Coffee mania
Entrepreneur strikes black gold

There is a small and inconspicuous store in the Bedford Centre in Johannesburg.

At first glance, the Tea and Coffee Emporium does not stand out from the scores of other shops around it.

But, in between the milling mall crowds, there are a couple individuals making a beeline for it.

The proprietor, Ilesh Gopal, greets almost all of them by name. From memory, he is also able to reach for the right Arabica blend or Chinese green tea.

Money exchanges hands and the customer leaves content knowing that he or she has stocked up on the best coffee or tea for the month ahead.

Coffee concept

The Tea and Coffee Emporium has been in the same spot for just over four years and the business has become an icon amongst its supporters.

There are many reasons for this besides caffeine addiction and Gopal explains that clients return because of product availability and service.

Gopal loves his coffees and teas but he has learnt that taste is personal. As a result, he constantly changes and adapts his product range to cover the widest possible market.

He explains that a previous business failed because he did not adapt to the circumstances. When the anchor tenant burned down at the centre where this kitchenware business was located, Gopal believed he just needed to hang in there instead of changing his stock mix to the new reality. The feet diminished and soon the business folded.

"It was definitely a learning curve - it made me realise that I should not assume what people want."

Listen carefully

Gopal explains that he needs to ensure that customers continue to frequent his store. This in turn means catering to their every need even though he will not always profit from the effort.

"People ask for the strangest things, especially after having travelled overseas. We make the effort of finding that rare coffee or tea and have become known for this."

He adds that these new additions will be stocked to see if it sells. If it does not, at least he tried.

"At the moment, I probably only stock about 10% of the products that were on the shelves four years ago. For example, I realised that Bedfordview has a large Greek community and started stocking Greek coffees. I also saw that there has been an increase in the use of stovetop espresso machines and stock accessories for them...

"It is about listening to people - during the recession, many clients could not afford their usual high end coffees or teas so I started stocking more affordable options."

As a result, the business has nearly doubled its turnover in the last year.

Exciting expansion

Gopal says he was investigating the opportunity of setting up more stores around the country and created a website in preparation. But, the website quickly lead to a barrage of enquiries and he realised that cyber trade could be the answer to expansion. He invested time to optimise the website's visibility on search engines and the effort has been more than worth it.

"The initial idea of the website was just to let people know we were here. But, we quickly started receiving queries from around the country. Instead of opening up a new store, I teamed up with a courier company and we deliver the stock to them...

"I don't need a bigger store or more overheads to grow," he explains.

While Gopal receives several hundred enquiries through the website each month, a surprising by-product is the fact that his site sometimes ranks higher than those of the manufacturers or suppliers.

As a result, the concept has been extremely successful, especially amongst corporate clients and this is another expansion strategy Gopal has followed.

He explains that large businesses often want to serve gourmet coffees in their boardrooms and he supplies the machines and coffee. He also trains the staff on the difference between a cappuccino and an espresso. As a result, the client is more than willing to pay the premium.

Gopal adds that he has been creating coffee bars at other firms with the help of one of his largest suppliers.

"People are buying coffee from us even though they can get a free cup at the canteen next door."

Easy does it

While the shop now runs like a well oiled machine, it was not always easy. Gopal explains that because he is such a small player, many of the larger importers and distributors did not take him seriously in the beginning.

This perception has changed over the years and he boasts that every single supplier now offers the Tea and Coffee Emporium credit terms.

This in turn allows Gopal to maximise what the small premises is capable of as he operates on the just in time concept.

Another factor to the great growth the Tea and Coffee Emporium has experienced in recent years if Gopal's attention to details. He tracks each and every product line meticulously and constantly compares his figures with historical averages.

By doing this, Gopal is able to experiment with the limited shelf space he has and optimises the product lines on offer.

"If coffee sales go up the intelligent thing to do is to reinvest in stock. But, I took a risk (a while back) and expanded our tea range. That meant that tea sales went up," he says explaining an aspect of his experimentation.

Gopal has also started supplying a number of restaurants with coffee. While the stock could be sourced at a cheaper price elsewhere, Gopal negotiates extras from suppliers such as free cups or umbrellas.

"The restaurants can then see the logic in dealing with me rather than a company where they will not receive this type of service.

"It comes down to one on one interaction and finding solutions. You can't always find the perfect solution but you need to get as close as possible...

"It is a niche market that people just don't understand," he says with a smile.