Britain is known for tea. It’s something that has become an institution in the country. It’s thought that the first tea room in Britain was opened in 1706 and, since then, tea rooms have been associated with British culture as much as the beverage itself.
From their beginnings, tea rooms have been places to socialise and enjoy tea and the treats that accompany it. This is something that can be found in successful modern tearooms.
Tearooms have regained their popularity in recent years making this the ideal time for you to invest in one.
The modern tearoom
Café culture has become increasingly popular and, as coffee chains have started popping up on every street corner, tearooms have provided an alternative that customers have leapt at.
The nostalgia of the tearoom has struck a chord with many. There are, however, a lot of modern twists that are being added to the tearoom offerings.
The types of tea available to the tea lover these days are numerous and customers will expect to be able to sample a wide variety of them. This choice is not only limited to flavour but will extend to the origin of the tea and the way that it is served.
The tearoom market
The café and coffee shop industry has become very competitive and there are a lot of chains that have started to dominate the market. Places like these can act as your competition and, the easiest way to stand out is to offer something that they can’t.
Your tearoom can focus on offering personalised and unique experiences to your customers. This means carefully considering the training of your staff, the way the food is presented and the teacups and pots, of course!
If you want to be successful in this market, you will need to put a lot of hard work into what it is that you present to your customers. The atmosphere that you will probably be trying to create will be relaxed and this can take a lot of work, surprisingly!
Keeping on top of trends will be vital. You will need to make sure that you are able to operate a business that, while traditional in certain aspects, is up to date in the way that this is presented to customers.
What it takes to run a tearoom
No matter how full of ideas you are when it comes to running our own tearoom, there are a few things you should consider. This is the kind of business that you will have to be very hands-on with so it is vital that you can commit to physically being at the business while it is open.
You will also need to be able to cope with the other aspects of running a business like the accounts, ordering, hiring and acquiring the financing for purchasing the business.
Being a people person that is happy to spend your days interacting with customers is a must. Finally, you will need to have a good understanding of tea when your customers want to know more about what they should order.
Your hours running a tearoom will be long and you should expect that your busiest period of the day will probably be in the afternoon.
Finding the right business
If you are going to be successful in this industry, it's important that you find the right business to buy. You will need to spend your time researching the businesses that you are interested in and making sure that it will suit your needs.
Look for potential businesses to buy online or with business brokers. You can also look in local publications to see if there are any tearooms for sale in the area that you are interested in.
