Things we've learned about opening a café

Small Business Life is learning things on the fly and pretending to know what you’re doing until it starts making sense.

Running a café has been much the same. We have now been open every single day for two whole years, and here is what we’ve learned.

1. It’s all about consistency. People come because they know we are open and they know what we offer. It’s a big detour, but you’ve all decided it’s a worthwhile one to make with the lure of the best coffee for miles around, some nice views, some peace and quiet and generally nice vibes.

2. Community is not something which ever features in a business plan or in the monthly management accounts. But it’s 100% true that it is the most valuable asset we have. This is true of the gym and campsite too. People come, they tell their mates, and their mates like it and do the same. All the while, people make friends here, they meet friends here and they keep coming back because of it. This includes people who come here purely to sit alone and in silence because it is peaceful and safe. Community is priceless.

3. Great baristas are worth paying more for. You see a lot of café businesses struggling to make ends meet at the moment with increasing costs across the board, not least of all the coffee itself. With prices necessarily going up, if your coffee isn’t worth paying for then the whole business falls apart. Skilled baristas are relatively hard to come by once you are out of Zone 2, and they are worth their weight in gold when you find a good one. 

4. The cheapest option is rarely the best. We pay more for our cups because we have our lovely illustrations on them, we pay more for our hot choc powder because it’s bloody lovely, we pay more for our coffee beans because they’re the best around, we pay more for our gelato because they’re a tiny local supplier and it’s amazing. This all adds up to more spend for us and slightly higher prices for customers, but it’s a hell of a lot more fun and more rewarding than filling up a CostCo trolley once a week.

5. It’s mad how much storage you need. Want a couple of cases of soft drinks? That’ll come on a pallet. 3 months of disposable cups? That’s probably 12 boxes and 2 pallets. We now use racking 4 shelves high across a 7 metre wall to keep all our spares.

6. Finding the best local suppliers you can will make your life easier. Local does not always mean good, but once you find the good ones, they will look after you. Plus, The Coca Cola Company and it's shareholders does not need any more money.

7. The global markets for cocoa and caffeine are a wild place at the moment, keep an eye on the macro trends and be prepared to increase prices.

8. You can’t do everything. Particularly in a small space like ours. We’d love an oven for heating up sausage rolls, a draught beer font and more ways to display merch, but it’s just not possible with the restrictions we have, for now.

9. Sandwiches are surprisingly complicated. We ran some in depth testing last year, and produced some top notch sambos but we had to pull the plug. With our fluctuating footfall, the logistics around ordering bread and fresh ingredients in the right volumes on a daily basis was too complex to justify the risk. 

10. It’s the unglamourous stuff which is often the most important. Sure, your flat white will always look beautiful, but it’s the twice daily fridge & freezer temperature checks, the extensive cleaning routine and the constant work with suppliers to ensure we have what we need and when we need it that makes it all function. 

11. The skill of ordering fresh produce in the right quantities is hard to master but mightily satisfying when done well. You'll never know satisfaction like selling the 24th of 24 doughnuts at 14:59 on a Sunday.