From ChristianCoffeehouse.info - where Christian coffeehouse information begins |
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This page is specifically about starting a Christian coffeehouse.
ChristianCoffeehouse.info frequently receives requests for information about opening a Christian coffeehouse. We have compiled the following observations: Making a profit, or at least breaking even ALL CHRISTIAN COFFEEHOUSES ARE MONEY-LOSERS. There are no exceptions that we know of. We cannot tell you how to make a profit, or even how to break even, with a Christian coffeehouse. Our staff been working with Christian coffeehouses since 1983, and we've watched people try, and as far as we know, it has never been done and it can't be done. You will have to rely on donations of money, facilities, volunteer staff, or all three - or you will have to operate your coffeehouse as an adjunct to a bookstore or a recording studio or a catering business or something, and even then, the coffeehouse will lose money and have to be subsidized by the other business. Finances will be a constant struggle. Don't even think of quitting your day job. If profit really is your goal, then your only hope is to open for breakfast and lunch as a generic cafe or coffee shop, just like any other such business, and then to have live Christian music in the evening as a separate activity. Your daytime operation should, of course, be a wholesome atmosphere (for example, no alcohol and no smoking) that would be consistent with Christian witness; but if it is overtly Christian, you will scare off so many potential customers that you will not survive. We are not suggesting that you should "quench the Spirit" or deny your Christianity, but we are telling you what you will have to do to have any chance at all of succeeding financially. Over the years, we have received unsolicited e-mail from a number of Christian coffeehouse directors across the nation, expressing agreement with what we are telling you. Please do not contact us to ask about this. If you do, we will refer you right back to this discussion. A Christian coffeehouse business plan We do not have any sort of Christian coffeehouse business plan available, nor do we know of anyone else who does. Since all Christian coffeehouses lose money, it is unrealistic to think that there could be such a plan. We know from our server logs that many people visit this page trying to find a Christian coffeehouse business plan. Don't waste your time - we don't have one and neither does anyone else. As stated above, your only hope of success is to open during the day as a generic coffee shop, and to reserve your overt Christian message, and live Christian music, for the evenings. This being the case, your business plan should be that of any other coffee shop. Since ChristianCoffeehouse.info is specifically devoted to Christian coffeehouses, it is outside our scope to help you either write or locate such a general business plan. Grants We do not know of any organization that gives out grants to fund Christian coffeehouses. If you do choose to seek a grant, we recommend that under no circumstances should you seek it from a government agency of any type. We guarantee that any such grant will come with strings and conditions that you don't want, and that most Christians will find incompatible with their beliefs. Even if you choose to seek a private-sector grant, read all of the fine print very carefully, several times, and have your attorney do the same. Funding: To summarize CHRISTIANCOFFEEHOUSE.INFO CANNOT ASSIST YOU IN SECURING FUNDING FOR YOUR COFFEEHOUSE. NOR CAN WE SUGGEST ANY OTHER FUNDING SOURCES. We apologize for belaboring this point, but from the e-mail we receive in response to this Web page, we have found it to be necessary. Please do not contact ChristianCoffeehouse.info about this matter. We cannot help you. Now, onto other things... We will assume that you understand that your coffeehouse will lose money, and go on to discuss some of the other things to consider. In planning a Christian coffeehouse, think of it simply as a restaurant or coffee shop, with live music, operated in a Christian atmosphere. Even though you won't be making a profit, you should approach it the same way you'd approach opening a restaurant or coffee shop as a small business. Be sure that this really is for you. Think about why you want to open a Christian coffeehouse - write it down on paper. Our model coffeehouse goals, and "What is a Christian coffeehouse?" discussion, can help you with this, but you should be able to express in your own words what you want to achieve. If there are other Christian coffeehouses near you (check our list of Christian coffeehouses nationwide), visit them, talk with their managers, and perhaps even work at one as a volunteer for several nights (perhaps one night a week for a month or two). Do you know people in the restaurant business - owners, managers, or even waiters/ And - pray about it! Professionalism Whether you like it or not, every secular restaurant and coffeehouse in your city is your competition. When your attendees decide to go out in the evening, they must decide where to go; and even though you are offering a Christian environment, that's not enough. People will evaluate your atmosphere and professionalism against that of other venues, even if only subconsciously. We've heard too many Christians over the years try to excuse a lack of professionalism with the words "The Lord understands." Don't fall into that trap. The Lord gave His best for you, and He expects your best. For many Christians and non-Christians alike, the term "Christian coffeehouse" has a negative connotation - that of an amateurish thing, not up to the caliber of the world's coffeehouses. Quite frankly, a lot of that is deserved, and we're ashamed of that. Please don't contribute to that bad reputation. We hope the suggestions on this Web page will help you conduct a thoroughly professional operation. Sponsorship The single most important decision to face will probably be whether to seek church sponsorship (financial or otherwise) or to go independent. There are arguments for both. Church sponsorship certainly makes it a lot easier to obtain both money and a facility, and makes it very likely that you will get good attendance from the sponsoring church(es). However, it will also sharply reduce your attendance from other churches and denominations, and subject you to the control of a pastor or church board that may not understand coffeehouse ministry and/or may try to insist that the coffeehouse be run like a traditional church service. There is no single right answer here; this (along with everything else about a Christian coffeehouse) is a matter for serious prayer! If your coffeehouse does turn out to be church-sponsored, do not attempt to use it to promote your church's Sunday services and/or other functions. That is guaranteed to make people feel pressured and drive them away. Let the coffeehouse be a stand-alone, separate activity. (It's quite all right to use the facility in other ways when the coffeehouse is not open; but keep the coffeehouse open consistently, the same days and times every week, and make sure that when the coffeehouse is open, it presents an atmosphere appropriate to a coffeehouse.) DO NOT expect a lot of support from churches in your area. Not only are you very unlikely to get any financial support, but in addition, you can expect that pastors will not even be willing to come visit your coffeehouse, or to talk it up among their congregations. Instead, the majority of pastors will act as though you don't exist, and will ignore you, even if you try to take the initiative to work with them. We wish that pastors were interested in supporting Christian coffeehouses, but few are. In fairness to pastors, they are approached constantly by all kinds of people, and asked to support all sorts of ministry projects, many of them pretty outlandish. Since you've read this far, you know that Christian coffeehouses are not outlandish at all. But they are also not very well understood by the Christian community at large, or by most pastors. Quite frankly, many pastors will be concerned that you are trying to "steal their members." You're not, of course, but that fear will underlie their interactions with you, even though they won't say so. In your dealings with pastors, feel free to use the information on our What is a Christian coffeehouse? and Christian coffeehouse goals pages, if you wish. But understand that coffeehouse ministry does not fit well into many pastors' mindsets of how ministry should be conducted, and that bringing multiple churches and denominations together is something that many pastors, who are concerned about doctrinal differences, emphatically do not want to do. As we discuss in the "Promotion" section below, your best approach to working with pastors is probably to start with your own pastor, and any other pastors you know personally, and ask them to help you network with other pastors. We are not trying to stereotype or generalize here, and we certainly do not mean to malign or insult pastors. We believe that most pastors simply haven't been exposed to coffeehouse ministry and its potential. There are some pastors who are very enthusiastic about Christian coffeehouses. But most aren't, and you need to be prepared for that. Scheduling and location Your coffeehouse should be open at least one night a week. We have found that monthly coffeehouses tend to be much less successful. People do not want to have to consult a calendar to find out whether it's this Friday or next Friday that you'll be open. Be consistent in being open at the same time EVERY week, in the SAME location. Do not cancel a week, except for major holidays. Don't cancel just because there is some special event at your particular church; remember, you are trying to attract people from other churches to your coffeehouse as well. To ease the burden on specific individuals, it is entirely in order to have one group of people staffing the coffeehouse one week and a different group (perhaps from a different church, if multiple churches are working on this together) the next week. In fact, we recommend that every coffeehouse staff member, including every manager, be able to take off at least one week a month; otherwise, you are inviting burnout. (This is important not only for training, but also for succession planning; if your manager moves to another city, or must leave the staff for any reason, then there must be someone trained and able to take over the position, or at best you will have chaos, and more likely, have to close permanently.) If you use a church facility, you should pick a room/location that will not be pre-empted for special events. Also, pick a location with easy access from the street or parking lot - not some room that you have to go through a maze of hallways to get to. Under no circumstances should you use a church sanctuary with pews bolted in place. We have seen several attempts at that; it is impossible to get a coffeehouse atmosphere that way. You need more of a restaurant-style setup, with people sitting around tables. Also avoid a layout where the artist has to stand behind a pulpit, like most pastors do during their Sunday morning sermons, or where the pulpit will be prominent and in the way, even if the artist doesn't stand behind it. Any sort of cue that people must focus strictly on what's happening on the stage, and can't chat quietly or just relax, is the opposite of what you want. We have seen coffeehouses that have the food in a separate room from the music. In our experience, that doesn't work very well. You can't create the atmosphere you're looking for like that. We don't recommend it. We have heard of Christian coffeehouses that operate by making arrangements to use a secular coffeehouse facility once or twice a month. But think and pray hard before doing something like this; it means that the activities, the promotion, and the image of your coffeehouse will be inextricably intertwined with that of the secular coffeehouse you're using, and you will be subject to whatever hours and rules their management sets. It's more difficult for you to present what you are doing as a distinct operation with its own identity. Typically, a coffeehouse will open between 6 and 7 pm, and close between 11 pm and midnight. Most coffeehouses start live music between 7 and 8 pm, and end between 10 and 11 pm. Some coffeehouses prefer to schedule continuous music with no breaks; others find it works better to schedule two sets each evening with a 30-to-60-minute break in between. We do recommend that you schedule specific start and end times, and not leave the music sets open-ended. In addition, you should keep consistent set times every night you're open, and not vary from one night to the next. These things help encourage attendance, because people know what to expect. Open on Fridays, Saturdays, or both - whatever works best for you - but do not try to open on weeknights. In general, weeknight attendance tends to be extremely weak, and artists hard to attract. Admission Don't even think of trying to charge an admission or cover charge. If you do, no one will come. Sell food, and put out a basket to collect an offering for the artists; we discuss both of these items in detail below. Finding artists Once you're established, you won't have any trouble finding artists to play; they will find you. But it almost always takes a new coffeehouse a few months to establish a good, strong artist list. Here are some sources for locating artists:
We are aware of Christian coffeehouses that are open to booking artists whose lyrics are secular, requiring only that the lyrics not be objectionable. We disagree with that philosophy; we believe that you should limit yourself to those artists who are overtly Christian and whose lyrics are in line with Scripture. Bringing in secular artists may increase your artist roster, and even your attendance, but it will greatly decrease your Christian witness (even though that witness will be subtle rather than overt), as well as your attendance and support from the Christian community. To take this a step further, we believe that it is entirely appropriate to ask artists to briefly share with you their testimony, and for at least a quick informal statement of faith, before booking them. It is preferable - more manageable for you, and easier in terms of publicity - to book only one or two artists each night. (There is an advantage to booking two artists: It brings you two different audiences on the same night.) Look for artists who can do at least a 60-minute set if at all possible. Assuming songs of average length, a 60-minute set is 13 songs. If an artist does fewer than 13 songs in 60 minutes, either the songs are longer than usual, or the artist is talking too much between songs. (By "60 minutes" here, we mean an actual 60 minutes, not a nominal 60 minutes that is really 45 or 50 or 55 minutes.) Typically, you will book an artist for a specific night, or a specific portion of a night. When the artist plays that night, book them again before they leave (if you consider them of sufficient quality, of course). In most cases, particularly with local artists, you will not want to book more than about 3 months in advance; beyond that, people's schedules are too variable and you tend to get a lot of cancellations. But the matter of cancellations goes both ways. You might set up a tentative booking with an artist, asking the artist to hold a night open for you temporarily, while you firm up your plans. That's fine, but then get back to the artist, one way or the other, quickly (within a few days). And if you do book an artist, and then have to cancel for any reason, contact the artist immediately. Don't have an artist show up at an empty, darkened, locked-up coffeehouse - or at a wide-open, well-staffed coffeehouse where the staff knows nothing about the booking - or worse yet, where the staff does know about the cancellation of which the artist was never told. Artists understand that problems crop up, but they expect to be kept informed. Violate that, and the high-quality artists won't be willing to work with you. When you book a band that shows any signs at all of having a rock or alternative music style, make it emphatically clear before accepting the booking that they are to perform an acoustic set, unless you really want a heavy sound. When the band shows up the day of the booking, emphasize it again. Working with artists We recommend that you not pay artists anything beyond a love offering. Simply put a basket in an appropriate, prominent place, mark it "love offering," leave it there throughout the evening, and announce once or twice that those who are blessed by the music should be a blessing in turn. (If you have more than one artist on the same night, how do you divide the money? Word your sign "Love offering for artist currently performing," then empty the basket at the end of each set. Or, wait until the end of the night, then distribute the love offering equally among the artists playing that night. If you choose that approach, be sure to have artist addresses on file, so that you can mail checks to those who leave early; and, of course, any offerings specifically designated for an artist should be credited to that artist before the rest is divvied up.) Whether or not you choose to feed artists is up to you. Some coffeehouses do; others make artists pay for food but provide drinks free; still others make artists purchase even drinks. We are sorry to say that we have on occasion seen artists abuse freebies, going through exorbitant amounts of soft drinks, and/or trying to get freebies for sound people, lighting people, and even family members. One possible middle ground is to give each artist a food-and-drink credit of $10 or some other reasonable amount. (A band would share a single credit amount among all members. Bear in mind that if you do this, each artist or band is then likely to go out of their way to use their entire credit.) Make a policy decision about this in advance, and be sure to explain your policy to artists at the time you book them. It's entirely in order to point out that your coffeehouse does not pay its way and that there are things you simply can't afford to do. One frequent problem we have found with artists (especially bands, but individuals too) is that they tend to turn up the sound so loud that it's impossible for people to chat during the sets if that's what they want to do. With many bands, you can approach the sound person and ask that the volume be turned down, but within 30 seconds it's right back up to deafening. We recommend that you discuss this in advance with artists, and be extremely firm about it. Before you open, be sure to check on whether there is a noise ordinance in your area. If there is, you should probably invest in a decibelmeter ($50 at RadioShack). Even if not, it would be a good idea to have one on hand. A good way to audition individual artists is through the use of a "talent night" where you allow people to come in and do a couple of songs, and announce that you will use that for auditions. (Individuals will usually not have demo tapes or CDs, so you wind up having to work with them. Also, it's hard to audition bands this way since they need setup time, but bands usually do have demos.) Consider scheduling talent nights, not on Friday or Saturday, but during the middle of the week (probably on a Thursday). Between the artists and their families, you will generally have good attendance. That being the case, you will still be busy in terms of food service and such, so you might as well schedule it on an otherwise-slow night. Also, that way, the less-talented individuals won't drive patrons away on Friday night or at other prime times. Don't schedule talent nights too often; once a quarter is plenty. On talent nights, you will need a person who does nothing but emcee and line up the artists as they arrive and check in, and also a sound person. Be sure to tell artists that they must start on time, and end on time and not go past their allotted time. Also, make sure that artists understand that you are booking them, not their friends. We have seen artists bring other artists with them, and give the other artists the stage for part or even most of the set, without obtaining permission in advance. We recommend that you call each artist on the phone a few days before the booking (perhaps Monday or Tuesday before a weekend booking, for example) to reconfirm that the artist will be there. For artists who play regularly or frequently at your coffeehouse, and who have CDs and/or cassettes for sale, it is a courtesy for you to stock their material and sell it on a consignment basis. Be sure that their songs are original, or if they are covers, that they have secured permission for the recording; and if sales tax is charged in your area, be sure that either you have arrangements in place to collect and remit the tax yourself, or that the artist is following the law in doing so. Artists may also want to have a table to sell their own CDs, cassettes, T-shirts, and/or other merchandise on the nights they appear. Do allow this, again making sure that copyright and sales tax laws are followed. To reiterate: Make extraordinarily sure that artists understand that they are performing at a Christian coffeehouse - not a concert - and that people will expect to be able to talk and do other things during the sets. Artists must realize that although people will be listening to them, they will not receive the audience's full, undivided attention - and they must plan to turn their sound level down to a volume substantially lower than what they're accustomed to. Any artist who will not agree to this should not be booked. Artists who agree to it and don't abide by it should not be booked again - and don't be afraid to tell them why. You may wish to set your policies in writing, and require artists to sign a statement agreeing to them before finalizing bookings. Menu Here is a suggested menu. Use this as a starting point to work out your own menu.
This menu also, for the most part, avoids fried food. Having any fried food at all triggers the need for special equipment, such as a grease trap, and that can be very expensive. Note, for example, that the soup/ Set up standard procedures for cooking food, train your staff on those procedures, and have copies at hand for easy reference. For example, how many slices of ham in a ham sandwich? For how many seconds do nachos and cheese need to be heated? And so forth. If your operation will be particularly small, or for your first few open nights, you may want to do just a subset of this. (When opening a new coffeehouse, it's a good idea, right from the start, to encourage your attendees to come for dinner - to get them into the habit of eating at the coffeehouse, not just coming for the music. But you should never try to force the issue.) Make sure to have necessary cooking equipment on hand: a microwave, coffeemaker, etc. At least to start, serve food and drinks using paper or styrofoam plates and cups, and plastic utensils. If you need more sophisticated equipment and/or furnishings, try looking under "Restaurant equipment" in your local phone book, or in the classified section of your local newspaper. Most of these kinds of pieces can be found in places like Wal-Mart; but do consider that if you are setting up a facility that is going to see heavy-duty use over a long period of time, it makes sense to purchase items that will stand up accordingly. We pray you'll never use them, but have an office-style first aid kit, and a fire extinguisher, on hand. Places like Office Depot sell both inexpensively. The setting of food prices is part of your business plan; therefore, as explained above, a detailed discussion of this matter is beyond the scope of this page. But in general, we suggest that you base your prices on those charged by other coffee shops and restaurants in your area. Many ministries tend to set prices too low. Unless you're specifically trying as part of your ministry to give a break to people who are financially hurting, we recommend that you price according to the market. Concentrate on the quality of your food, and people will pay for that. Promotion There is no "magic bullet" for promotion and publicity. In general, realistically, you will reach Christians mostly through their churches, and through Christian radio stations. To get to Christians through their churches, you must persuade the pastor (or the youth pastor if you're aiming at a young audience) to assist you. We are sorry to say that in our experience, most pastors are wary at best about any ministry not under the control of their church or denomination. Start with your own pastor and any other pastors you know personally, and ask them to help you in approaching other pastors - to "network" using their connections. One possibility, if the church you're targeting has a musical group with sufficient talent and whose style is appropriate, is to book that group to play at the coffeehouse. But be sure you know what you're getting into BEFORE you offer that; you don't want any unpleasant surprises as far as musical quality; you also don't want anyone to try to turn the night into a church service and/or a "praise-and-worship" service. Radio stations are NOT required to give you free "public service" air time. Don't bother with secular stations. Most Christian stations will air public service announcements for you, but there is no guarantee on how often, or at what time of day or night. Very few stations will take public service announcements by phone. Snail-mail, e-mail, or fax your information to the station, to the attention of the Public Service Director, at least two weeks in advance. Make sure all the facts are there, but don't overwhelm the station with excessive detail. Don't bother trying to write for broadcast; just provide the facts and let the station do that. Do include a for-more-information phone number that the station can give out on the air, but don't assume that the station will call you if what you provide is incomplete; they'll probably just trash your material instead. If the station has an interview program that spotlights local ministries, by all means call and ask about being featured on the program. Most stations will not get involved in live remote broadcasts unless you pay them well. (But a station MIGHT be willing to send a DJ to emcee a talent or open-mike night.) There are probably far more Christian radio stations in your area than you know about. Check ChristianRadio.com for a list of Christian radio stations near you. Send your information to stations as far as 100 miles away. Also be sure to work with local Christian bookstores. Some bookstores will use your flyers as bag stuffers if you'll print them and bring them in. Don't expect a bookstore to do this 12 months a year, but perhaps for a few weeks once or twice a year. Don't forget your local newspaper. If it's a large newspaper that has a religion page, DON'T go through that section. Instead, work with the entertainment section staff. If you're located in a suburb, and the newspaper has a separate section with news for that suburb, contact the suburban news bureau about a possible feature story. And, of course, send in listings to the newspaper's events calendar - consistently, every week (yes, that is a pain, but you need to do it). If in doubt, call the newspaper's main phone number, ask for the "city desk," and briefly explain to that person what you are doing and ask whether they might be interested in doing a story. If the newspaper wants more background on Christian coffeehouses in general, feel free to refer them to the material here on ChristianCoffeehouse.info, and/or have them contact us for an interview. Your coffeehouse should have a Web site of its own. Your Web site should include at least the following:
We strongly discourage you from providing a MySpace.com page, either instead of, or in addition to, a real Web site. We have on occasion noticed advertising on MySpace.com pages that we believe is not compatible with Christianity. In addition, MySpace.com has designed its pages to automatically display page-authors' zodiac signs. Consider carefully whether the format of MySpace.com pages, and the types of online interaction MySpace.com promotes, really correspond to the image you want to project for your coffeehouse. If you need help doing a Web site, contact a Christian college, seminary, or high school near you, and ask whether they can recommend one of their computer-savvy students to you. Or, ask the person who does your church Web site. When you book artists, ask them to link to your Web site from theirs. And, of course, tell us about your Web site so that we can add it to our list. Consider coupons for a discount on food. Much of your attendance will come from people who specifically want to hear the particular artist playing on a given night. Artists have their own followings; at most coffeehouses, the attendance fluctuates wildly, based on who is playing on any given night. (If we had to pick an average number of attendees for any given night at any given coffeehouse, based on our experience, we'd say about 25. But it really does vary all over the map, both upwards and downwards.) Many artists (bands especially) will take steps of their own to promote their appearance at your coffeehouse; but don't count on this - promotion is YOUR responsibility, NOT theirs. (But do ask artists to spread the word, both through their churches and/or in whatever other ways they reasonably can.) The BEST promotion is word-of-mouth, although that's slow and erratic. But keep at it - don't get discouraged - and over a period of months, you will see an increase in your attendance. Creating the atmosphere Here are some other items to consider in creating a relaxed atmosphere:
The stage You may or may not wish to have a raised stage area. Depending on the size and layout of your coffeehouse, it is perfectly acceptable to simply provide an open space in which artists can set up. Either a location against a wall, or in a corner of the room, is good. Make sure the location is visible from throughout the room, and try to avoid a situation where people will be walking back and forth directly in front of the artist, thus distracting the audience. You will need to allow at least 25 square feet (2½ square meters) of stage area for each performer. For example, if you expect to book groups with up to 4 members, your stage should be at least 100 square feet (10 square meters). A drum set will require at least 15 square feet (1½ square meters) additional (of course, electronic drums are preferable, in order to keep the sound level down, but they require the same amount of space). (Not sure what size groups you'll be booking as you start your coffeehouse? Then you're probably better off not building a raised stage - it's one less thing to do. If eventually you find that a raised stage is needed, you can go back and build one later.) Be sure to locate an electrical outlet immediately behind the stage, or as close to the stage as possible, to avoid the need to run wires or extension cords. If you absolutely must have a distance between the stage and the nearest outlet, then tape the wires down or otherwise protect them, so people don't trip over them. It's a good idea to have an extra power strip on hand. Again, for the room overall, we recommend that the lights be dimmed. However, it's very appropriate to have a light of some sort on the artist (but don't set it up in a manner that blinds the artist); but avoid any lighting beyond that. A big lighting system detracts from the atmosphere, it's one more thing to maintain, and if it's fancy enough, it requires someone to run it. An artist or band that insists on sophisticated lighting is probably not one you want to book. And rapidly-flashing lights can trigger seizures in some people with epilepsy. Sound equipment As a bare minimum, you will need:
We have seen coffeehouses use a karaoke machine, but we do not recommend this, because of the limited range and capability of most such units. Whether or not you provide a sound person is up to you. Many coffeehouses do not have a regular sound person on staff, but instead expect artists to provide their own sound people. Even an artist who sings to soundtracks will need someone to cue and start each track. If you expect the artist to provide a sound person, that's fine, but make that clear at the time of booking. DO NOT EVEN THINK of recording the music sets without permission. Artists who are playing original material are likely to be sensitive about having copies of their work floating around. And if an artist is playing covers of other people's songs, all sorts of copyright rules kick in. Are you non-profit? You say you won't sell the recordings? You'll only use them for personal use? It doesn't matter - copyright law still applies. Don't be a negative witness for Christ by breaking the law. No pressure! Whatever you do, it is crucial that you avoid anything that your visitors could interpret as high pressure. If you've been involved in ministry of any kind, it's easy to forget how incredibly sensitive non-Christians (and some Christians too) are to anything at all that hints of pressure to get saved, donate money, start attending church on Sunday, participate in some other program, etc. There are places for this kind of thing, but a coffeehouse is most emphatically not one of them. We have seen on rare occasions that someone not on a coffeehouse staff will come in as a customer, and then start going around to every table in the place, trying to proselytize. If you see this happening, a manager must immediately call the offender aside and put the behavior to a stop, even, if necessary, asking the offender to leave. (And any staff member who offends in this manner should be strongly warned once, then fired! And yes, you can fire a volunteer. Train your staff members not to do this.) People don't go to a secular coffeehouse or restaurant expecting to be barraged by the staff or anyone else; and it's not appropriate at a Christian coffeehouse, either. Subtlety is the watchword. If people ask for counseling or advice of their own initiative, great, but otherwise, let the words of the music do the ministry. The Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of using your coffeehouse in His own way. Let Him. Public prayer Should you (the coffeehouse manager or emcee), or the artists you book, lead your attendees in prayer at the beginning and/or end of the music? At the risk of offending some of our readers, we say the answer is no. By all means pray! But when you demand that your attendees interrupt whatever they are doing - talking, eating, etc. - you are working against the goal of entertaining them and allowing them to relax. In addition, you are likely to have unsaved attendees who will feel uncomfortable with this. If a Christian has invited a non-Christian to your coffeehouse as a guest, let the work of active witnessing, if there is to be any, be handled by the Christian who did the inviting, and who knows better than you what is appropriate to reach the non-Christian. So pray with your artists and your staff - privately - but let the Lord take care of the rest. And if you feel you absolutely must open and/or close with a public prayer, keep it to 30 seconds or less. Youth coffeehouses We have seen quite a number of ministries that call themselves "youth coffeehouses." Here at ChristianCoffeehouse.info, we do include such ministries in our nationwide coffeehouse list; nevertheless, we avoid that term, and discourage its use, because we have found that it is really a bit of a misnomer. Inevitably, in our experience, such ministries tend to be, or to become, much closer to being "youth" things than being "coffeehouse" things. If a "youth coffeehouse" is what you're planning, it is probably more appropriate for you to think in terms of designing a regularly-scheduled youth activity with coffeehouse aspects to it (music - probably Christian rock and probably live - and some level of food service), rather than a coffeehouse ministry that is going to try to attract youth. Legal issues Even using volunteer staff, there are a number of legal issues to consider. Among them are business licenses, sales tax collection, incorporation if you choose to do so, liability insurance, and health regulations. And, of course, if you do have paid employees, there are numerous regulations associated with that. Operating under the umbrella of a church, or some other already-existing non-profit organization, may or may not exempt you from some of these issues. There is a section of the IRS Web site that provides federal tax information relating to charitable organizations. ChristianCoffeehouse.info does not provide legal, financial, tax, or other professional advice. Check with appropriate authorities and/or experts in these fields. If you don't know where to start, then contact your local Chamber of Commerce, tell them what you want to do (you will probably have to explain in detail since they will probably not know what a Christian coffeehouse is), and ask what legal requirements apply in your state and locality. You can find a Chamber of Commerce in your area by searching the Web site of the United States Chamber of Commerce. Naming your coffeehouse How do you know that a given coffeehouse name has not already been used? You can do an online search for it, using a general search engine such as Google or AllTheWeb, but many coffeehouses do not have any online presence (which in our opinion is a big mistake on their part, but it's true nonetheless). If you do something like that, to even try to be comprehensive, you would need to do multiple searches using both "coffeehouse" (one word) and "coffee house" (two words). Another thing to do is to look through our nationwide list of Christian coffeehouses. It's very possible that if you wanted to use the same name as a coffeehouse 500 or 1000 or 2000 miles away, that if you contacted them, they might not mind. (A good analogy here might be church names, which of course are duplicated constantly in different cities.) Or, you might try to contact them and find out that they no longer exist, in which case you will have to decide whether the name should still be considered to be taken. There is also the matter of trademarks to consider. You can check the US Patent and Trademark Office's Web site to see whether a name is taken as a trademark nationally. Also check to see whether a name has been registered in your state; you can do this through the Web site of your state's Secretary of State. The National Association of Secretaries of State has links to individual state sites. Your non-profit status, and/or that of your church, is not likely to make any difference in regard to any of this. And, of course, check your local phone book, and phone books of other cities nearby, to see whether a name is used. Since we believe every Christian coffeehouse should have a Web site, you will want to see whether your chosen name is available as an Internet domain name. WhoIsReport.com is a good place to do this. Now, having said all that, what should you do? What we have always seen is that people just select a name they like and run with it. ChristianCoffeehouse.info cannot give you legal advice, and nothing here should be construed as legal advice. So how far you want to go with this is really up to you. And if the Holy Spirit is nudging you to follow or not follow certain specific things we have suggested here, then of course you should obey Him. One word or two? Which is correct: "coffeehouse" or "coffee house"? Here at ChristianCoffeehouse.info, as a matter of editorial style, we normally write "coffeehouse" as one word - but in a few places on our site, we've deliberately used the two-word version, so that people who use search engines to look for information about Christian coffeehouses will find us either way. The American Heritage Dictionary gives preference to the one-word version, but also lists the two-word version as correct. More information Also read the following for more information:
If your question isn't answered here... We always welcome the opportunity to talk (or exchange e-mail) with those who feel a call to set up a Christian coffeehouse, and we would be glad to share with you the experiences of coffeehouses with which we've worked. Please do not contact us with a generic request for more information; all we can do with that is refer you to the resources we've already listed in the "More information" section on this page, immediately above. And do not even think of asking us how to make a profit with a Christian coffeehouse, for a Christian coffeehouse business plan, or for any advice regarding funding of a Christian coffeehouse. But if you have any specific questions that are not already answered here, please contact us and we'll gladly try to help. |
©2005-2007 David Grant. Legal notices. |
