A Business Idea of the Internet Cafe - Case Study Example

You’re Name Professor Course 12 May 2006 A Business Idea: The Internet Café This business concept is based on opening an Internet Café/Coffee shop. There is a diverse amount of people in society who love flavored coffee’s and also love to engage in all forms of activity on the internet as well. Many of these people are business proprietors themselves and enjoy getting out and relaxing once in awhile. However they need a place that is in a relaxing atmosphere so that they might be able to unwind from a hard day at work. The Internet Café is definitely the place to go for a low-down yet jazzed up atmosphere. It is also perfect for those mom’s who work from home yet at times want to venture out and have a cappuccino while carrying on with their work. Again, the Internet Café meets the needs of stay at home moms who work from home as well. It is multi-faceted with 10 desktop computers beset with headphones so the next user won’t interfere with another customer who might be browsing on the net. The coffee shop itself has every flavor of coffee imaginable and even has a juice bar implemented as well for those who would prefer a smoothie instead of a frappe. It is assumed that The Internet Café has something to suit just about anyone’s needs that enjoys computers, music, coffee, and a social yet friendly atmosphere. The Internet Café’s Objective: There are a number of goals for this business but the main one is to invite customers into an atmosphere that can bring them down to earth. The city where this business is being built lacks coffee shops as well as internet cafes. The purpose for combining the two together was to bring a unique opportunity to customers. People get tired of having to get in and out of their car when they have certain engagements that they must go to or business appointments online that they have to take care of. By combining a juice bar, coffee shop, and internet into one business it will suit many customers’ needs by allowing them to be able to catch up on any work that they did not complete that day, as well as allowing them to have a refreshing and flavorful cup of coffee to settle their mood. Or, as has been stated they can choose to have the smoothie instead and the smoothie bar consists of various name brand flavors with the powdered supplements many who work out like to have added in. Some of these are carbo burners, fat burners, vitamin C powder supplement, etc. There are an abundance of different choices to choose from. So instead of customers having to get out of the car and run in and grab their smoothie or their cup of coffee, they can come in and relax. They may order their coffee or smoothie to their particular taste and then simply pay $5.00 extra dollars along with their drink purchase so that they might have a seat at one of the available work stations. The $5.00 covers 2 hours of internet time which gives many people the exact amount of time they need to finish a report, journal article, or perhaps a financial status report. Whatever the reason there are many ways in which they can invest their time at a pretty decent price. Most internet cafes are very expensive, charging $3.00 for ever half an hour. The Internet Café saves the customers $7.00 for offering the service in such a cost efficient manner. The main objective is to want to have the customers return so that is why the price is kept at a minimal amount. In today’s economy times are tough and the Internet Café’s goal is not to rob people of their hard earned money for this business is well aware of how difficult it can be to make money. The Internet Café wants to help people save a little by offering cheaper rates and three services in one. The Internet Café Product and Service Availability: The Internet Café’s service and products are unique to the city of choice. There is not another coffee shop within 10 miles of the Internet Café. Also there is not a business within a 15 mile radius that offers computer work stations and the other amenities that the Internet Café offers. On the smoothie bar the flavors are for a wide range of tastes. The Internet Café can offer banana, cherry, tropical, coconut, key lime, mango-peach, pineapple twist, and many other unique flavors that customers won’t get anywhere else. On the coffee bar the flavors are just as varied as the smoothie bar is, there is double chocolate, whipped chocolate, vanilla crème, caramel whiz, cherry chocolate, Irish crème, hazelnut, Brazilian nut, and so many more that they are just to numerous to name. There is absolutely no business near the Internet Café that can offer such a unique service and provide such a flavorful selection of smoothies and flavored coffees. The Internet Café is also going to be promoting some food choices after its initial opening. This is being considered so that customers can have a light snack before they go home to prepare dinner. Many customers will feel very relaxed at the Internet Café, so much so that we wouldn’t mind if you took a quick doze. The service is meant to keep customers at ease and in a peaceful state of mind because life is extremely stressful. So the main service goal is to keep the customers happy and comfortable. The way this is done is with ceiling fans, very low lighting, light jazz music, and exotic plants and window boxes with orchids in the windows. The Internet café also has an odd service of providing reading materials to customers as well. There is a reading room in the very back of the café where those who don’t have any interest in the net can go and curl up with the newest magazines or business newspapers. So as obviously interpreted, The Internet Café is the first of its kind in this area and even those businesses that are slightly similar don’t offer the prices and amenities that The Internet Café does. We want our service to be so unique and satisfying that it will keep the customers coming back repeatedly. We have chosen Dandridge Tennessee to open up our first Internet Café. The reasons for picking this one city are many. For one, as has been stated there is no business like it within a good 15 mile distance. Also, the ones that are around are nothing like the service that The Internet Café can offer. By word of mouth we hope to build up a large clientele very soon which we don’t doubt. Also our business associates have placed ads in many affluent business magazines announcing our first opening day which we are sure will lure many business people to our doors. There have also been ads placed in the many women magazines like Woman’s Day, First for Women, and Elle. The women that read these magazines are often working women and so we thought that it would be good to promote our business in these magazines to get women intrigued and wanting to come check out or company. We have also built a website describing our company and want it is going to offer to the public. We’ve even put in a virtual tour so that people can get a feel of what it is like online before they ever actually step in to the store in person. We thought this was a great idea because after all it is an Internet Café and people would expect to find a business like this listed through the internet as well. There are many, many plans for future endeavors and promoting other plans but for right now this is the first steps we have implemented to hopefully get off to a really good start. The Internet Café’s Management and Customer Service Team: Our plan for our team of workers is exceptional. We don’t believe in discriminating based on age, sex, gender, ethnicity, or national origin. We are an equal opportunity employer and plan on having advancement opportunities for our team from the ground up. However, to start right away in a management position one must have at least a bachelor’s degree in business management. This is to ensure that our customer service associates will be trained appropriately and have integrity to their training that other companies fail to have. We don’t want to lose members of our team due to medical emergencies within families or any other personal matters that might arise so it is our goal to make sure our employment plan follows guidelines set up by the family medical leave act. This would provide for time away during periods where a child might be ill or another member of the family might have to have medical testing or procedures carried out. We don’t want our team to worry about their personal matters and have to worry about keeping their job at the same time so we are highly sensitive to our employee’s needs and are dedicated to ensuring that their needs are just as adequately met as those of our customers will be also. We also have structure to our business that matches the dedication set out in the employee free choice act. This is of course following a Union type representation and we feel this is necessary to give the employees a way of voicing any concerns or complaints that they might have without fear of being reprimanded by them. We believe this will encourage people to work for our company and will keep them content and well balanced in their jobs also. These are important points of any business because the team of a company is what ensures it is going to survive. With dedicated employees and regular paying customers no business can fail unless it turns out there is a knot in the communication within the business somewhere. It is The Internet Café’s goal to ensure that all of its employees are treated fairly and equally and by having the Employees Free Choice Act along with the Family Medical Leave Act as well it is believed that these will be benefits to the running of the company. Market Potential Income of The Internet Café: It is hoped that the income will exceed the expectations of the many business partners of The Internet Café. We believe that there is great market potential for the company as has been said, it is a unique business idea and it is something that the public is fond of. We believe that the factors that will evidently benefit the potential growth of income for our business are in regards to the design of the building itself and what the atmosphere is like, the local income level of the community surrounding the business, the products being delivered and the inside store image, our location, the pricing that we have initially set up for our products, the amount of traffic traveling to and from our business, and the attitude of our sales team will more than likely be what affects the market for this business. We believe all of these factors are all positives as we picked a prime location to establish the business and we set out prices in a fashion that is equal to the income levels of the population surrounding our company. In fact we have priced our products lower than any competitors have although we don’t feel we have to worry about our growth being affected by any competitors since there aren’t any near where we decided to set up our business. We developed our business plan by using an intuitive method where we felt the location and the population was a good choice. In fact our business realizes that this is more often than not the type of philosophy that is used to start a business and that is why we highly favor it and believe it will be one of the reasons we will prosper and be able to grow in the market of Internet Cafes. We also took into account all economic factors as well such as the male to female ratio in the community. The reason we did this is so we could gear the business to the likes of both genders to improve upon the market growth of the company in the near future. We also considered all the funding it would need to get the business up off the ground by including hiring management, sales associates, and customer service representatives to take web orders and answer phone calls. There was no stone unturned that we did not work with to improve upon the possibility of market growth and ensure our investors put their money into a business that is sure to prosper and grow rapidly. The Future Out-Look for The Internet Café: The future prospect of The Internet Café looks really good. Even though we are just now having our grand opening there has already been discussion about where the next business will be located and what new amenities it will offer to the public. From a marketing position we feel that we will bring in very good revenue to the business by the main products that are going to be offered now and in the future as well. As was stated, The Internet Café is soon going to have food choices that are going to consist of bit size sandwiches, homemade baked goods, and even though we are basically a smoothie/coffee bar we are going to incorporate a soda refreshment stand as well. By combining all of these various elements the income should double within the first 6 months that the Café is opened. Hopefully by the end of the year we will have brought in enough income to open up three more Internet Cafes. The locations have already been picked out, one being in a country city where absolutely no café exists, another one being in New York City to see how well it would fare with the stiffer competition, and another one in the northern part of the country. Our company affiliates remain optimistic of the future as we feel for a certainty that our dedication to our staff and to our future customers will not be outmatched. Again this is what will continue to develop our business and to help us grow and become bigger and better. Read More