How one café turned first-timers into regulars

A small café, three changes and a lot more familiar faces.

4 Nov 202641

What do YOU think?

Megan Price · 4 Nov
Love the laptop table. We did the same with plug sockets and it changed our afternoons.
Aoife Byrne · 5 Nov
One in three is the dream. Starting with the loyalty card.
Josh Taylor · 5 Nov
We're a station café too. The goodbye line has been the biggest win for us.

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Hi there,

This week I want to share a story. It's an illustrative example, pieced together from the kind of changes I see work again and again, but every step in it is real and doable.

Meet Hannah, who runs a small café by a train station in the Midlands. Plenty of footfall, plenty of first visits, and hardly anyone coming back.

What she changed

She learned names. Hannah and her team set a goal of learning ten regulars' names and orders in a month.
She gave first-timers a next step. Every new face got a loyalty card with the first stamp already on it.
She asked one question. A little card by the till: "What's one thing we could do better?" The top answer was a bigger table for laptops. She bought one.

What happened

Within two months, Hannah reckoned about one in three first-timers came back within a fortnight, up from about one in ten.

"I used to think we needed more people through the door. We didn't. We needed the people we already had to come back." Hannah, café owner

Your turn

Pick one of Hannah's three changes and try it this week. Reply and tell me which one you chose.

Cheers, Jess

P.S. Want a fresh pair of eyes on your café? Here's my Repeat Customer Audit.