Opening a cafe - need a suggestion!

Morning all,

I am opening a cafe with my Taiwanese partner after Chinese New Year. We are using this holiday to do some DIY in the place as it was pretty crusty.

Anyways, we need a suggestion as to what to do with the back wall. We have painted it white for now, and are busy arguing over weather we should paint it another colour, do some home style artworks on it, let people sign it, plaster it with newspapers, anyway you get the picture.
The cafe is called ‘Butter’ and its yellow and white themed, and will be a breakfast/lunch type place opening in the evenings later on if we feel the need.

As you can tell it’s very much an easy-going project.

We’ll sell fish/chicken and chips, home made burgers, select-a-sandwich and salads - with no mention of pork anywhere on the menu.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and if we choose yours then, your welcome to come in for for a home style feed on the house!

Thanks,

Matt

If you have the money, why not invest in a chalk board and put up art by a local artist. Or use the area as big ole community board.

Art work on display by local artists is always nice to go.

Or maybe a weekly game question.

best of luck

Matt,

How exciting for you! I wish you all the luck with the venture :slight_smile:

And a personal :bouncy: and a :yay: and a :bravo: on the no-pork thing (not on religious grounds, just taste)

As for the wall, I like the direction you mentioned and Namahottie’s suggestion for a local artist is good too. I know someone who does murals, PM me if you’re interested.

I think it’s difficult to be more specific because we don’t know what the place looks like. In general, you should consider light (too little? go lighter colors, for example) size of room (too small? don’t clutter the wall, put mirrors, etc.), name/logo/style (use it at least partly on the wall, but don’t overdo it), business hours (daytime or nightime place? that will determine the colors and style somewhat) /EDIT: oops! you already said this one/…, etc. etc.

Watch home-makover programs religiously. But not those extreme-makovers from US, they’ve terrible taste.

Don’t forget to pay the mafia … :slight_smile:

How about some of those realistic fake food props of butter? and maybe get some local artists to make some buttery art works? Stick with the theme and spread it on thick.

Get a digital projector and put lots of cool photos there on rotation. Have movie events and play sports for those who are interested.

canucktyuktuk thats exactly what I want to do. But err… the other half gets enough of that digital techno stuff at home. I get some very angry looks.

I think a painting on the wall would be great.
Hmm, let me do a crude drawing to give you an idea:

The back wall isn’t really visible until you get in or noticed until you go to the toilet I guess… something unusual would be ideal :smiley:

Address, man! How can we be expected to slag off your burgers if we don’t know where it is? :wink:

Absolutely the best of luck to you and your missus.

I would have the space white with spotlights on it and have local artwork - photos, paintings, etc. - hung there on a rotational basis.

It will be ever-changing and interesting, produce income (most artists will give you commission on artwork sold), and be a talking point. It also shows you to be community spirited.

Now, I’ll have something vegetarian, please. :smiley:

Skulls. Lots of skulls.

Skulls are cool. And always appropriate. Something like this:

And you’ll want to have lots of Grateful Dead music in your rotation.

Good luck, and tell us where you are located.

Thanks SM for your well wishes…

Its 131 Jian Guo N Rd, Taipei.
It’s certainly not done yet so if you go by sometime expect a big mess :stuck_out_tongue:

The name of the cafe comes from my little chihuahua who was discussed here:

[url]My Chihuahua has distemper

His name was Butters.

Floosies. Lots of floozies…that means Ladies Night every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nite. Cheap beer. Very cheap beer. Floozies. Did I mention floozies? Cheap beer. Lots of ZZ Top, Tab Benoit, Peter Green, Albert King, Tony Joe White and Warren Zevon. Cheap beer.

Blacklights and day-glo posters!

And decent pizza. No pansified pizza!

Cheap beer.

And floozies.

And hot bar maids like these:

virtualbartender.beer.com/VB2/index.html

I must concur with every word the wise Doctor has said.
Especially the part about the floozies. And cheap beer. And floozies.
And thank you for that link. :notworthy:

Relaxing, neutral colors are best. Green and woods and bamboo with splashes of ochre or rust and the like.

I hope you’ll focus on making the chairs comfortable (with good lumbar support) and the environment smoke-free.

Good luck with this! We’ll be sure to stop by after it opens. :rainbow:

Get a good Internet connection and a projector, and put up real-time live webcam streams of places like a cafe in Paris or a club in Tokyo or something. Then get those place(s) to do the same for your cafe, so people can wave or even talk to each other as if they were just next door.

Please stock Gudang Garam Indonesian clove cigarettes. I love them. They taste good and drive away flies.

Just have good food and good service at a fair price.
Its a recipe that has always worked.

And Taiwan beer at the same prices the locals charge - 600ml @ NT$60 and draft @ same for same size.

And the good Dr. is worth listening to.
Serve the market.

Talk to us in 6 months.

We really like the webcam idea. How would one go about finding a cafe who would be willing to co-operate?

DB - I have to apologise in advance for the seating we have already purchased… it consists of stools. Brightly coloured but minimal lumbar support… but chairs can be purchased in future if needed :smiley:

We definitely have beer on the menu. We are thinking about including Taiwan Beer at the moment…

Oh and the prices - very much traditional breakfast shop prices apply. You can expect to leave with a full belly of fish and chips + a drink for under $100nt. I’m not talking $99nt either :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote=“momo21”]Anyways, we need a suggestion as to what to do with the back wall. We have painted it white for now, and are busy arguing over weather we should paint it another colour, do some home style artworks on it, let people sign it, plaster it with newspapers, anyway you get the picture

We’ll sell fish/chicken and chips,
with no mention of pork anywhere on the menu.
[/quote]

Great… especially if you can get fish and chips right…!
And no pork anywhere on the menu… good… even better if its not in the food ha ha ha!

Good luck with it. I would keep the decor simple and unsophisticated… a nice clean look for a cafe. You can add some stuff later… maybe just a pale yellow? A couple of pictures? Difficult to say without looking at it. Focussing on getting the food and service right is most important, of course. I generally only notice the decor when I’m waiting too long for the food…

And a no smoking policy?

(Disagree with the earlier poster. “Sports for those who like it” is great for those that do! But what about those who turn up and don’t like it. I think you have to go one way or the other with this kind of thing… If you have music, why not have a bit of Mozart or something tinkling away in the background… a touch of class. I’d say no TV at all… and would be happy with no music also.)

Again, good luck.

OH man…

I overlooked the fact that bacon comes from this years special animal. I’m sorry but it is surely optional :smiley: (except in the BLT :smiley:)

Matt