Years after the first Starbucks opened, coffee is still – no pun intended – hot. Many Americans make a stop at the coffee house on a daily, weekly or other regular basis. Churches can greatly benefit parishioners by adding a coffee house.
There are five primary reasons why churches should add a coffee house.
1. Create a revenue stream
If there is one lesson to be learned from Starbucks, it’s that there’s a great profit margin in coffee. We all love a good caffeine fix and are willing to pay a few dollars for it. Churches can benefit greatly from this, using the coffee shop as a fundraiser to help pay for new buildings, outreach and charity.
2. Create a Sense of Community
People who feel connected to their church are more likely to give back to that church and to get a valuable, important experience from the church. When there’s a coffee house within the place of worship, people are more likely to chat after bible study, to make new friends in a casual setting and perhaps even brainstorm ways to reach out to the community.
3. De-Mystify Church
Many people these days – particularly those of a younger generation – are quite comfortable in coffee houses but they might not be quite as comfortable in church or spiritual building settings. Adding a coffee house – something that is familiar to them – is a way to make church accessible, comfortable and less imposing.
4. Modernize the church
Coffee houses these days aren’t just about coffee. They often offer free Wi-Fi, and they feature interesting and unique music. You can bring your house of worship into this very modern world with the simple addition of a coffee shop. Consider offering free Wi-Fi so churchgoers can head to the coffee house after church to work, surf the net, or just gather and chat.
5. Benefit other aspects of the church
Is your church bookstore struggling? Adding a coffee house will encourage reading, which also benefits the church bookstore. In turn, the bookstore will help the coffee house as people will want to take their reading material and enjoy it with a cup of coffee.
Perhaps one of the best pieces of news is that adding a coffee shop doesn’t have to be a prohibitively expensive project for churches. Tablebases.com offers a variety of inexpensive options for outfitting a coffee shop, like this Werzalit Table Top and affordable table base. Seating is important and should be comfortable, but it doesn’t have to be expensive, as these comfortable and versatile vertical back chairs prove.
Adding a coffee house is an excellent way to benefit the members of a church; it encourages community and fellowship. Tablebases.com makes it all affordable.
