Before Opening a Café, Ask This First: Who Are You Brewing For?

 Before opening a coffee shop, the first thing you need to figure out isn’t the menu—it’s who you want to drink your coffee.

When it comes to starting a café, the most overlooked factor isn’t cost, location, or even the menu.
It’s a simple question that ends up determining 80% of your shop’s future:

Who do you hope will walk in?

Or to put it more directly—
Who are you brewing for?

In many owners’ workflow, this step barely exists.
They start with equipment, roast levels, interior style, or screenshots of café aesthetics from Instagram.

But here’s the problem:
You can do everything well and still have no one willing to drink your coffee.

Not because you’re not good enough—
but because you don’t even know who you’re making it for.

01. A café “without users” becomes nothing more than the owner’s personal portfolio

I’ve seen many shops where, the moment you walk in, you can sense one thing:

This café is made for the owner, not the customer.

He loves dark roasts, so everything is dark roast.
He’s obsessed with pour-overs, so the menu reads like a competition checklist.
He doesn't like sweets, so the menu has only two token sugary drinks.

There’s nothing wrong with that.
But customers aren’t looking to receive an education in your personal preferences.

Most people just want a comfortable, consistent, and risk-free cup of coffee—
not an invitation to explore a coffee enthusiast’s universe.

When you don’t know who you want to attract, the “good” things you create might simply become “unnecessary” in others’ eyes.
It’s like making a perfectly balanced French press and handing it to an office worker who only wants an iced latte.

They won’t think you’re professional—they’ll just think you “don’t get them.”

02. The customers you want determine what your menu should look like

A menu is never freestyle.
A menu is a mirror of your positioning.

Here are some typical contrasts:

If your target is office workers:

They don’t care about flavor notes, they care about whether they can grab it in three minutes.
So your main lineup will be:
• Americano
• Latte
• Oat latte
• Simple but respectable signature drinks

No matter how much you love Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, it won’t do much here.

If your target is students:

Students want something fun and relaxing.
Sweet drinks, seasonal specials, toppings, bright colors—
These matter more than you think.

If you want to attract coffee enthusiasts:

They don’t need a massive menu.
What they expect is:
• A few clearly defined beans
• Stable, repeatable cup profiles
• A clean and intentional pour-over bar

This crowd values understanding, not variety.

In short:
Your menu isn’t about what you want to make—it’s about who you want to serve.

03. The people you want also determine what you shouldn’t sell

Many owners think adding more items will attract more customers.
But true positioning isn’t about adding—it’s about subtracting.

If you want to be a specialty café, you can’t divide your attention with overly sweet cream-based drinks.
If you want to be a neighborhood café, your menu shouldn’t feel like a competition rulebook.
If you want to run a takeaway shop, your space, workflow, and bar setup can’t be overly complicated.

Positioning is not only what you sell—
It’s also what you refuse to sell.

This is the hardest part of opening a shop:
You must be brave enough to “close the door” on certain customers so that the right ones can walk in more easily.

04. Every decision you make signals who is welcome

This deserves a deeper look.
A café’s vibe doesn’t come from a slogan—it comes from a hundred small details:

• Whether your bar counter is high or low
• Whether you use solid wooden chairs or lounge-style seating
• Whether the menu sits on the counter or hangs on the wall
• Whether your beans lean light and fruity or rich and chocolatey
• Whether you open at 8 a.m. or 1 p.m.

Every detail is a message saying:
“Come in, this place is made for you.”

At the same time, those details are also saying to others:
“This place may not be for you.”

No café can please everyone.
The successful ones are those that clearly know who they are not for.

05. Final thoughts

Among all the questions you should ask before opening a café,
“Who are you brewing for?” deserves to be the first.

Because once you truly answer this question—
your menu, space, equipment, location, workflow…
All the things you used to struggle with suddenly become clear.

You’re not building a café “for everyone.”
You’re building a café that the right people will want to return to.

Choosing your customers is more important than choosing your menu.

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