The Good Coffee Company on Eerikinkatu is busy. A tourist couple have come for a late breakfast and a Wolt delivery person is waiting for the goulash their customer ordered.
“We are busiest at lunch time. I have no employees, I run the café by myself,” Bernhard Gerlich says in fluent Finnish.
Gerlich moved from Austria to Helsinki 19 years ago and worked for a Finnish company until he was let go during co-determination negotiations. The idea for his own café was born when Bernhard wanted to practice his Finnish in a customer service role.
“The biggest motivator was of course my love of great coffee. I remember being complimented on my coffee by my peers when I was a student in England.”
Bernhard Gerlich did not, however, have any experience of running a café. He received help with setting up his business and applying for the necessary permits from the Business Helsinki Business Advisory Services. First, he tested his business idea by selling coffee and baked goods from a cart.
“When a restaurateur I know told me in autumn 2020 that their premises on Eerikinkatu were going to become available, I decided to take the next step and rent the space. The timing was not ideal due to the pandemic, however.”
Right from the beginning, Gerlich wanted to focus on high-quality organic coffee. To this end, The Good Coffee Company uses responsibly produced beans from Cafetoria.
Language café to boost visibility and sales
In addition to conventional specialty coffees, the Good Coffee Company offers Austrian coffees, which often come with a thick layer of whipped cream on top. The lunch menu also features traditional Central European dishes. In addition to goulash, customers can have Wiener schnitzel and Klagenfurter spaghetti.
“In hindsight I wonder if I should have incorporated the theme of the café in the name. This is, after all, the only Austrian café in Helsinki,” Bernhard says.
Word of the small, high-quality café has spread nevertheless. In early summer, a customer told Gerlich that The Good Coffee Company had excellent reviews on Google and Wolt. Dozens of public reviews rave about the delicious products and excellent service.
“I was pleasantly surprised by this, because I have mainly advertised the café on Facebook, where the café has more than one thousand likes. Thanks to the positive reviews, I have attracted new customers, but I do need to increase sales even more. I should have given marketing some more thought even before opening the café.”
Bernhard is working hard to stand out from the competition. Last year, he came up with the idea of starting language cafés where customers can have conversations in Finnish, Spanish and German with native speakers.
“The language cafés are free of charge, but naturally I hope that the participants also buy products from the café. The events have had a wonderful atmosphere and customers have enjoyed themselves.”
Sales figures offer valuable information to the entrepreneur
Business Helsinki Business Advisor Valdar Liive noticed Bernhard’s genuine interest in quality coffee during their initial meeting.
“It was a good idea to pilot his business idea using a cart instead of renting premises right away. This way, he was able to test his products on customers on a smaller scale first,” Liive says.
Monitoring sales figures and customer flows provides the business owner with valuable information for improving their service concept.
“The profit margin on drinks is usually quite good in restaurant and café operations. The menu should feature roughly five proven dishes instead a flurry of options to choose from. Especially in Bernhard’s case, as he is working alone in his café.
Many restaurants are currently campaigning for good online reviews from their customers. Valdar Liive reminds restaurateurs that this comes with the possibility of negative reviews: some of them may even be written by competitors.
“You have to be able to take criticism: it can also be used to improve your products and services. The Good Coffee Company has succeeded, as it has received good reviews and an excellent star rating. These should be utilised more in the café’s marketing, for example on social media channels and in the window of the café.”
Liive also encourages businesses to specialise in something, just like The Good Coffee Company has done with Austrian treats.
“It opens up new opportunities in reaching new target groups as well. Bernhard’s café could collaborate with Austrian travel organisations or business delegations, for example.”