso, double espresso, cappuccino (not huge cups either) macchiato, flat white, long black... decent cups, thats all you need.
You can give us all a free cup for the advice when you open 😉
Where abouts are you roughly? Some great independent coffee roasters up here.
As everyone else really says except don't forget good Tea, proper mug of tea always helps. Home cooked, locally sourced food. Free car parking will work, anyone that constantly takes pi55 just flyer the cr@p out of the car. Mum's are where your money is for with out a doubt so you need to intice them in with maybe an adventure playground, doesn't have to be massive but something for the little ones. Also have some free route maps to hand out for walkers/bikers. Allow dogs in (the 4 legged variety, actually let everyone in) and maybe put something on the menu for them? Everyone likes to treat here dog and "locally sourced homemade" dog treats to take away or eat in mught go down well, also put out water bowls etc. It's fine to offer bike equipment but also look at your other clients and so as not to make them feel like it's a biker cafe as that might put them off. Keep the decor simple clean and have photo's up of the local area to advertise the place and get people interested.
Oh and a request for tea made with proper tea leaves ... served in a porcelain cup and saucer.
Actually yeah teadrinker nails it completely, you dont want to be seen as exclusively as a bike cafe. Ronde in Edinburgh every morning is full of the yummy mummy set which is good for business and no bad thing either...
And yeah tea, I dont drink it but always think its weird when places do loads of coffees but just standard tea. A few places in the Lakes have ethose cool silk tea bag things, people will pay extra bucks for that.
Dog treats is a great idea, Chesters at Skelwith does that.
Leaf Tea, in tea pots (proper ones not the stupid little metal things) choices of tea too (Or even better if you could get T2 but a long haul from down here)
It was strange to get to Oz and find the had tea more sorted that the UK (strange but not really a surprise)
Service, service, service
IME mid 20s Eastern European ladies provide the best in eating establishments round here.
All the above things are great suggestions, but....
Service, service, service. This is what keeps people coming back. Start conversations, say what you're doing, get to know people, hold events, do group rides, etc, etc. This is the free part that makes you the money.
Sell, sell, sell! Go directly to your market. Flyer the paid for carpark, speak to walkers, speak to cyclists. Again do it personally rather than putting any adverts out and it will be cheap and effective. If you're not annoying the competition then you're not doing enough!
Good luck!
Mainly sweet old ladies that resemble a stereotypical nana that make fresh cakes and sandwiches.
Sell your cake by weight, lets people have a big bit or a small bit plus it's a good talking point.
Choice of breads. No sliced bread allowed on the premises.
Flexible sandwich filling options.
Good choice of drinks, teas and coffees obviously but a wider choice of soft drinks too.
bike specific.
Make the loo obvious and freely available, guilt people into buying.
Bike rack with some spare locks available.
Some outdoor seating, for the muddy folks.
Not a hard tiled floor, slippy roady shoes.