If YOU opened a cafe... (on a bus)?

Ficheall

To avoid asking a question which might wander too far off-topic in another thread:

Supposing, hypothetically, I were toying with the idea of opening some sort of cafe/eatery in Galway some time in the future - what would you folks regard as good value for money / worthwhile? Seeing as many of you have so many complaints about prices, poor quality, poor choice, even poor service etc - if you had the opportunity to offer some constructive advice and have some input - is there anything ye'd like to see?

inisboffin

Some stuff people would want wouldn't necessarily be moneymakers, or all doable in the same spot.
A few things I'd like, but understand not always doable in one location would be:

Late night opening
Organic and healthy choice
Veggie choice
Hangout space
Coffee shop stage (for music or theatre or comedy or whatever)
Cozy decor
Cornflakes all day

Fionn MacCool

Reasonable prices and a friendly service. Too many staff consider their job to be "to serve you, not to smile/make conversation". Personally I regard that as part of the job (and would so so if I worked there too).

Businesses are losing the friendly, personal touch to them. Too much "buy our food, eat it, then leave and make space for the next customer".

I know a lot of the complains on here are about catering in NUIG and it's a bit different in that environment, as they should be breaking even rather than looking to maximise profits.

ilovesleep

The coffee shop stage is a very good idea.

I would love a coffee shop and bakery all in one. The smell of bread is extremely comforting and surely would invite people in.

biko

If you open a franchise of Maoz I promise to eat there at least twice a week for the foreseeable future

Fionn MacCool

ilovesleep wrote: »

The coffee shop stage is a very good idea.

I would love a coffee shop and bakery all in one. The smell of bread is extremely comforting and surely would invite people in.

Or they could just pump an artificial smell in like they do at supermarkets

swe_fi

One thing i really miss (maybe it exists and i just have not found it?) is a place with a nice mix-your-own salad buffet table/counter with a good variety of salads, cheese, meats like chicken, prawns , ham etc which you pay by weight at the checkout. For eat in or takeaway.

mikom

Ficheall wrote: »

Supposing, hypothetically, I were toying with the idea of opening some sort of cafe/eatery in Galway some time in the future - what would you folks regard as good value for money / worthwhile?

Go in Co-op with this poster.

Elevator wrote: »

so it's official then?

I'm opening smoker friendly cafe in Galway in 2011

ok, cool, we will have to fundraise a bit and find a suitable space in town I suppose

I can try run some gigs down here and call in the local bands for their support

sports days etc are original, maybe some tablequizes too? movie nights playing classics

any other ideas?

IK09

all day breakfast.....that does consist of deep fat fried sausages

Fionn MacCool

swe_fi wrote: »

One thing i really miss (maybe it exists and i just have not found it?) is a place with a nice mix-your-own salad buffet table/counter with a good variety of salads, cheese, meats like chicken, prawns , ham etc which you pay by weight at the checkout. For eat in or takeaway.

Dunnes and Tesco?

rivalius13

Stripper poles.

Wompa1

rivalius13 wrote: »

Stripper poles.

You read my mind. After 11pm things get a little blue

rivalius13

Wompa1 wrote: »

You read my mind. After 11pm things get a little blue

I'd prefer less midgets and maybe have a specific night for goats though.

brianthebard

swe_fi wrote: »

One thing i really miss (maybe it exists and i just have not found it?) is a place with a nice mix-your-own salad buffet table/counter with a good variety of salads, cheese, meats like chicken, prawns , ham etc which you pay by weight at the checkout. For eat in or takeaway.

Yeah I would like this too, there's very few places that offer something like this and those that do have barely any options available. And subway charge you extra not to eat the bread. :rolleyes:

sataction

A large Americano for €2

Ficheall

Cheers for all the replies - you'll forgive me for not going through the rigmarole of clicking all the "thanks" buttons. Except for biko, of course. Vegetarian. Jeez...

Any thoughts on what would be acceptable price-wise?

rivalius - do you mean for food or entertainment?

TristanPeter

I know it's not real but I love the look of the cafe in Fraiser. Cool name too: Cafe Nervosa.

inisboffin

I think people respond well to simplicity in a menu. I like sections like 'quick bites', 'the whole shebang' (for larger meals etc). If you have snacky things for under a fiver, or always have a 'deal of the day' combo (Zatsuma used to do it with their crepe and a cuppa/coffee daily special).

It really depends what the vibe of the place is. Java's is an exception, as they have stuff all over the map on their menu, but my biggest criticism would be their menu layout. You can get great deals in there, but they're hard to spot.

If my veggie and meat pals go to eat, it's usually to a place that has a couple of *decent* veggie options, no a cr*p lasagne or something. Adding a couple of good daily veg options will increase your non veg traffic too.

8 Museum has prices a tad higher, but the quality of the grub is excellent, locally sourced and a lot of organic. A good portion of people will pay for quality. Some want cheap and cheerful, but if you have specials, you can maybe do both.

Steyr

Fionn MacCool wrote: »

Dunnes and Tesco?

Its in Dunnes. Dont know about Tesco.

Interceptor

Do ten things and do them REALLY well. Call your cafe 'TeN' or something contrived like that. Don't fall into the same dull routine of buying sub-assemblies from Carrolls or Musgrave and just finishing off in the cafe. Buy decent ingredients and use skill to sell them at a reasonable price. I will still choose to eat cake in Goya because the coffee is always perfect and the cake is top notch - to hell with the recession

I will walk out of any place that has bought-in scones or a pod adapter on their coffee machines.

'cptr (v. fussy btw...)

Late night opening.

galwayabc

It depends on where your opening it, ie is it mostly shoppers, office workers students etc your going to be catering for. also you need to check out other cafes pubs restaurants nearby, find out which ones are busy & which ones aren't so you can see what works in that area. check prices and try being slightly cheaper. If you can be one of the cheapest in the area and you have good food and service(friendly chatty floor staff is a must) then you should be on to a winner

happyoutscan

Ficheall wrote: »

Seeing as many of you have so many complaints about prices, poor quality, poor choice, even poor service etc - if you had the opportunity to offer some constructive advice and have some input - is there anything ye'd like to see?

'Even poor service' should be at the front of your list. I moved to Galway in 1997 and the difference in service across all boards of business since then is mind-boggling. It's so poor in so many places I wonder how the managers over these staff made it to a management level in the first place. Absolutely clueless and rude although perhaps as a people we allowed the standards to drop and just shrugged the shoulders and said nothing (I know I have at times).

In my own experience having top notch staff is a must. Primarily because of the service and friendliness afforded to the customer - which will bring them back and also have them refer you - but will also allow your customers to feel comfortable in approaching your staff and yourself with suggestions on how your business could be better! Take those opinions and comments on board and they can be a great asset to your business growing (or even surviving). Best of luck!

inisboffin

An excellent coffee will go a long way. Agree about good staff, and get staff with barista knowledge, ones who know the temperature of milk in a latte, the difference in 'pulls' for espresso etc. Sounds a bit poncy but a really well made coffee is really appreciated now that we've been exposed to good ones when we've travelled.

Little things like quirky granny teapots are good too. Giving people the feeling of a 'local' in a cafe.

Mrs OBumble

Powerpoints accessible from every table, or at least a reasonable proportion.

Seriously. I've been doing a bit of consulting, and I'm office-free so generally meet people in cafes. I'm happy to bring my own mobile broadband, but worrying about power is a pain, and sometime cuts meetings (=coffee buying time) short.


(You asked)

seabre

When shopping or in town - I'd love to be able to pop in somewhere and get home cooked traditional food. Things like big pots of well made Irish Stew, Currys, Shepherds pie and HOME MADE CHIPS!!!!

Surely food like this would be easy to make a profit on without charging your customer a fortune for them. Also I like the Bakery idea that was mentioned earlier with cakes etc baked on site.

Basically you could do whatever you like , but it will only be successful if its done right , and by that I mean better than anyone else is doing it!

Good luck!

spurious

It would make me avoid it, but there is always a market for places that encourage parents with kids.

Murt10

I'm a cheapskate.

I want a free newspaper to read with my coffee. Sometimes you go into a bar or restaurant and you are unsure if the newspapers/magazines belong to the customers or the staff.

The type of yokes below stop that. They also mean that one person/staff member can't hog all the papers and pretend they are theirs, or worse still, walk put the door with them. They should be hung in an area in full view and freely accessable to all customers.

By the way, you don't need to put the whole newspaper on one of them. Some people are only interested in one section, sport, business etc.

http://www.newsgripper.com/acatalog/EUROPEAN_STYLE.html

Also, knowing that there is a free paper may also entice me back at some later stage as I may want to peruse a paper that I wouldn't under any circumstances buy, i.e. The Indo.

What about a free refill especially during slack periods. Very few people as far as I know will buy a second cup of tea or coffee, but the cost to you will only be a few cents. You have already taken as much as you can off them. The first thing you do before deciding which place to get coffee in is to look at how many people are already there. The more that are there, the better the buzz and the atmosphere and the more likely that new customers will try it


My tuppence worth anyway. Good luck with the project.

hanns.s

choice, value for money, plenty of seating. Veggie here and I can never eat anything like pastry, scones etc cause I don't know if there are suitable - lil signs up to say and I'd try something different. Value for money - not paying the same price as someone who has a half plate of meat. Plenty of seating and room, it turns me off to see a place wedged and no comfort. Oh and for families - could places sell 2L drinks for the kids, not pay €1+ for each soda they are buying. Friendly staff - once I asked a person to change their gloves when making a sambo for me, they had prepared a meat sambo just before - I found a lump of meat in it - will never ever eat there again, even said it to friends and they are meat eaters they have refused to go in since! ..........think that covers it

I'm with JustMary on this one - the café should have WiFi access and a substantial amount of power sockets, so people can plug in their laptops. Either that or have a dedicated section where people can go.

ttoppcat

Somewhere comfy...old armchairs, mismatched furniture etc. I'm sick of the sterile no personality/atmosphere cafes. And music....decent music...not the radio or some **** mix cd, a good eclectic mix. If you don't know your music find someone who does
In terms of food...doesn't have to be fancy, just fresh and done well. Menu can be small and basic, with daily specials for being adventurous.
And the tea/coffee refill someone posted above is a great idea and would definitely encourage me to return somewhere. Well that and friendly staff...they make all the difference too.
Good luck with it dude

rivalius13

Go to The Cake Cafe in Dublin, copy everything they do, you will be rich.

Perhaps add stripper poles too.

padraig71

I'd like to see some Dutch-style 'brown' cafes in Galway, offering an alternative form of inebriation with less antisocial side-effects than the ubiquitous pubs. Organic, locally sourced produce etc. Maybe one to take up with candidates for our votes when they come knocking?

On a more immediately feasible note, wi-fi, newspapers, decent music, interesting decor, friendly staff… Maybe an Irish-language hangout like the old Bananaphoblacht?

inisboffin

rivalius13 wrote: »

Go to The Cake Cafe in Dublin, copy everything they do, you will be rich.

Perhaps add stripper poles too.

Love the cake. Half of it is location tho (hidden courtyard, and headed out of town). You'd fit a pole in that courtyard too

Cake also has them model like metrosexuals for staff!.....and them granny teapots I mentioned (I was actually thinking of Cake).

Comfortable seats are missing from Cake tho.

rivalius13

inisboffin wrote: »

Love the cake. Half of it is location tho (hidden courtyard, and headed out of town). You'd fit a pole in that courtyard too

Cake also has them model like metrosexuals for staff!.....and them granny teapots I mentioned (I was actually thinking of Cake).

Comfortable seats are missing from Cake tho.

The location is great, the sort of place that if you don't know about it you'd never get to it. I get to feel all superior and snobby when I bring friends to it.

Oh yea, the seats are ****e. Also, I'd probably give the whole outside seating a miss in Galway....

A bunch of different granny teapots are a must, no two alike.

howyanow

late opening,friendly staff,competetive pricing.also always dreamed of going to a cafe/restaurant where i could get a small bit of everything at any time depending on what i fancied,an all day buffet thats got everything youd want!magic

beagle001

Its a hard one to call on the wifi,people who usually avail of this tend to just take up the seating for to long and spend very little being my experience of this in several countries.
You would need a dedicated area and lots of free seats if you were to provide this,same goes for the newspaper.
What you want is a fairly quick turnaround of customers at busy times and peole will go elsewhere if they see no free seats.
Service is a must,you need friendly staff with a good sense of humour and attention to detail.
I do think that service standards have gone down hill in Ireland since the end of the 90`s,lots of factors for this but it never hurts to have a smile and make the customer feel welcome.
I think on the food choce you need a varied selection to accomodate everyone and it can be difficult if you stick to one type of food.
The cafe by the spanish arch pura vida is a breath of fresh air,nice staff and cosy with a bit of a rough edge to it my favourite by a long shot.
Also remember that opening up a new business in Ireland is incredibly frustrating and financially/emotionally draining.
Best of luck to you if you do,last note footfall is key.

inisboffin

beagle001 wrote: »

Its a hard one to call on the wifi,people who usually avail of this tend to just take up the seating for to long and spend very little being my experience of this in several countries.
You would need a dedicated area and lots of free seats if you were to provide this,same goes for the newspaper.
.

Good point about the wifi. One option is to have wifi off at lunch. Can be a pain, but people understand that too. Saying 'free wifi' 3-5 or something. It's a tough one. PORT had a dedicated laptop area, but you can't really stop people getting out a computer at a table, so if was an evening cafe, then wifi in downtime may be the key. It's a tough one if your space is limited.

ttoppcat

beagle001 wrote: »

.
The cafe by the spanish arch pura vida is a breath of fresh air,nice staff and cosy with a bit of a rough edge to it my favourite by a long shot.
.

Totally agree with this. Only been in in 2/3 times for a takeaway hot choc but was impressed with staff and feel of place. Only had 2 euro on me on the way to my course one morning and stopped in to see if i could get a hot choc for that. I seen they were 2.50 but i asked the guy would he give me a small one for 2 as its all i had...not a problem at all AND he gave me a full one. Returned because of this (and made sure i gave him the 50 cent i owed him next time i was in even though he didnt remember:)

beagle001

There ya go,
He could of said no and told you to go on your way but instead did the decent thing and you returned because of good service.
Place is by far the best coffee shop to relax in during the day,I know there is better food out there in rival coffee shops but I am so tired of the sterile boring experience the majority of coffee shops in Galway have become.
I hate to use the example of the Arabica coffee houses but I was in the them many times and no banter from the staff and well overpriced.
Galway used to have cool coffee shops like strawberry fields,the old java to name a few and I think the fella in pura vida is bringing this back a bit.
Did a good job of the Christmas decorations around that area and betweent the townhouse and themselves really brightened up a dull corner.

inisboffin

Pura Vida has good staff, coffee, and location, but I wouldn't rate the food unfortunately. That said, great for coffee and cake and I continue to go there and support their strong points.

Seaneh

I really like An Tobar Nua on Dominic Street.
1.90 bottomless coffee is good.
Their cookies and brownies are so good and cheap (brownie is 1.30, cookies are .70c or 3 for 1.80) and they do decent food for the price.

Free wifi too.

Just wish it was open later.

An L shaped couch around a table with power sockets, wifi and a bookshelf full of National Geographic next to it. Regular seating and good music for the rest.
Good coffee and bruschettas, and I'll go there whenever I make it back to Ireland.

TristanPeter

Seaneh wrote: »

I really like An Tobar Nua on Dominic Street.
1.90 bottomless coffee is good.
Their cookies and brownies are so good and cheap (brownie is 1.30, cookies are .70c or 3 for 1.80) and they do decent food for the price.

Free wifi too.

Just wish it was open later.

I went to go in to an Tobar Nua one day but couldn't get in the door with the queue of secondary school students. They must do good student deals because it was wedged and it is near to the Jes which will encourage students to go in. Any other time I have been in there it was nice and friendly. They have a good music policy in the far room. It's to do with providing a low noise area so they keep it to a minimum if they have it on at all. Nice view of the canal and it can be nice and relaxing.

I think the cafe on Shop Street that sells Lavatzza (opposite Griffins...which has a nice cafe in it too now that I mention it) is a great idea. Good coffee with very few overheads I'd say. The coffee is expensive though.

dafunk

inisboffin wrote: »

An excellent coffee will go a long way. Agree about good staff, and get staff with barista knowledge, ones who know the temperature of milk in a latte, the difference in 'pulls' for espresso etc. Sounds a bit poncy but a really well made coffee is really appreciated now that we've been exposed to good ones when we've travelled.

Little things like quirky granny teapots are good too. Giving people the feeling of a 'local' in a cafe.

It took 24 posts until someone said "a decent cup of coffee"!

I'm astonished. Ok, maybe it's not important to people so but I would hav put that at number one, there is actually very few places in Galway where you can get good quality coffee that's also been made properly.

I would ask second the need for somewhere that does decent veggie food. Food for thought is the only place that does veggie that I know of.

In my ideal a cafe would have wireless, decent veggie food and snacks, be comfy (no canteeny feel) , damn good coffee and table service. I hate standing at a counter in a coffee shop for ages and then juggling to carry stuff go a table, I'm a terrible server and want someone else to do it for me.

Galwayps

The budding flower or flowering bud??? cafe near the Crane on William Street West does exclusively vegetarian food and serves great coffee and if the seating arrangements were better it would be nearly perfect.
Very relaxed

TristanPeter

Galwayps wrote: »

The budding flower or flowering bud??? cafe near the Crane on William Street West does exclusively vegetarian food and serves great coffee and if the seating arrangements were better it would be nearly perfect.
Very relaxed

+1
Lovely little place.

inisboffin

Galwayps wrote: »

The budding flower or flowering bud??? cafe near the Crane on William Street West does exclusively vegetarian food and serves great coffee and if the seating arrangements were better it would be nearly perfect.
Very relaxed

I third that hAve only had tea there though so can't speak to the quality of coffee.
Comfy seats and open later and it would SO be a place worth the trek. It's a bit off the beaten track so I tend to forget about it.

muppetkiller

Combine the simple food of Elles Cafe with the Coffee of that Chocolate place on Shop street with the comfort of Neachtains

Oh and no coffee should ever cost more than euro, and re-fills if you're drinking black.

Seaneh

TristanPeter wrote: »

I went to go in to an Tobar Nua one day but couldn't get in the door with the queue of secondary school students. They must do good student deals because it was wedged and it is near to the Jes which will encourage students to go in. Any other time I have been in there it was nice and friendly. They have a good music policy in the far room. It's to do with providing a low noise area so they keep it to a minimum if they have it on at all. Nice view of the canal and it can be nice and relaxing.

I think the cafe on Shop Street that sells Lavatzza (opposite Griffins...which has a nice cafe in it too now that I mention it) is a great idea. Good coffee with very few overheads I'd say. The coffee is expensive though.

Yeah it's kinda mental during lunch but if you go down into the back room it's not an issue, also, they have table service so you don't have to worry about the kids at the counter.

If even the back room is too loud there is an atrium back there too that the kids aren't allow into. Lovely little place to sit and do some study/have a chat.

inisboffin

Seaneh wrote: »

Yeah it's kinda mental during lunch but if you go down into the back room it's not an issue, also, they have table service so you don't have to worry about the kids at the counter.

If even the back room is too loud there is an atrium back there too that the kids aren't allow into. Lovely little place to sit and do some study/have a chat.

A couple of friends used to go in, so I gave it a couple of tries. Food was nice enough, and PACKED with schoolkids on those days too. A little sparse for my liking, but not as clinical as some places. While none of the staff or clientele tried to witness or preach to me directly, I found the religious stuff still present, and a some of the stuff posted on the wall that day put me off enough not to go back in.