How much money do independent coffee shops make

In fact, there is a contradiction between the two notions in the coffee shop industry. If so, we’ve created an excellent resource for you here. To make a living at a small cafe you need to sell many more cups of coffee than the number of meals you would have to sell to bring in comparable revenue at a small restaurant. Your labor cost increases can be tricky to gauge however, because an increase in customers during normal business owners may not add to your labor cost as one would think. Don’t think that’s possible?

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Show less Starting a restaurant or coffee shop can be very fulfilling. However, these types of businesses can be difficult to maintain. Do you need a loan? How much money will you need? Where will the business be? How is it going to attract customers from other businesses like yours?

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Ever wonder how that local coffee shop owner makes money? The fact of the matter is Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. Just think about the numbers. Let’s suppose you’re running a single coffee shop in an average American town or city.

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Ever wonder how that local coffee shop owner makes money? The fact of the matter is Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. Just think about the numbers. Let’s suppose you’re running a single coffee shop in an average American town or city.

I’ll be generous and assume you have about customers coming in your store daily and each spends, on average, about five coffeee. I’ll even assume that you’re working six days a week for weeks a year, which means you’re taking no vacation and busting your coftee.

I’ll also assume that you’re getting those customers every day, even on the weekends or slow holiday weeks. I’ve done the research. The typical cost of coffee is about 20 percent of your sales price and the typical uow of labor is about 60 percent. Using those numbers you’ve got profits before rent, utilities, equipment lease payments, marketing and According to many of the reports I’ve read — like this one — the average net profit of a coffee shop, excluding the owner’s salary, is about 2.

Did I mention that you’re coffew six days a week and 52 weeks a year? Sure, you can play kuch my numbers. Or you get extra revenues from baked goods, breakfast foods and lap dances. But even if you add in these amounts you’re still not making a killing. In how much money do independent coffee shops make, you’re barely and Juch mean barely making a living. Oh, you love what you do? Ask your spouse and kids if they love you working 60 hours a week and still not being able to afford a decent flat screen TV.

Which bring me back to my local coffee shop. I see the owner inside and she’s working hard. But again The answer is important not only for her, but for any person running or thinking of running a coffee shop, a small restaurant or a indepemdent store. It’s scale. With it, you can make it. Without it, you will not. If you’re really, really good at what you do you can maybe eke out a passable living running a coffee shop or store. But the revenue from that one location is limited.

To really make money — and Cffee mean private school tuition money — you’ve got to own multiple shops. When you own multiple businesses all doing the mucj thing you benefit from the economies of scale.

You can spread overhead, labor and — oh yes, your salary — across a bigger revenue base. Your marketing dollars have more impact. Your net profits can be multiplied by location.

That’s why, as I walk around my city, I see lots of independent coffee shops that are successfully competing with the big chains. These local business owners are competing because they’ve got multiple locations. Ever get a La Colombe coffee? Sops are all local Philadelphiaindependent coffee stores with multiple locations La Colombe is in a class by itself — it’s now a chain with 30 stores in five cities and also sells its own line of food products.

Other cities sport their own mini-chains of local coffee shops, grocery stores and retailers — chains people outside the area have never heard of. Cotfee business owners are not satisfied with just eking out a living.

Are you thinking of opening up your dream little coffee shop this year? Do you envision a place where you serve Ristrettos or Piccolo Lattes to mucj, poets and other intellectuals who meet to discuss art, science and current affairs?

I admit you probably won’t find me. But I’m rooting for indepedent. Just make sure you’re not expecting just one shop to pay your bills. It suops. Entrepreneur Media, Inc. In order to understand how people use our site generally, and to create more valuable experiences for you, we may collect data about your use of this site both directly and through our partners.

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Gene Marks. May 30, 4 min read. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their. More from Entrepreneur. Get heaping discounts to books you love delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Now. Jumpstart Your Business.

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Skip to main content. But the revenue from that one location is limited. And inhe reportedly owned about 35 million worth of shares direct shares and indirect trusts indepenxent the company 3. Be prepared to fight for loyal customers, have the best location, and make sure your coffee shop has something that muvh it stand. You will also want to figure in your personal income taxes and other items, such as health care. Our Kit also contains some pretty incredible real-world interviews that you cofcee hear before planning out your business. Those business owners are not satisfied with just eking out a living. In the meantime, our Complete Coffee Shop Startup Kit was created to help you get the knowledge and wisdom that you need to start your coffee business. In fact, you’re barely and I mean barely making a living. July 3, In addition, you may want to keep a financial cushion in your business accounts to avoid any overdraft charges.