Open your coffee shop (or neighborhood business) with AI in one afternoon

Who it is for

For anyone about to open a coffee shop, bakery, taco stand or any neighborhood business with no marketing team and no budget for an agency. Already open? It still works: skip the naming step and start with Google.

What you will have at the end

• Three finalist names with a tagline and a checklist to verify the domain, Instagram handle and trademark.
• Your Google Business profile with categories, description and a plan to reach 30 reviews.
• A 30-day launch plan with the budget split and three numbers to check every Sunday.
• A mascot with a personality, drawing rules and prompts to generate it.
• A 30-second reel script and the shot list to film it in one hour.

Step by step

1. Step 1

   Put your details in a single note

   Every prompt will ask you for almost the same things. Write them once and copy from there: what makes your business different in one sentence, two types of customer you want to attract, the neighborhood and who walks by, similar businesses nearby, the opening date and how much you can spend on the launch.

   Tip: Open a new conversation in Claude or ChatGPT for this project and paste the note at the top. That way every answer starts from the same context.

2. Step 2

   Find the name and the voice

   This prompt works like a naming director: it opens territories first and then filters, instead of handing you a list of random ideas.

   BR-0252Name and verbal identity for an independent coffee shopProOpen prompt →

   What to fill in

   • What makes your coffee shop different: coffee origin, vibe, food, hours or your story.
   • Two types of customer you want to attract.
   • City and area.
   • Competing coffee shops nearby, by name.
   • What you do not want: worn-out words, puns, another language.

   What to expect

   Four naming territories, 15 options already filtered with the reason for each cut, three finalists with a tagline of six words or fewer, and how the brand would sound on a chalkboard and in a reply to a review. It ends with a checklist for the domain, Instagram handle, trademark registration and Google Maps.

   Tip: Say the three finalists out loud as if you were answering the phone. The one you stumble on is out. Already have a name? Use the prompt only for the tagline and the voice.

3. Step 3

   Get your Google Business profile ready

   Most people in your area will find you on Maps before they find you on Instagram. This step makes the profile work for you from day one.

   MK-0256Google Business profile that brings visits from your areaFreeOpen prompt →

   What to fill in

   • Business name and type.
   • Neighborhood or city.
   • What people type when they look for what you sell, in their words.
   • How your profile looks today: photos, reviews, hours, posts (or whether it does not exist yet).

   What to expect

   Main and secondary categories with the reasoning, a 750-character description, which photos to upload and in what order, a plan to reach 30 reviews in two months with the exact message to ask for them, how to reply to a good and a bad review, and four posts for the first month.

   Tip: Write what people search the way a neighbor would say it ("coffee near me", "breakfast in Downtown"), not the way it reads on your menu.

4. Step 4

   Build the 30-day launch plan

   With the name and profile ready, it is time to plan the weeks around the opening so the whole budget does not go into the first weekend.

   MK-025130-day launch plan for a neighborhood coffee shopFreeOpen prompt →

   What to fill in

   • Name and concept in one sentence (from step 2).
   • Neighborhood and who walks by.
   • Opening date.
   • Launch budget.
   • Social accounts you already have.

   What to expect

   Four weeks: the two before opening (local buzz, Google Business, partnerships with three neighbors), opening week (a promotion that does not give away your margin and how to get the first 20 reviews) and the next two so first-time visitors come back. Each week comes with dated actions, what to post, how much to spend and who does it if you work alone. At the end, three numbers to check every Sunday.

   Tip: When it is done, ask in the same conversation: "turn this into a table with date, action and owner". That table goes straight into your calendar.

5. Step 5

   Create a mascot you can use on your own

   A mascot makes the business memorable and gives you material for social media, packaging and signage without calling a designer every time. The prompt gives you the rules and the image prompts; you generate the image in Midjourney or ChatGPT.

   IL-0252Simple mascot for a neighborhood business, ready for social media and packagingFreeOpen prompt →

   What to fill in

   • Business name and type.
   • Who buys: age and what they are like.
   • Brand personality in three words.
   • Where it will appear: social media, packaging, sign, uniforms.

   What to expect

   Three mascot concepts with their risk, a sheet for the recommended one (name, personality, how it talks and three things it would never do), drawing rules with shapes, colors and four expressions, four image prompts for different poses and ten ideas to use it in the first month.

   Tip: Generate the front pose first. Once you like it, upload it as an image reference for the other three poses so the mascot looks the same in all of them.

6. Step 6

   Write and shoot your first 30-second reel

   The last step introduces your business to people who do not know you yet, with a video you shoot yourself on your phone.

   VD-025130-second reel script to introduce your businessFreeOpen prompt →

   What to fill in

   • Business: name, what you sell and where.
   • What makes you different, in one sentence.
   • Who you want to see it.
   • Whether you appear on camera or only the product or the place.

   What to expect

   Three hooks for the first two seconds (question, visual and fact), the script as a second-by-second table with what is seen, what is said and the on-screen text, the shot list to film in one hour, the ending with its call to action, the caption with local hashtags and what to change if after a week it has fewer views than your other videos.

   Tip: Shoot in the order of the shot list, not the script. And put your mascot in the last frame: it is what people will remember.