Repair Cafe Denmark prepared a guide for entities wanting to open a Repair Café. AVA has been granted permission to pass on and select universal recommendations:
- Keep it simple
- Start small and build from there
- Find a catchy name that people will associate with the local area of the Repair Café
- Create a Facebook page and/or website with practical information and pictures
- Find volunteers to help with the preparations and volunteer fixers, who can repair things on the day itself. Start out by finding a few friends or acquaintances or set up advertisements in the local area
- You will need volunteers to help set up the Café, welcome people and to fix used items. As a start, you should find a minimum of 1 person to fix electronics, 1 seamstress and 1 person checking in/receiving guests. As you become more successful, you will need more fixers
- Once you have assembled your team of volunteers, you must find out what you want/can help with repairing. Remember the Café activities should not distort competition with local businesses
- Find people to give or lend you tools in your network
- Find out if you can get sponsorship from the local construction market, local committee or municipality
- Make sure to be present as often as possible and acknowledge all the volunteers for helping to make a difference
- Communicate important information in a simple and clear manner
- Find out where you can borrow a free room: local associations, cultural centres, libraries, cafes, schools, the municipality or an existing café (preferably non-profit). Most Repair Cafés have between 10-50 visitors at once, so there should be plenty of space. The room should accommodate 4-5 tables for fixers and users to sit. Involve and engage people and let them own the event. Everyone should be able to join regardless of age
- Create a cozy setting
- Keep track of all the practicalities and make sure your tools are in order
- Find out how often you want the Repair Café to open. Start with fewer times i.e. with a pop-up event. Remember that everyone is a volunteer, so do not have too to high ambitions for how often you can open the Repair Café. We recommend to open the Repair Café once a month for approx. 3-4 hours. But most importantly, be consistent and people will start coming too
Marketing
It is essential to do some PR activities including: Time, place, date and what you offer to repair.
If you get sponsored for your Repair Café, it is a good idea to credit the sponsors in your PR material.
Always remember to use your Repair Café logo.
Examples of PR activities
- Make a post on the local Repair Café Facebook page
- Make a post on your own Facebook profile and share. Also consider sharing on other social media, e.g. Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Create a Facebook event that people can sign up for and share
- Make flyers to hand out and posters to hang in the local area, e.g. at libraries, cultural centers, cafes, sports centers or similar
- Contact the local press (local newspaper/radio TV) and invite them to come by so they can make an article
Before holding a Repair Café
- Be sure to bring a computer/lists to record visitors and their belongings
- Remember tools, sewing machines etc
- Bring a weighing scale to weigh all items
- Print lists where new volunteer fixers can sign up
- Print lists of local seamstresses, bicycle blacksmiths, mobile phone repairers, etc. You can refer to
- We do not charge money for the repairs, but it happens that the visitors will put a coin in the coffee box
A few days before the Repair Cafe, it may be a good idea to send a message to the volunteers, telling them what time you will meet and how the day will pan out.
Celebration - tasks on the day
- Set up tables before the Repair Café opens. Be ready on time. Also remember that there must be tools and good light for the fixers
- It is important to have a person responsible for welcoming visitors and registering items to be repaired. All information is registered directly on the website (or in the excel sheet)
- Take photos or short films for your Facebook page
- Repairs should NOT distort competition in relation to local companies, but we should provide things that were otherwise thrown out for a longer life. If you are in doubt about whether the repair is distorting competition, it is a good rule of thumb to ask the user if the item is thrown out or not
- If the fixer is in doubt whether he/she can repair the object, then first ask one of the other fixers, if no one can repair, you refer a nearby company for help
- Make sure that your visitors stay while you repair, and preferably help them to fix their own item as much as possiblee
Evaluation
After the first times you have held a Repair Café, it is good to evaluate the day
- Make a list of pros and cons of the day
- Make a list of what is missing for next time, etc
- Feel free to share photos and stories on social media along the way and afterwards
- Starting a Repair Café is not difficult - just do it! But it requires one or two coordinators who keep the pot boiling
- Enjoy!
