1. What are the recommended opening hours?
Depending on the local market breakfast trend and night habits, in the franchisee territory ,as well as on the competition & the traffic .
Normally, opening between 8:00 am to 12:00 pm is recommended.
Of course, It should be parallel to the Market opening hours for similar or competing operations, and may vary per location.
2. How many employees per shift?
This will vary depending on the area of the coffee house.
Normally for a 90 to 100 sqm, the morning shift would require 3 baristas & the night shift would require at least 3 baristas. (assuming Rush Hour is at night)
One manager is also required who will be present in the night shift.
He can play the role of the Fourth Barista at night
3. What nationalities to employ?
In the Middle East and North Africa area, we recommend that the Manager is a Local if having a hospitality business degree and trained by the Franchisor, or Lebanese, considering that Lebanon is well known for its Hospitality expertise.
As for the baristas, we also recommend that they are either local or Lebanese.
If the salary of the lebanese baristas will be prohibitive, we would recommend to hire at least one highly experienced barista (who can eventually be trained to become a supervisor or a manager) and the rest may be hired from nationalities who may accept lower wages.
4. What would be the pay scale of the employees?
It should be parallel tp the Markets pay for similar or competing operations, as an average.
We may need to consider overpaying the existing staff working the competitions to attract them to come & work with CCH.
This will reduce the training period for our staff & will help the operation proceed with more self-confidence.
In any case, we recommend that a detailed Market research be conducted by the territory's Franchisee after the signature of the Development agreement for the territory in order to determine the market parameters regarding this issue
5. What would you estimate for the percentage of pay Roll from sales?
As a Maximum, a healthy CCH operation should run at a payroll less than or equal to 12% of sales.
6. What is your estimation for the initial decoration's cost and setup as well as the remodeling's cost after the coffee house opening
For the initial decoration and set up itself, this will depend on the territory.
The territory franchisee would most probably be in a better position to evaluate the initial Decoration cost per sqm.
As for the cost of :
- Equipment.
- Furniture.
- décoration.
- signage.
The total expected investment can be anywhere from $75 000 to $250 000. It depends on several factors; mainly among those - construction costs.
In practice, the franchisee should budget an approximate capital of USD 100,000 per shop , for a 100 sqm area. Of course, this would vary upward or downward depending on the economic parameters of the territory.
Regarding remodeling when time goes by, we don't think that remodeling and decoration renewal should apply heavily before the end life of the franchise except for general maintenance & furniture re-purchasing, upgrading or repairing.
Normal Estimation of 5% of the initial cost of the FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures & equipments) may be considered as an acceptable renewal cost, over time
7. Assume the store is located in a reasonably successful Mall
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What would you estimate the total weekly sales should be?
Of course, the territory franchisee will eventually need to conduct a serious market evaluation after the Development agreement is signed.
A healthy traffic should hover around 300 tickets daily, at an average of 30 Tickets per hour, at 5 USD average. In any feasibility study, we recommend to consider 290 Tickets per day.
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Percentage of sales per:
- Hot Beverages.
- Cold drinks.
- Ice Cream.
- Food (Sandwiches, salads and pastries).
- Retail.
This will vary greatly depending on the territory. Again, the territory's franchisee will eventually need to conduct a serious market evaluation after the Development agreement is signed.
Usually in coffee shop's , 60 to 70 % of the consumed items are drinks , 35 % food , & up to 5 % retail products.
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Percentage for cost:
- Hot Beverages.
- Cold drinks.
- Ice Cream.
- Food (Sandwiches, salads and pastries).
- Retail Products.
Of course, the drinks have a higher profit margin that the food margin, with the retail margin being equal or lower than the food margin.
This will finally be determined after the local food and beverage suppliers are selected in the franchisee territory
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What would be the cost of paper and consumables?
Their cost should be 4 to 5 % of sales, as a maximum.
The normal should be around 3% of sales.
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What about depreciation?
- Furniture and fixtures.
- Equipment.
- Signage.
- Leasehold improvements and décoration.
This will vary depending on the principles the local auditors will recommend to use and also depending on the franchisee’s company policy.
We recommend a 10-year depreciation approach
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What would you recommend for marketing and advertising's percentage of sales and would that include point of sales?
For marketing & advertising, the franchisee should consider 5% of expected sales per point of sales with an initial budget of 40 000 USD per shop for corporate level advertising
We also have an international / regional advertising fund that is not currently collected from franchisees
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How to reflect the Head Office expenses (H.O) per shop?
The head office ( H. O) expenses cannot be really reflected in the profit & loss of one shop only.
H.O expenses would include, among others, the salaries of the Operations Manager, Public Relations Manager, Accountant, Personnel Manager, Store keeper, Secretary, etc….) as well as the cost of the consultants (auditors, lawyers, etc…)
The territory franchisee will need to open a number of shops in order to cover the H.O Overheads.
This number will vary depending on the territory.
Still, in any feasibility study, we recommend to allocate 2 % of Sales, per shop, as contribution to the H.O expenses
8. What is CCH franchise fee?:
The franchise fee is $ 30 000 USD per coffee House
9. What are CCH royalty fees?
The royalties are 7% of sales.
10. Does CCH select my site?
We do not choose your location. We do provide general site criteria and evaluate and approve each specific location.
11. How long does it take to get my CCH franchise store up and running?
The timeline depends on the site. The time can range between 60 days to six months. It depends on how much construction work is required and how fast our franchisees want to move.
CCH would like to answer each and every question you may have. For more information we ask you to visit our website at www.colombianocoffeehouse.com or send us an e-mail to: contact@colombianocoffeehouse.com.
Upon receiving your e-mail, we will contact you immediately.
And if you choose to Live the Latin Taste and Taste the Latin Life, Contact us on how to join Colombiano Coffee House !!!!!
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