Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd Moore.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Todd. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Cuppacoffee Started in July 1st of 2013. My first store at One Merrimac St. took in excess of 3 years in the planning and build out. My aim was to have a true espresso bar and to pull on the Australian coffee culture of high quality espresso based drinks… Due to the location and the small footprint I knew we had to be fast at what we did so that we could effectively do volume we did this by setting up a production line. Our food options are authentically Australian offering Australian savory pies, lamington, Anzac biscuits, tam-tams and other Aussie iconic foods. This store was featured on channel 5’s magazine show Chronicle.
Our store was an instant success and the hunt was on for more stores so that I could increase my Boston foot print.
My second location I decided to open up in an up and coming area in Boston in the new apartment development called Troy Boston and Ink Block area… This location is fast becoming a strong store as this Spring upwards of 570 apartments are opening up and a 260 room AC Marriott within a 1-minute walk. This area is also ear marked to have another 2000 odd apartments.
Our 3rd store in Boston was an afterthought this came up 6 months after I made the decision to move ahead to go through with the Troy Boston location. The address of the Cuppacoffee 3 was 699 Boylston st it is inside 699 Boylston st. This location is a takeout service counter.
Cuppacoffee opened 3 stores in 3 years and I believe due to our strong locations and a heavy presence on all social networks allows us to compete with other larger coffee chains. Our message is to educate customers on what we call high quality coffee and provide a true experience when you walk in the stores. Cuppacoffee employees are skilled baristas that are constantly held accountable to the drink quality so that a bad drink does not go out. We greet customers and know their names and drinks the second they walk in. All of our stores are narrow allowing us to communicate constantly with customers.
Our aim in 2018 is to consolidate on our stores and make them all profitable and then look for our next opportunity to either franchise or license our brand.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing is smooth and nothing is easy. The tough things are build out pricing, licensing and open day setbacks.
The biggest and most important challenge is Lead up time to open. It is important to know the neighborhood, the businesses and canvassing them to ensure opening day is strong.
Challenges once you open are:
1. Staffing
2. Monitoring and enforcement of all company sales and operating procedures.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Cuppacoffee Boston story. Tell us more about the business.
Our business is known for high quality espresso based drinks. with a friendly approach to business. We believe that we can make the customers day by creating an environment similar to the classic show “cheers” where in each neighborhood we will know your names and the customers ours.
All of our baked goods are of the highest quality with clean, grass feed meat if it is savory. All food products are sort out by me so that all vendors are also quality based, not always price driven. We also bake all of our Aussie icon pastries in our southend location and distribute them to all locations.
All of these attributes set us apart from our competitors.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
The first site was luck. Not having any open businesses in Boston made it near impossible to get a landlord to even look at my concept.
A lot of talking and 3 years later we opened. I also remember one night when the landlord called me and said “Todd we are sorry TD bank did not sign the lease we are not going ahead.”
Contact Info:
- Address: 57 Traveler st Boston MA 02118
One Merrimac st Boston MA 02114
699 Boylston st Boston MA 02116 - Website: www.trycuppacoffee.com
- Phone: 6172480011
- Email: tmoore@trycuppacoffee.com
- Instagram: @cuppacoffeeboston
- Facebook: @cuppacoffeeboston
- Twitter: @cuppacoffeema
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
