Tea Shop Things

[the-borgqueen.livejournal.com]

Things are moving forward-ish with that, so I'm looking for some input on the best way to set up donations and such.

My friend and I met with a woman in the downtown area who owns several buildings that they're renovating for shop fronts and restaurants. She is very excited about our idea to have a small cafe/bakery/tea shop, as have been the Small Business Advisers that we talked to and my late father-in-law's financial adviser. We would have a shop on the Main Street in a down town area where there is a population of 15 thousand, and 300'000 visitors. There's a yearly boat show in the area and a "Taste of" festival, and art shows, and during the week there are a TON of commuters going through given the judicial center is there and the court house and all of this.

So, it's looking very promising. The building won't be fully renovated for at least six months, but I figure that gives us some time to lock down funding. I imagine that we're going to have to sort out some loans but I'm hoping that we can get some money from the crowd funding route. The less we have to loan the better.

While they're renovating the building, replacing the roof, painting the exterior, putting in new walls, redoing the electric and the plumbing we'd need to get funds in order to supply any kitchen equipment that we need, pots, pans, plates, cups, refrigerated displays, do the floors and the internal painting all the rest of it. We do have some "nest egg" but half of that covers the deposit, three months rent and utilities, so the remainder is not nearly enough to cover the supplies even with friends donating their services to tile, paint and make the sign template.

So, I'm trying to sort out what the best way to approach the donation markers are with regards indiegogo.

Baked goods might be difficult to ship out as gifts. We're trying to make things as naturally and organically as possible and promote wellness so as little chemically processed stuff as possible; I'm still figuring that other than maybe cookies things would be hard to ship. (We're planning on also offering scones, biscuits, croissants, cornish pasties, cupcakes, tarts etc.)

Tea is a little easier to hand out, put in the little packets send it out with tea-bags. Given we want to get mismatched chairs and tables and will be repainting and refinishing a lot of that we'd wondered about saying we'd paint people's names, or family friendly design requests as thank yous onto the chairs and tables but I'm not sure how that would go over.

Brain storming other things we could send out tea balls or mugs and pots, I suppose. We'll be offering other services on an appointment basis, such as hypnotherapy and tarot readings -- but some of that is less easy to do via mail order.

We're going to have a little gift section in the store to go along with some tea gift baskets that we intend to have which will likely have some wood-burned jewelry and boxes, hand made candles, smudging supplies, crystals, runes and some things like that.

Comments

[danceswithlife]

Perhaps I missed an earlier post, but where are youlocated? What city are you planning to open in? (I may be able to get this from your profile, but would suggest you mention the particulars in your posts so new people don't have to ask or check your profile).

Also, nothing in this post gives me any incentive to support you financially unless you happen to be near where I am--not even then for me since I don't eat wheat anymore, and going to a tea shop when one doesn't eat wheat is generally an exercise in frustration. Since it appears you will be a for-profit business I won't take advantage of, why do you think this is a good project for crowdfunding? Just asking.

[the-borgqueen.livejournal.com]

To try and answer things in order:

I live in Lake County, Florida; we're hoping to open in Tavares which is considered the "county hub".

When I initially joined crowdfunding, Ysabeth and I had been speaking about doing custom-blended teas for donations via the internet.

Aside from the plain teas I make things from a holistic standpoint, building blends for purposes, such as boosting the immune system, helping with relief from arthritis symptoms or fibromyalgia.

Then the opportunity to actually open a storefront locally while still selling online presented itself due to some bad and good family circumstances.

I've seen other people find help for funding book stores and restaurants while browsing crowd-funding sites and especially because of the previous positive reception that the teas had received I have continued having discussions here.

We're hoping that our shop will be able to help our local community. We're not just in this to make money we also want our shop to be a place where people can come to detox, a place where people can come for advice and help. We're planning on hosting events for a local writer's workshop that I already have ties to and perhaps have events with local Mom's groups and things like that.

On top of that I'll continue to have offerings online as that offers additional opportunities at least for the tea and tarot.

Okay...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>> She is very excited about our idea to have a small cafe/bakery/tea shop, as have been the Small Business Advisers that we talked to and my late father-in-law's financial adviser. <<

Woohoo! This is great news.

>> There's a yearly boat show in the area and a "Taste of" festival, and art shows <<

You could do thematic blends for those. Like for the boat show, a "spice road" blend with imported black tea and spices, and a sailing ship on the label. For the art show, a "painter's palette sampler" with black, white, green, and red teas; and an artist's palette on the label.

>>I imagine that we're going to have to sort out some loans but I'm hoping that we can get some money from the crowd funding route.<<

Work on developing a budget. People like to know where the money's going, whether they are bankers or crowdfunding donors. So break it down into, say, "teahouse furniture," "kitchen equipment," "tea and cooking ingredients," etc. You may have an easier time getting a bank to fund hardware and real estate, and crowdfunders (who can be perked with free samples) to cover all the edibles.

A really big project is hard to fund completely. But if you break it down into segments, you can fund each one separately and show people the developments, then move to the next. You'll probably get some repeat donors. So for instance, you might do "$500 for assorted tables and chairs plus refurbishing & decorating supplies" early on and "$1000 for individual herbs and other tea ingredients" etc. The perks for each phase would relate its theme, so the first would paint people's names on tables, and the second would have free samples of tea blends, and so on.

Re: Okay...

[the-borgqueen.livejournal.com]

>>You could do thematic blends for those. Like for the boat show, a "spice road" blend with imported black tea and spices, and a sailing ship on the label. For the art show, a "painter's palette sampler" with black, white, green, and red teas; and an artist's palette on the label.<<

I hadn't thought of things like that. Those are very nifty ideas. I already have a few blends--things we'd come up with before we stopped selling at market; but I am having to re-label and in a couple of cases re-name given "The Silver Path Signature Blend" isn't exactly in keeping with "Magic Monday Cafe". The whole reason those were signature was because TSP's symbol was a pomegranate and that's one of the main ingredients in those. /ramble.

>>Work on developing a budget. People like to know where the money's going, whether they are bankers or crowdfunding donors. So break it down into, say, "teahouse furniture," "kitchen equipment," "tea and cooking ingredients," etc. You may have an easier time getting a bank to fund hardware and real estate, and crowdfunders (who can be perked with free samples) to cover all the edibles. (truncated)<<

The budget is the next big step. I need to go back to the SBA and get a copy of their software as we were given one but it has meandered. It's got some very helpful spreadsheets to plug values into and devise what you'll need.

With regards equipment we're trying to go second hand where we can. Buying supplies from restaurants who have gone out of business and also buying chairs and tables from places like Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity. Things like that.

Hopefully we could potentially spread the word about other people's projects via a wall of donations, and a thank you section on the company website.

Re: Okay...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>> I already have a few blends--things we'd come up with before we stopped selling at market; but I am having to re-label and in a couple of cases re-name given "The Silver Path Signature Blend" isn't exactly in keeping with "Magic Monday Cafe". The whole reason those were signature was because TSP's symbol was a pomegranate and that's one of the main ingredients in those. /ramble. <<

See, you're on the right track. Look for ways to tie ingredients to concepts that will intrigue shoppers and/or donors. We talked about "function" (night time tea) and "flavor" (fruity tea) type blends before. Thematic ones can use all kinds of different anchors and this is a perfect place to ask for audience input. People will think things you might not.

Any major, recurring local event is worth targeting. Bonus if those cycle through the year because you can make a batch of tea for each and when it's sold out, that's it until next year. That encourages people to keep coming back because your offerings change seasonally and are always fresh.

>> With regards equipment we're trying to go second hand where we can. Buying supplies from restaurants who have gone out of business and also buying chairs and tables from places like Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity. <<

That will help keep costs down. Talk to people in Freecycle or similar programs too. Network with folks from Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity -- sometimes they'll cut you a deal if you take a lot of stuff, or you're willing to help with one of their events. They attract gregarious, proactive people who might be interested in your project.

>>Hopefully we could potentially spread the word about other people's projects via a wall of donations, and a thank you section on the company website.<<

I recommend stacking that. Lower donation gets just your name listed, medium gets you a link and a one-line blurb, higher gets you a linkable graphic and 100 words or so. Also consider swapping ads with other crowdfunders (for stuff you can mail order, like tea samplers) and neighboring businesses (for everything). It's often cheaper than buying ad space, and as soon as you have a website you've got space you can offer. Most folks don't mind ads as long as they're reasonably related to the main theme of the site and they aren't obtrusive.

Okay...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>Baked goods might be difficult to ship out as gifts. <<

Some cookies ship well. Biscotti are ideal, along with many other hard bread/cracker type items. Chocolate-covered pretzel sticks, rock-sugar coated spoons, etc. are also durable. You can run a search for recipes of things for shipping, care package foods, etc. Many holiday gift foods are in this category and there are whole cookbooks on the topic.

Anything too delicate for shipping complete, you can offer as a recipe. Some things also work as mixes -- cupcakes or soups, for example -- that people can finish at home by following the instructions on the label. There's a tea shop in our area that sells a variety of baked goods, soups, etc. as packet mixes.

Hmm, you could also investigate local suppliers such as organic farmers who could source fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, etc. Some of them might be interested in investing just for the sake of having another market for their products.

>>Given we want to get mismatched chairs and tables and will be repainting and refinishing a lot of that we'd wondered about saying we'd paint people's names, or family friendly design requests as thank yous onto the chairs and tables but I'm not sure how that would go over. <<

I think that's a great idea. Crowdfunders tend to love customized stuff. You could have a giant decoupage/painting art party to decorate the stuff with local supporters. Or even put poetry or sayings on the furniture like some coffeehouses do.

>>Brain storming other things we could send out tea balls or mugs and pots, I suppose. <<

Tea balls are good: light and relatively hard to wreck. Mugs and pots are both heavier and more fragile; more expensive to ship. I suggest those as high-end perks, especially if you can get a local-to-you potter to make some. Tea plates or bowls are also good -- and small plates are harder to break than cups.

>>We'll be offering other services on an appointment basis, such as hypnotherapy and tarot readings -- but some of that is less easy to do via mail order. <<

Tarot readings work great online and are among the most popular projects; but you need a reader who can do distance readings.

>>We're going to have a little gift section in the store to go along with some tea gift baskets that we intend to have which will likely have some wood-burned jewelry and boxes, hand made candles, smudging supplies, crystals, runes and some things like that.<<

Samples from the gift shop would make good perks, yes. I recommend looking for a source of postcards or note cards with local images. Tourists love things like that. Check for local photographers or artists as many of them make their own and sell them in nearby shops.

Think about what other crowdfunders might have to swap too. I've written poems about tea before. Something like that might be fun to put on cards or placemats, or paint onto the tables or walls. You might find someone willing to do logo or banner art in exchange for yummy tea.

Re: Okay...

[the-borgqueen.livejournal.com]

>>Some cookies ship well. Biscotti are ideal, along with many other hard bread/cracker type items. Chocolate-covered pretzel sticks, rock-sugar coated spoons, etc. are also durable. You can run a search for recipes of things for shipping, care package foods, etc. Many holiday gift foods are in this category and there are whole cookbooks on the topic.<<

This is a good point. I can't remember if biscotti is something Becca knows how to make but she's very adept and getting things right from recipes.

I'll have to see about mixes as well. Something else I hadn't thought of.

>>Hmm, you could also investigate local suppliers such as organic farmers who could source fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, etc. Some of them might be interested in investing just for the sake of having another market for their products.<<

Most of our area is horse farms or citrus -- we're in Central Florida -- but a little further south there are some growers as there's a local produce stand that at least has some squash and greens aside from the citrus.

>>I think that's a great idea. Crowdfunders tend to love customized stuff. You could have a giant decoupage/painting art party to decorate the stuff with local supporters. Or even put poetry or sayings on the furniture like some coffeehouses do.<<

That would be cool. We've been tossing around the idea of having afternoon events for families as a sort of "put the kids to use after they get out of school" thing and also fill up a potential business lull between lunch time and when people leave the office at 5/5:30.

>>Tea balls are good: light and relatively hard to wreck. Mugs and pots are both heavier and more fragile; more expensive to ship. I suggest those as high-end perks, especially if you can get a local-to-you potter to make some. Tea plates or bowls are also good -- and small plates are harder to break than cups.<<

>>Tarot readings work great online and are among the most popular projects; but you need a reader who can do distance readings.<<

To toot my own horn I have seventeen years experience as a reader, and have worked doing distance readings since 2001, including working for Psychic Source.

>>Samples from the gift shop would make good perks, yes. I recommend looking for a source of postcards or note cards with local images. Tourists love things like that. Check for local photographers or artists as many of them make their own and sell them in nearby shops.<<

The post cards is a good thought too. I have resources to print things, and we have a good friend who is an artist. He's volunteered to design our outside signs, and to paint a mural on one of the interior walls. There's some work of his we could potentially print onto cards. I can look around for photographers. I know some who are less local; but I'm sure I can find some who are. There's a lake across the street from where we hope to have the cafe at, some very beautiful vistas there.

>>Think about what other crowdfunders might have to swap too. I've written poems about tea before. Something like that might be fun to put on cards or placemats, or paint onto the tables or walls. You might find someone willing to do logo or banner art in exchange for yummy tea.<<

That's a cool idea too. You're so awesome :)

Re: Okay...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>> Most of our area is horse farms or citrus -- we're in Central Florida -- but a little further south there are some growers as there's a local produce stand that at least has some squash and greens aside from the citrus. <<

Well, citrus is great for putting in or with many types of tea. Orange, lime, and lemon are all good. Grapefruit is more challenging to work with but can be done. Then there are odd citrus varieties like Buddha's hand and such that are only used as flavorings, not eating-fruit.

Horses, not usually thought of with tea. But you could riff on something associated with horses -- grass, flowers -- and make a tea based on that, with a horse in a meadow on the label. Something with chamomile or green tea as a base; those have prevailing grassy notes. It would make an interesting gift shop item if any of the horse farms are open to the public. Usually there'll be one that does that somewhere around.

>> We've been tossing around the idea of having afternoon events for families as a sort of "put the kids to use after they get out of school" thing and also fill up a potential business lull between lunch time and when people leave the office at 5/5:30. <<

Good idea. Also, if you're looking for age diversity, I recommend teens. Society usually ignores them unless it wants to snipe, and that's no way to make good citizens or customers. Maybe arrange a workshop with a local junior high or high school; simple things like "learn to run a cash register" or "learn to wait tables" that could carry to many different jobs. Or do some personal growth stuff -- most people don't start drinking coffee until they're young adults, so hold a coffee tasting aimed at them, encouraging them to figure out whether they like it and if so what kinds.

>>To toot my own horn I have seventeen years experience as a reader, and have worked doing distance readings since 2001, including working for Psychic Source.<<

It's worth a try, then. You could probably do online readings fine.

>>I can look around for photographers. I know some who are less local; but I'm sure I can find some who are. There's a lake across the street from where we hope to have the cafe at, some very beautiful vistas there. <<

It wouldn't hurt to have a variety. State (Florida), regional (central FL), and local (your town) would be good. Use what you can get.