A new play cafe, opinions please!

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Hello everyone, I am in the process of writing a business plan to set up a cafe/ coffee shop geared towards families and young children. If you have time please could you complete a short survey by clicking on this link

www.surveymonkey.com/s/YCY32K9

Thank you!

good luck with it.

I've often thought a coffee shop with a big covered pushchair park would be handy. With an area up the back with colouring and toys so the kids leave me alone are amused.

Bet if you had a weekly facepainting or craft session you'd go a bomb.

Thank you i really appreciate hearing your ideas... Let me know if any more come to mind!

Oh I forgot to mention I'm looking at steering clear of soft play but having lots of toys like dolls houses, train sets and dressing up

Op I'm on my phone so can't do the survey but wanted to wish you luck in your new venture.

I really wish someone would open a play cafe in my town. Ds is 5 months so too young for soft play and I really struggle to find somewhere to socialise which also appeals to friends without kids.

I would love to see
Lots of space for buggies
Selection of toys and books for all ages
Baby menu for purees and blw
Kids menu with interesting food not just nuggets etc.
Nice outdoor area

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you're near me!

There was a cafe like that where I used to like and it was popular. A good place to meet up with friends after school drop off.

A place I go to now has lovely baby chinos with real melted chocolate at the bottom. Keeps them busy for ages whereas another one has free baby chinos with an adults coffee which is just the milk. Both are a draw I think.

A toy castle rather than a dolls house would be good I think. Appealing to all sectors. Or maybe a farm. I saw a fabulous zoo on a table not so long ago.

I wouldn't be one for the dress ups. They would get dirty and the dc would be asking their parents for help which would cut into valuable gossip time...

Survey done.

However, great as those activities are, a small softplay section with slide & balls will keep children occupied without adult involvement a lot longer, which would appeal to me more (if I were hoping for a gossip) than something where my DC wants me to join in / help.

We have a couple of play cafes in our City and the most criticism I have heard is about cleanliness and poor food choices. There's one really good place with indoor and outdoor activities (Think slides and climbing frames so maybe not what you are planning) which is lovely but the food is just awful. They do allow people to bring their own though.

The other two offer better food and are mostly indoor but can get very crowded and noise so I wouldn't call them a relaxing environment. I visited them a lot while on Maternity leave but am less inclined to with an older child as they need more supervision imo. When you have a mix of crawling or toddling babies and older children then it does get irritating when people just leave their older children unattended, even if it's just with a dolls house.

Anyway - I am rambling. What I like are places with comfy chairs, good staffing so you're not waiting for ages for your food/coffee, clean and unbroken toys and not too expensive; children going free for as long as possible is good. Some places charge just the parents, others just the children. I don't think it's fair to charge both.

Done.

For me, what would appeal the most is somewhere the dcs (2yr DS particularly) can play and I can drink a coffee in peace, knowing that he can't run off/is in danger. So like a buzzer gate thing like they have at soft play.

Toy wise, I would avoid ball pool type things as kids can't seem to help throwing them :o
Farm is an excellent idea, train track, mini kitchen, duplo, colouring.

If you had an outside, then some scooters, ride on toys, a little rocking see saw or slide would be amazing.

Where we tend to go for lunch/tea and cake the most is a church run cafe, all food is made on the premises, meals are around £5 and you can get a mug of tea and a bun for less than £2. There is a separate room that they use for a youth centre that also has tables in and we sit there so that the kids can play but stay out of the way of others.

Hope any of this is useful :)

We go here

Love the idea of this, there is one in my town but they've done it all WRONG and it's always empty, which is such a shame! It's in a small shopping mall, there's no natural light, it's kind of a mini soft play with a gate and adults sit and have (expensive) coffee in the teeny tiny area out the front... they would have been better off NOT buying the rather limited (and prob very expensive) soft play and spending more on craft and imagination toys...and changing their location to one with natural lighting and making it attractive to the grown ups too. I've never wanted to go in our local one as it's ugly and airless and you just wouldn't enjoy spending time there.

The problem for this type of business tends to be that mum sits and nurses one coffee for an hour, hogging the table and the cafe makes little money. It's a fab idea but you need to work the numbers carefully.

You could offer "dress ups" DCs can put on and off by themselves, such as hats, scarves, bangles, tabards, jackets etc.
Definitely a lot of tea set, wooden track, duplo, board books, wooden blocks etc.

I agree, soft play doesn't always work. DD2 is 22 months and wants to follow her sister everywhere but can't always rely on her not being shoved to the side on a high climbing frame. So not exactly relaxing for me.

When DH is around to provide back up, we go to a great place though which has climbing slides and all that stuff, but also other sections with a vets station, play café, supermarket and construction areas. The construction one has big, foam bricks as well as wooden ones. Obviously this requires a lot of space though.

Agree about making sure you have space for buggies etc.

Good luck!

Ohhhhhhhh we are hoping to do this soon. Where are you based, OP?

There are loads of soft play near us but no alternatives and DD would never play in soft play by herself damn her and you get bored going all the time ...

Have you had any luck finding a decent venue? I'm struggling with that atm.