George Thodorakis is a tall wide-shouldered, slim-wasted man with straight black hair. He runs a coffee shop with his wife, Catherine. He danced with and loved Violet Westing. Violet Westing was the daughter of Samuel Westing. George is the father of Christos and Theo.

Coffee Shop Owner

A coffee shop owner has the best of both worlds. He enjoys running his own business but also gets to meet and greet new people every day. A coffee shop is an enterprise similar to Starbucksä, which serves different types of coffee, pastries and maybe soups and sandwiches. Becoming a coffee shop owner takes some planning and researching. There are several steps one must follow to ensure the maximum potential of your coffee shop enterprise.

Before you sell your first cup of coffee:

1. Write a business sketch.
A business sketch is a plan that summarizes the projected cost of starting your business, where to get financing for your business, the steps involved in owning your business and an estimate of sales for the first year of operations.

2. Get financing for your start-up costs.
The projected costs for starting your coffee shops runs from approximately $60,000 to anywhere over $300,000. This does not mean that if you spend the maximum, you will have a successful business. You must understand which areas of your business deserve the most attention and work from this strategy.

3. Location, location, location.
The key to a successful business is finding a place that is highly visible and easily accessible for potential customers.

4. Design
The three things to keep in mind when designing your coffee shop are looks, a good traffic flow and organizational outline.

5. Effective use of resources
If your cash flow is limited at the start of your business, it is wise to put your money where it will benefit you the most such as designing a competent work space, proper advertising and signage for your business and creating a appealing menu for customers.

6. Training
It is important the all employees, from servers to managers are properly trained in all phases of the operation of the business. Even the managers should know how to run the "behind the counter" aspects in case they need to fill in for an absent employee.

Owning a coffee shop can be a very rewarding experience if you follow the above outlined steps. Good luck in your new venture!