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Today there are more cafes than you can can also come just for the coffee without
visit in a year and it doesn’t seem to slow having to do your hair. I think it’s a good
down. More and more people dream of new concept, and 80% of my customers are
owning a café, and it tempts other busi- coffee lovers,” Tom said.
nesses to look into the coffee business Another hybrid cafés we interviewed
because the food and beverage business were velayenn and Toy Café & Relax.
is growing very rapidly as “everyone must Velayenn is a bike shop + café where cy-
eat and drink”. clists can stop by for a cup of coffee, food,
Every business must find its sell- and bicycle or bike accessories! The shop
ing point, but wouldn’t it be great if we provides a space for cyclist community
can combine the strength of 2 businesses which they can meet people with similar
together. Coffee is a business that can be interest. Toy Café & Relax is a massage spa
quite easy to blend in with other business- + café which Tuk took over from the pre-
es, and that’s why we are now seeing an vious owner. She was a regular customer
increasing number of “Hybrid Cafés” that at the shop and when the previous owner
combine coffee with salon, bike shop, spa, wanted to sell the business, she took the Tanadol Songklao:
etc. This issue of CTI talks to owners of a opportunity without hesitation. Tom Lay Cut
3 hybrid cafés, Tanadol Songklao (Tom),
owner of Tom Lay Cut, Siriluck Mahachan-
tanarporn (Jung), owner of valayenn, and
Aoratai Sangwilai (Tuk), owner of Toy
Café & Relax, who share their perspectives
on the business.
The Beginning
Tanadol Songklao, or who the beauty
industry known as Tom, is a leading hair-
dresser in Thailand. While most of his
shops are salons, his latest branch is a new
concept of coffee + salon. When he found a
spacious location for his new shop, he came
up with the idea to integrate coffee into the
space as he is a coffee lover. “We have a lot
of space in the shop, and we always wanted
to have coffee in our salon. It has to be a Blending the Businesses
serious café, not just a coffee corner in a “A café requires quite a lot of invest-
salon. Customers will be able to relax and ment, so you need to be passionate and
use our Wi-Fi during their hair-do while willing to learn. As a hairdresser, I don’t
their friends can wait at the café and en- have any coffee knowledge at all. I rely on
joy a cup of coffee with some sweets. You my passion, learn from scratch, and send
the staffs to get professional trainings. We
often ask for feedback from customers in
order to improve our services. The overall
result is quite good and customers like our
concept,” Tom began with passion and
practice to make perfect. For management,
Tom thinks salon and café are similar busi-
nesses as they both are service businesses.
“This concept shop is my first step. If it
goes well, I’ll take the concept to my other
branches. We get very positive feedbacks
for both salon and café customers, and
we’ll evaluate the concept again after in
6 months. Now we have promotions like
buy one get one free and if you wait for a
friend to do his/her hair at the salon, you
can get a free cup of coffee while waiting.
We are serious about the café business
although we are still a baby with lots to
learn. I think we wouldn’t make it if we do
a stand-alone café, so blending what we do
best to the café help attract customers and
benefit both businesses.”

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