What do you want from a teashop?

[littleteapotandcake]

I'm at the very early stages of looking at taking over a teashop in a small seaside town. I would interested in finding out what you like or don't like when you visit or any advice from anyone who has done/is running a teashop now. TIA

Naice sausage rolls, like pork and mango chutney with proper flaky pastry.

Also I prefer somewhere relaxed with a vintage sort of vibe.

Keep any cakes covered. Nothing more off putting than spotting a fly crawling over the cake you had your eye on. Walked out of places because of this.

Yes to this.

Buy in the highest quality coffee you can, and make sure your staff are trained on how to make it properly! And that they know what a macchiato, a cortado, a flat white is and how to make it. Bad bitter coffee with burnt over heated milk is guaranteed failure.

More savoury options that aren't a full meal. So many places do full savoury plates and lots of cake but not a smaller portion of something not too sweet. There are lots of people trying to be more healthy/low carb that savoury snack things like energy balls, yoghurt or really nice scrambled eggs would be great.

I'm not a fan of the mismatched china vintage vibe but you will know what will suit your area and likely clientele. I prefer a more modern and fresher look in decor and tableware.

Cleanliness obviously.

You could have a pop-up restaurant in the evenings at busy times. We went to one in St Ives that had a simple menu - pizzas and a couple of pasta dishes and salads. It seemed to be family-run so I assume they had flexibility as to when to open, and planned for ingredients that have a slightly longer shelf-life. Desserts and drinks were as per the daytime menu.

That looks like my kind of place!

Good coffee and excellent scones.

Full English breakfast

Slouchy sofas and arm chairs.

I live in Cornwall and love a tea shop but I rarely go because the cost for the amount you get is extortionate!

I’m not sure where you’re planning to go but if it’s a seaside place then you’re probably going to have competition and because of the cost of living and people spending less if it was me I would make sure I either did it really cheap or had big portions for the price.

Tea, sandwiches and scones aren’t expensive to buy and so I don’t understand why people charge so much.

I think being known for having decent portions at a decent price is going to give you a lot more customers and you’ll still make a decent profit.

Good luck OP.

If doing baked potatoes make sure these are oven cooked with crispy skin. Nothing worse than a peely wally microwaved potato that’s hard at the bottom.

@SauronsArsehole I wouldn’t even be mad if you opened at 11am one day so you be open until 8-9pm for adult only from say 6:30pm for tea, snacks and cake.

Problem with that is, the cafe owner isn't just rocking up at 10.50 and putting the key in the door. They are usually there for at least an hour if not 2 beforehand, never mind the trip to the morning market or baking early. So if they were to stay open until 9pm that could be a day from 8/9 am until 10pm minimum with after close clean up, banking, prep for next day. That's not sustainable.

The reason so many places close at 4 pm is so the owner stands a chance of getting home by 6pm/7pm after starting early doors!

That's never going to work as a business- coffee is more popular than tea now so that just not viable.

Im Diabetic so love a small bite of cake or half slice size. Our local cafe does the italian cannolis which is a nice treat for me.

No drinks with artificial sweeteners, a choice of drinks which are flavoured waters but no sugar like dash or aqua libra .

😂 I like your style OP! If this thread hasn't put you off I'm sure you'll be fine!

I completely agree.

I just returned from a holiday in Snowdonia in Wales. The cafes in the village we stayed at seemed to shut at 3pm and we're open only from Wed to Sun. They didn't open Mon & Tues and were only open from 10am to 3pm.

Make sure you have decent opening hours and stay open a bit later to include early evening meals. I traipsed up & down the village until I found a cafe that was open after 3pm. Then it was an ordeal finding somewhere open early for breakfast at 9am.

Also, 4 coaches of tourists turned up on the Tuesday and there was nowhere open for them to have tea. It was a popular village on the snowdonia mountain railway line. It was high season and the businesses missed out on about a £1000 worth of business.

Vegan options for cakes/ scones etc (also useful for people with allergies)
dogs allowed in
small child play area/ craft table with colouring or something like that

good luck!

Monday opening
Opening after 3pm
Big fluffy scones in traditional flavours - plain, sultana and cheese. Cherry if you must, but none of this fancy, modern white chocolate and apricot bobbins.

Highchairs
Plastic cutlery would have been fabulous.

I've spent a long time living in seaside and city tourist spots and too much time in tea rooms.

You need to think about your location, venue and clientele... and the competition. The successful tearooms are the ones that cater to the needs of clientele most likely to be in that location and have a USP.

The ones near me that are hugely successful and are out of town eg near a beach or tourist attraction are as much as a "destination" as the tourist destination they are near IYSWIM so they appeal to locals and aren't relying on passing trade eg

1. has amazing full afternoon teas and brunches that are bookable and is in a beautiful building with pretty gardens near a beach. They make more money by having people spend a lot of money and a hour or so rather than relying on passing trade popping in for just a coffee. People come for the food, the beach is a bonus, rather than them relying on visitors to the beach to come in as passing trade.
2. is on a pretty village high street but there isn't really enough passing local or tourist footfall to sustain trade as a cafe and it isn't amazingly scenic so it has events like live music, flim nights, poetry readings, mum and toddler sessions, a book library and book club etc. People come for the events then go out of their way to return for the excellent food.
3. is all about the social media with an instragammable store front and gold leaf macarons.
4. caters to parents visiting a local boarding school, tourists and locals with a fixed price afternoon tea of 3 scones or 3 homemade cakes or very fancy ice cream sundaes with a bakery selling takeaways, so a similar model to 1 of less covers but a higher spend per person.
5. is on the high street of a seaside town so lots of tourists, shoppers, local workers etc. Their model is based on excellent but good value food with a high turnover of tables because there is very high footfall - people popping in for a coffee or to pick up lunch to takeaway (fresh sandwiches and homemade soup). It's cosy but not too cosy (just cosy and quirky enough to attract attention and draw people in) as it is more profitable for them to sell lots of low value items quickly rather than having a smaller number of guests who linger over a full afternoon tea.
6. (and 7) are similar to 5 but draw people in with unusual homemade ice cream flavours (also available to takeaway) and local specialities/produce to lure the tourists away from Costa.

Some of the ideas suggested so far could be great or could be terrible, depending on the location. Great to have a play area to attract mums and toddlers if you are empty in the mornings and make most of your money from takeaway lunches and booked afternoon teas, a very bad idea if your tea room is full of groups of mums nursing a coffee while their DC play when there are hordes of tourists in search of a cream tea.

Yorkshire tea bags

I would say with cakes/cookies etc, it's great to have a vegan & gluten free option etc and please also just do a regular yummy option like brownies/carrot cake/sponge etc too!

So many coffee shops near me only do 'fancy' cakes e.g lemon, basil and black pepper loaf or something. They just don't hit the spot, especially not with my 3 year old!

Comfortable seating
Good tea, coffee, fresh cakes and pastries
I love a good rich hot cocoa (rather than the weak sugary drinking chocolate often available) and will pay a premium for quality hot cocoa
Good sandwich selection incl toasted sandwiches
Polite, efficient staff

Also a fan of here.

I like that it's not complicated coffee- a decent cafetière is all that's needed. Can't bear the noise of loud coffee machines.

It caters well for vegan la and dietary requirements.

Table service!

The loo has the best view of any loo I've ever been in!

It was good enough for Edward Elgar it's good enough for me!