First Bike Café in Paris - Investment/Suggestions wanted

Well hello there,

I've been using LFGSS for years now and since my business partner and I are going through the motions of opening Paris' first bike cafe, I thought 'why not ask LFGSS for help?'.

I'm from Liverpool and my business partner, Chris, is from Melbourne (I know, gross). We've been making bikes for a while now and feel like it's time for Paris to get it's arse into gear and catch up with the rest of the world by opening it's first 'café vélo'.

We were just wondering if anyone has any ideas and suggestions or perhaps a million european dollar yen spare. We have one bike enthusiast from London who wants to invest. But maybe you or someone you know could also help out?

Our numbers, business plan and most suppliers are all sorted. We're looking out for investment (because we'd rather see a cyclist benefit than a bank) and locations. Then it's all go.

In short, any feedback or help would be great. And of course, you are all invited to the launch party. More on that early next year...

Thanks for reading,
Jacob and Chris.

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Sounds brill!

Unfortunately I can't invest, but good luck!

How much are you looking for?

And are there really no other velo cafes in Paris?

Having looked into it recently as I had a day in Paris during the Tour, I'm fairly sure there aren't. I'd been to some of the better bike shops before and while there are a few interesting ones they really aren't places to hang out in, so I think this is a good idea.

I asked about watching the Tour and was just told to go to a bar but I didn't see any bars that were showing it and my French wasn't up to asking anywhere to change the channel when I didn't know what channel it was on...

Traditionally at least (as I understand it) watching bicycle races was a pursuit enjoyed by the rest of France but eschewed by bohemian Parisian types, plus bike cafés are an inherently modern concept (I think - where was the world's first bike café?!) so that probably explains it.

I don't know about Parisians but a bike café in Paris would certainly be popular with visiting Londoners. Or at least this one.

The French love visiting London and see it as a source of trends/cool stuff so I could also see it being popular with Parisians. If it did good coffee (say on a par with Caféothèque) that would be something going for it too, coffee in Paris is nearly always terrible!

Montmartre. Must be best place, most graffiti. Most hipster. Such fashion leaders. Amelie has to be the opener. Good luck

I think as LMNH has shown, much of the success lies in the name, so hope you've found a good name that resonates with French culture.

Needless to say, it should be somewhere where there's a lot of cycling. While LMNH is popular with everyone in the area, not just people who happen to be riding bikes past it, I think a steady stream of bikes does help. Considering that there is a less pronounced pattern of radial commuting in Paris, certainly nothing like the Hipster Spice Route (Paris is a much better-planned city than London), this may be slightly more difficult, but I can't imagine it to be impossible.

Good luck in any case!

Montmatre, hipster? Too many tourists surely?!

Belleville would be perfect if it wasn't up a hill. You could call it Belleville Rendez Vous ;)

Parisians definitely don't like riding up hills though, you can never find a Vélib' up a hill but there are always plenty at the bottom.

Yeah, Montmatre isn't all that. Somewhere around the Latin Quarter, Val-de-Grace or Montparnasse perhaps? I don't think the French focus in on specific areas or districts like Londoners do.

There's that one shop - that stocks Wapha and Brooks (it's name escapes me, though is trop trendy and stands out as being so) - that looks like it would be a great place to be near? The rest of the shops on the road/area are pretty chic (in a non-parisienny arseholey way).

I always though Paris was a bit naff with trendy/roadie/decent-fixie bits. Quite a risk though with big rewards to ride the "fuck practicality (and the electric bikes)...this is for bike porn" wave

Edit: zis is ze magasin... http://ensellemarcel.com/

Well don't worry, it's really not massively about all of you investing, as I said we really want feedback to make it the best one. And LFGSS is a good place to get such help. Fantastic coffee is essential. A friend of mine is a world champion barista, he still resides in London. He wants to come over and train everyone who works there. We're hoping to be recognised for a decent cuppa Joe just as much as good service, nice comfortable layout and sexual bikes AOTS. Montmartre is great (should point out that there is a really good café up there called 'Kooka Boora' if you're visiting and you're up that way, go in. They're really friendly and they're mostly ozzies so not speaking french aint no thing.) the problem with Montmartre is that it's uphill, like Belleville. As @Fox said, not many people would want to ride uphill. One of our biggest aims is to advertise cycling to the curious.

@ptr - We have some investment already but if you're interested it may be a good idea to PM.

@Dan_W - That shop is really cool, I live just around the corner. Full of porn but sadly a little overpriced. My favourite bike shop, although it's kind of out the way, is La Bicyclette. Run by two brothers. The place is a mess but they know their shit and they always have 'something in the back'. My business partner Chris was looking for some sugino 75s (he likes to buy parts from them because it's fairly priced and they're facking cool) anyway, they had these Dura Ace cranks that he ended up liking more. Some of the frames they have are incredibly rare. They'd make a mint if they put a couple on here.

@The_Kindness_of_Trees - You're completely right. Most areas are pretty diverse and to be honest you can always find decent places to go in each arrondissement. The thing is, Paris is tiny, so it's not a massive ball ache to go from one end to the other. I used to live as far east as you can get and I worked as far west as you can get. It took me just over 20 minutes to commute. But we're kind of thinking around the 10th would be ideal. Anyone know Canal St Martin?

French coffee is terrible

It's actually getting a lot better. There are several places that opened within the past couple of years that are pretty popular. People are finally paying attention to it.

You are right though. Your average french coffee is dogs hit.

Yes, Canal St Martin in the 10th would be great. Very hipster. Ten Belles do great coffee around there.

Good luck!

You can probably go down one of two routes, although I don't know which one is going to be more successful or more suited to your style.

LMNH is the sort of aspirational place that crosses over cafe culture with a bike shop. You go there to enjoy good food, check out the shiny things and be part of the dawn til late cycling culture. It's verges on a bistro for the type of food on offer and offers some great events that support and explore some of the niche parts of the cycling community's interests. Alas, it is a bit crap for actual cycling. Any ride starting or finishing there will have to involve a degree of very urban riding which isn't always tremendously engaging unless your doing something like an alleycat or a themed/sight-seeing ride

The Eureka Cafe. As a good Liverpool lad I'm sure your familiar with this little gem. While the food is cooked to the same high quality, the fare is at the more basic end of the scale. The workshop is still as good and, although there is some shiny stuff, the supplies are a bit more functional. It doesn't do late openings but does function very much as a club hut for the local clubs and occasional destination for visiting ones.

I'm not sure how either would function in Paris. What I would suggest is that you start simply. Draw up a list of things, preferably in abstract, that you would like to offer. Cut that list down to the 6 or 7 things that you absolutely must have and do that. I've seen new businesses fail because they've tried to offer too much right at the start and not been able to give their target audience something to latch on to as an identity.

Yeah, I like the idea of a small cycling club that serves tea. But at the same time, it's not really going to make money in Paris. I've never been to The Eureka Café sadly, but it looks really nice.

I like LMNH too but we don't plan to serve alcohol ourselves. Too risky and we decided that we don't want to encourage cyclists to get on the saddle after a bunch of fine ales. We'll serve healthy food, great coffee and we hope that it will become a nice hangout/pitt stop. We want to encourage people to fix their own bikes by providing space, tools and classes, but we will of course fix them too, if that's what the customer wants. Throw in friendly customer service and we're ticking a few boxes that would fill a gap in the Parisian market. They're our main points I'd say.

I'm looking to potentially move to Paris in the new year because I'm young and why not.
I've a lot of customer service experience if you need an extra pair of hands if this gets up and running :)

good idea and good luck with the project
I'm french and I've lived in paris for 7 years, and cycling has definitly picked up in the past 10 years, there is definitly a place for it.
The area you pick is definitly gonna play a great part in the image and practicality of the place. 3rd, 10th, 11th, bottom of the 20th and 19th would be best in my mind.
As for rides, even if it is even harder to get out of the city than london !

Yeah, thanks @LuigiDolomite. We were thinking that canal St Martin and right up the canal would be quite good. When it changes at Stalingrad it stays quite cool and you have pony ephemera up there too. So that covers almost all the districts you mention.

@PhilDAS Do you know coffee or bikes really well? Do you speak french?

plenty pony

yep, the canal is good, the upper section canal de l'ourcQ is probalby even better as so many people and businesses settle in the north-east now, Pantin and Aubervillers.

definitly up for an an inaugural london to paris to london ride... just sayin

I know bikes, I like coffee but I don't have much knowledge about it. Nothing I couldn't learn.
My french is basic at the moment but I'll be learning in the coming months.

Anywhere in that rough triangle connecting Jaures, Nation and Bastille ought to be fine - edge of the 10th, 11th, bottom of the 19/20 and top of the 12th., down around La Bicyclette would get you all the fixed gear crowd who hang around there and Le Penty, although you may get them anywhere.
Tricky part may be finding a place large enough to host such a venue without going too far a field.

ensellemarcel is a fucking awful store, the madame who stalks the front won't let you touch anything, or even enter if you've got a coffee in hand.

Bit out the way but this place is available, dunno how large it is, but plenty of space outside, by the canal bottom, near the Velorution. Most importantly on my street.

Good spot. The bottom of the 4th seems to have been left behind by the rise of surrounding areas, it can only get better. Does the small bridge work as a commuter/connector route? The Quai Rapee area is bike hostile so locating on a usable by-pass would help.
Wherever you are good bike parking is essential, maybe buy an old van or pick-up, cut it open and install bike hangers.
I think you should do some interesting beer and wine, say it's only available with food and set the price above local boozers.
Good coffee is sure to be a winner, compared to what the locals drink. Tea can be interesting, I was in France last week and good tea was easier to find than in London. There is a tea shop opening on Broadway Market so it must be trendy.

Had a meeting with Belleville Coffee yesterday. They do delicious coffee. And it's roasted in Paris which fits pretty well with the whole local supplier/local community thing we're going for.

Anyone else tasted it?