Launching a New Merry Berry Café

Overview

I led the launch of a new Merry Berry Cafe in Kherson, expanding the brand from a single downtown branch to a high-traffic residential neighborhood. I managed all aspects of the launch, including pre-opening awareness, local promotion, hiring, staff training, campaign coordination, opening-day activation, and product promotion.

The goal was to establish the new location as a significant revenue driver while maintaining performance at the original branch. The launch delivered a strong opening, rapid revenue growth, and sustained results at both locations.

Context

Before this launch, I operated a Merry Berry Cafe in downtown Kherson, near the central park, schools, and universities. The business performed well, but I identified an opportunity to expand into a residential neighborhood centered around Promenad Plaza, an open-air shopping center with strong daily foot traffic and no similar café nearby.

This second location was a significantly larger format: the first branch was 50 m², while the new branch was 160 m². This change was significant — the first location focused on takeaway, while the new branch offered greater potential for dine-in customers, particularly families, teens, and local residents.

I officially opened the new branch on August 24, Ukraine's Independence Day, to take advantage of one of the busiest days of the summer.

Challenge

Opening the second branch required addressing several challenges simultaneously:

• Build awareness in a new neighborhood before opening
• Recruit and train an entirely new team
• Generate sufficient launch momentum to justify significant renovation costs
• Increase overall business revenue without impacting the original location's performance

Financial pressure was significant. After borrowing approximately $35,000 for the opening, I had less than $10,000 remaining, so the new location needed to gain traction quickly.

My Role

I managed nearly all aspects of the launch, including:

• Launch planning and timing
• Local awareness strategy
• Coordination with franchise design and interior teams
• Recruiting and hiring
• Staff training
• Social media and targeted advertising
• Influencer outreach
• Opening-day promotional mechanics
• In-location rollout and launch execution

Strategy

I approached the opening as a local go-to-market launch, rather than a standard store opening. I focused on four things:

1. 1

   Build visibility before launch

   I used the storefront as a teaser, displaying a large "Opening Soon" Merry Berry banner during renovations. Additionally, I secured city billboards for several months before and after the opening to maintain high visibility.

2. 2

   Create local anticipation

   I promoted the opening on Instagram, informed existing customers about the new location, and partnered with local Instagram pages to reach audiences beyond Merry Berry's. I invited local influencers to a private tasting of new coffee varieties and drinks before the opening, which generated early social exposure.

3. 3

   Launch with timely, localized offers

   Since the launch coincided with Independence Day and Kherson's association with watermelons, I introduced limited-time drinks: a Ukrainian-flag-inspired drink, watermelon smoothie, and watermelon lemonade. These products made the opening feel seasonal, local, and visually appealing. The Ukrainian-flag drink was the most successful, performing well due to its strong appeal on Instagram.

4. 4

   Use opening-day mechanics to increase average transaction size

   I introduced a lottery: customers who spent more than 200 UAH could spin a prize wheel to win a free item or 200, 500, or 1000 UAH in app credit. With the average check at approximately 150 UAH, this provided cashiers with a clear upsell target and made the launch more interactive.

Execution

I handled the execution across both promotion and operations.

Pre-opening promotion

• Ordered and placed outdoor advertising
• Coordinated franchise-approved creative assets
• Ran targeted ads for both customers and job seekers
• Promoted the upcoming opening through social channels
• Used the renovation banner as a high-visibility awareness tool

Hiring and staff preparation

• Launched a hiring campaign myself
• Hired around 10 employees
• Trained the team from scratch to follow brand standards
• Prepared staff to support launch-day upselling and prize distribution

Opening-week activation

• Distributed flyers in the mall on opening day
• Used branded purple balloons to increase neighborhood visibility and family appeal
• Promoted the mobile app through launch materials
• Ran the in-store lottery to encourage higher average orders

Content and brand coordination

• Directed the launch video with the filming crew
• Gave feedback on creative materials and revised them with designers
• Coordinated visuals including banners, billboards, and hiring ads

Results

Strong early traction

The launch drew very high traffic in its first days and weeks. Timing played a major role: Independence Day, the last week of summer, strong outdoor foot traffic, and a family-friendly environment all helped drive turnout.

Revenue growth without damaging the original branch

The original branch did not appear to be negatively affected in the short term, which was important given the two locations were more than 4 km apart and served different neighborhood patterns.

Business impact

At the monthly level, the business also scaled significantly: July at ~342k UAH with one branch, August at ~520k UAH with one full branch plus approximately one launch week of the second, and September at ~963k UAH with both branches operating. That progression shows the new location materially expanded total revenue.

Key Takeaways

Launching the second Merry Berry Cafe taught me that a successful opening is not just about visibility. It works best when location strategy, launch timing, offer design, and customer motivation all reinforce each other.

In this case, the strongest drivers were:

• Choosing the right neighborhood
• Opening on a high-traffic holiday
• Creating limited products people wanted to photograph and share
• Giving staff a clear incentive structure to lift average spend
• Building awareness before opening rather than starting from zero on day one