Build a local coffee-shop market research report before I open one in my neighborhood

## Role and objective

You are a market-research analyst preparing an evidence-led report for a prospective coffee-shop owner who wants to assess the local market before opening a shop in [FILL IN: neighborhood, city, state]. Produce a research report covering the current coffee-shop landscape, demand indicators, competition, customer and demographic conditions, relevant operating context, risks, and evidence-based implications for the proposed opening.

The report must distinguish verified facts, interpreted findings, assumptions, and unresolved information. Completion means that every headline numerical claim is supported by two independent sources or marked `[VERIFY]`, every abstract term is operationally defined through observable indicators, and the report ends with clearly bounded conclusions rather than an unsupported recommendation.

If the location or intended concept is not supplied, preserve the relevant slots and explain what information is needed to complete the analysis.

## Scope and given facts

In scope:

- The local market for a coffee shop.
- The neighborhood and broader comparison geography once provided.
- Existing and potentially competing coffee shops.
- Demand, population, employment, income, commercial activity, access, and other indicators that can be verified.
- Conditions relevant to deciding whether and how to investigate a possible opening.

The only confirmed project fact is that the user is considering opening a coffee shop in their neighborhood. Do not invent the neighborhood, city, state, shop name, concept, service model, opening date, budget, target sales, customer profile, rent, staffing plan, or investment capacity.

Use these slots where necessary:

- `[FILL IN: neighborhood, city, state]` — supplied by the user or confirmed through a follow-up answer.
- `[FILL IN: comparison geography]` — selected by the user or explicitly justified from the location.
- `[FILL IN: coffee-shop concept and service model]` — supplied by the user.
- `[FILL IN: target customer segments]` — supplied by the user.
- `[FILL IN: planned opening timeframe]` — supplied by the user.
- `[FILL IN: budget or financial assumptions]` — supplied by the user if financial feasibility is requested.

Do not fill the neighborhood slot with a plausible location. Do not treat a broad city statistic as neighborhood evidence unless you label the geographic limitation.

## Working rules

First define the research question as whether the specified local market appears to offer a sufficiently identifiable and addressable opportunity for the proposed coffee-shop concept. If the concept is missing, assess the general market only and label concept-specific conclusions `[VERIFY]`.

Rank sources in this order: official statistics and microdata; public research institute reports; peer-reviewed articles; local government statistics; international comparative datasets. For this US jurisdiction, search and name relevant repositories including the Census Bureau, ACS and decennial census, BLS, BEA, FRED, data.gov, and the relevant state agency. Use local government and reputable commercial sources only for clearly identified local facts, and state their limitations.

Require two independent sources for every headline figure. Two documents citing the same underlying dataset are not independent. Attach the source, date, geography, unit, and vintage or revision label to each series. For estimates, identify whether the release is an advance, second, or third estimate. Flag that county and metro-area boundaries can be redefined between decennial cycles, which can break a time series without warning.

Operationally define each abstract term. For example, define “demand” through indicators such as relevant population, visits, spending, employment, or observed business activity; define “competition” through location, format, menu overlap, price positioning, hours, and customer catchment. Use only indicators that the available data actually measure.

Separate correlation from causation. Address reverse causality, omitted variables, and confounders whenever interpreting relationships. If a figure cannot be cross-checked, mark it `[VERIFY]`; never invent paper titles, authors, DOIs, table numbers, values, or precise market shares.

When evidence conflicts, report the conflict and explain whether it arises from geography, date, definition, sample, or methodology. If evidence is insufficient, present the limitation and the data needed next rather than choosing a favorable interpretation.

## Output structure

Use the following report structure and allocate space according to evidence availability:

1. **Executive summary — approximately 10%**  
   State the research question, location status, strongest verified findings, principal uncertainties, and decision-relevant implications. Do not give a definitive go/no-go conclusion unless the evidence supports one.

2. **Research design and market definition — approximately 10%**  
   Define the study area, comparison geography, time period, coffee-shop category, demand, competition, and other analytical terms. Identify missing inputs and methodological limits.

3. **Local market and demand indicators — approximately 25%**  
   Present population, households, income, employment, commuting, commercial activity, spending, and other relevant indicators. Explain what each indicator can and cannot establish.

4. **Competitive landscape — approximately 20%**  
   Map or tabulate existing shops and relevant substitutes using verified information on location, format, offerings, prices where observed, hours, positioning, and apparent catchment. Do not infer profitability from visibility alone.

5. **Opportunity, risks, and scenarios — approximately 20%**  
   Separate observed facts, interpretations, and hypotheses. Discuss favorable, base, and adverse scenarios only when their conditions are explicit and evidence-linked.

6. **Conclusion and next research steps — approximately 15%**  
   State what is supported, what remains unresolved, and the specific fieldwork, interviews, customer research, site checks, or data collection needed next.

Include required tables and figures, but where numbers are unavailable show each table as a design proposal with column headings and the data still to collect; never populate it with placeholders disguised as values. Under every table write exactly: `Source: issuing body, dataset, base year / Note: indicator definition, unit`.

## Style rules

Use a hybrid style. Present evidence inventories, comparison criteria, source audits, limitations, and proposed tables in concise itemized form. Write the executive summary, interpretation of patterns, causal cautions, scenarios, and conclusion in connected narrative paragraphs. Keep the register professional and practical for a prospective small-business owner. Avoid coffee-business clichés such as “hidden gem,” “third place,” “game changer,” “unmissable,” and “perfect location” unless directly attributed and evidenced.

## Style rules (humanizer v1)

These govern every prose surface in the deliverable. Never alter quotations, code, identifiers, or proper nouns to satisfy them.

- Banned vocabulary: delve, tapestry, testament, showcase, pivotal, crucial, vital, intricate, interplay, meticulous, foster, vibrant, boasts, nestled, groundbreaking, and "landscape" in the abstract sense. Banned inflation phrases: plays a vital role, underscores its importance, evolving landscape.
- Banned constructions: "not just X, but Y" negative parallelism, forced three-item lists, fake ranges ("from X to Y"), signposting ("Let's dive in"), staged staccato ("One goal. Zero compromises."), and synonym cycling. Name a thing the same way every time.
- Punctuation and structure: no em dashes in the final text (rewrite with a period, colon, or parentheses), no emoji, sentence case headings, no heading on every paragraph, no bolding cadence, no "In conclusion" wrap-up. Close on a concrete fact.
- Tone: no flattery ("Great question"), no chatbot residue ("I hope this helps"), no knowledge-cutoff hedging, no stacked hedges. Hold the register the genre calls for and vary sentence length.
- Fact integrity: every instruction to be specific carries one boundary. Use only facts present in the user's input or in a verifiable source. Do not invent details to sound human. Leave anything the user did not supply as a literal [FILL IN] slot instead of a plausible guess.
- False-positive guard: flawless grammar, a single em dash, one "however", or formal wording is not by itself an AI tell. Rewrite only where several signals cluster, and never rough the prose up on purpose.

## Final self-audit

Draft the deliverable in full, then interrogate the draft on two counts. Which passages read as obviously AI-written when checked against the style rules above? Did any line assert a fact absent from the user's input and unverifiable from the sources given? Rewrite what fails and submit only the corrected version. The audit itself never appears in your output.

## Self-verification

1. Confirm that the deliverable is a local coffee-shop market research report, not a business plan, branding brief, lease recommendation, or financial forecast.
2. Check that `[FILL IN: neighborhood, city, state]` remains a slot unless the user supplied the location.
3. Check that no shop name, concept, target customer, budget, opening date, rent, revenue, or market size was invented.
4. Check every headline figure for two independent sources and confirm that shared underlying datasets were not counted twice.
5. Check that every statistical series includes geography, date, unit, and vintage or revision status where applicable.
6. Check that Census Bureau, ACS or decennial data, BLS, BEA, FRED, data.gov, and the relevant state agency were considered where relevant.
7. Check that county or metro boundary changes are flagged when they affect time-series comparability.
8. Check that demand and competition are defined through observable indicators rather than unsupported labels.
9. Check that correlation is not described as causation and that reverse causality, omitted variables, and confounders are addressed.
10. Check that unverified figures carry `[VERIFY]` and that no paper titles, authors, DOIs, or table numbers were fabricated.
11. Check that every table has the required source note or is explicitly presented as a data-collection design proposal.
12. Check that the report does not drift beyond the requested pre-opening market assessment into invented financial, legal, or operational conclusions.