CAFES AND COFFEE SHOPS
What a Cafe Owner Should Track Beyond the Daily Till Total
The till total looks healthy on Saturday morning, and the owner still cannot say why the bank balance is thin at month end. Milk, coffee beans, pastries from the supplier and the barista overtime all sit in different notebooks.
We look at the cafe as numbers you can act on. What each cup and plate costs to make, where stock leaks, how staff hours match footfall, what rent demands each day. Recipes, food safety and licences are outside our work.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Prices on the menu were set by comparing with the cafe down the road, and no one has recalculated the cost of a cappuccino since the milk and bean rates changed.
- 02Pastries and cold-counter items are ordered by gut feel, so the display is full at closing time and the unsold items are written off without a record.
- 03Baristas are rostered the same way on a dead Tuesday afternoon as on a busy Sunday brunch, which makes labour cost swing with no link to sales.
- 04Staff give discounts and free refills to regulars without any rule, and the owner finds out only when a favourite customer mentions it.
- 05Rent is a fixed monthly amount, yet no one has divided it across the hours the cafe is open to see which hours carry it.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01Plate and cup costing for the top ten items, using this month's supplier rates for beans, milk and bakery
- 02Daily wastage sheet for milk, cold-counter items and prepared batter, filled at closing
- 03Hour-wise sales pattern from the billing software, compared with the roster
- 04Staff discount and complimentary-item rule, with a limit and a note column
- 05Supplier rate comparison sheet for coffee, dairy and packaging, reviewed monthly
- 06Opening and closing checklist covering equipment, stock counts and cash
- 07Weekly one-page sheet: sales, food cost, wastage, labour hours and rent per open hour
- 08Cleaning and machine-service log with a named person
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- Pick your five best-selling items. List every ingredient and its present purchase rate, and work out the cost per serving. Compare it to the price on your menu.
- Hypothetical example: if a cup costs you ₹55 to make and sells for ₹140, the gap is ₹85 before rent and staff. Ask whether that gap covers your hours at that time of day.
- Put a wastage sheet by the cold counter for one week. Staff write what was thrown out and why, in plain words.
- Write down the hours when sales are lowest and see whether the roster really needs the same number of people in them.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A costing sheet for your menu with a selling-price check against the margin you want, for you to adjust
- A weekly cafe scorecard of sales, wastage and labour hours that fits on one page
- A shift roster template that follows your busiest hours instead of the same pattern every day
- A written staff rule on discounts, complimentary items and cash handling
Not the right fit when: Hold off if the cafe has a food licence, lease or safety issue that is unresolved. Handle that with the right professionals first.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
