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Permalink Reply by Alun Evans on June 16, 2009 at 6:45pm

Do everything ourselves. We try and model ourselves on the archtypical Kiwi/Aussie Cafe- which may perhaps be different from cafes stateside. We have a mix of food on the menu: from light meals (Scrambled egg and salmon on toast) through to cakes, biscuits etc. We do most of the cake/biscuit cooking off site- but always do a little onsite as well. Recipes are simple- food costs are kept down by working synergies with other menu items. It is worth the effort. In our busiest cafe we turn out a huge number of covers through a space which is less than 50m2. Essentially following our model of cafe we need to have great food to accompany great coffee.

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Permalink Reply by Denise Smith on June 16, 2009 at 7:56pm

I believe this subject has been visited several times before, you may want to read some of the past postings.
Bottom line for us... we could not survive without the food side. We started with mostly pre-made but are phasing them out as we learn to bake and prep from scratch. We add in new items and substitute the ready to serve or heat and serve with fresh made stuff. (it is proving more economical as we run the numbers).

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Permalink Reply by Tom Maegdlin on June 16, 2009 at 7:58pm

I first have to say working at places that offer food and places that don't, it real comes down to matter of practicality. Are you going to make 200% return when you calculate in labor cost and ingredients? Do you have the staff? Do the customers really want this service or is it a cash grab?All these questions you really have to conservatively address. Really prove it in numbers, and test it.

Making things in house is great. I worked at a store where we baked everything fresh except for the bagels. The only issue we ran in to were the inconsistencies surrounding employee tastes versus actual demand. In other words, the sugar teeth of the group were on brownie overload forgetting our vegan friends or our health conscience customers. Overall it was very cost effective but was a labor pull.

Avoid bartering. This is a slippery slope. It ends up with someone assuming they are getting the short end of the stick. Keep it a monetary affair.

Finally, I have to admit that the breakfast burritos we sell at my current store are a huge revenue booster for us in the morning. Easy and fast. Egg mix in the microwave, sausage, red potatoes, cheese in a tortilla wrap. (Don't knock the microwaved eggs until you try them.) Along with our English muffin sandwich with the same ingredients, we have carved out a nice commuter breakfast crowd. Hope I don't sound too cautious but it is a big deal. Good luck if you decide to pull the trigger.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Harwood on June 16, 2009 at 10:50pm

As a barista who would rather make espressos, cappuccinos and other beverages than serve food, I have to say the less food prep the better. Serve fresh fruit, delivered morning of, locally-made pastries (a tad expensive, I know) and whatever else is quick (and not full of crap) depending on your customers' tastes. I have done the baking thing in house in the past. It can work if you have people willing to put in the hours, but be warned that unless you have an industrial mixer, you are going to grow weary of the task of producing the batter involved. Also, order conservatively until you are sure you need more. Even then, I have seen so much food waste that I could weep (only partially joking). The bottom line is, it can raise your bottom line if you are careful with waste and don't cause walk outs with your staff laboring over food prep when all most people want is their coffee, which has a higher percentage markup anyway.

As far as specific foods go, I mentioned fresh fruit, but bagels are very popular. Muffins, biscotti and scones of course. Good dark chocolate pieces... Mmmm... Tartines are a cute idea, but only if you're customers dig the French feel. Then there all the outside-the-cafe-box foods you could get...

For further reading, this article from Slate Magazine is somewhat informative. Although I have to admit, the part about the guy serving old hot coffee as iced coffee grossed me out a bit. The analysis of the psychology and economics of opening and operating a coffee shop are spot on though.
http://www.slate.com/id/2132576/


Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Lauren Nicholls on June 17, 2009 at 3:41am

One thing with going into having food at an espresso bar/coffee shop, or looking at having food is the space/kitchen area you have to use to prepare the food, and if you need to have your kitchen registered and stuff for selling food as opposed to just coffee.
If you don't have much space to prepare food, look for a bakery or somewhere to source good quality reliable products, something thats a little bit different to everyone else, like incredible cupcakes. Unless your looking at doing food from a menu, which is easier to do yourself in an onsite kitchen.
The other thing you might want to think about in serving food at a coffee shop/espresso bar is if you (assuming you would be an owner or in management) are passionate about coffee you'll always make sure the standard of your coffee drinks are really high, but are you passionate about the food side of the business too? I think if your not as passionate about the food side the standard of the food may not match the high standard of the coffee.
In saying all that i work at a place that has cabinet food and menu food as well as coffee, but if i go out for coffee i'll generally only buy a coffee and not food-and thats simply because i drink a lot of coffee and if i'm not interested in buying food every time i buy coffee, so all in all it depends what 'market' you would want to sell coffee to.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on June 17, 2009 at 6:32am

Michael Harwood said:

As a barista who would rather make espressos, cappuccinos and other beverages than serve food, I have to say the less food prep the better. Serve fresh fruit, delivered morning of, locally-made pastries (a tad expensive, I know) and whatever else is quick (and not full of crap) depending on your customers' tastes. I have done the baking thing in house in the past. It can work if you have people willing to put in the hours, but be warned that unless you have an industrial mixer, you are going to grow weary of the task of producing the batter involved. Also, order conservatively until you are sure you need more. Even then, I have seen so much food waste that I could weep (only partially joking). The bottom line is, it can raise your bottom line if you are careful with waste and don't cause walk outs with your staff laboring over food prep when all most people want is their coffee, which has a higher percentage markup anyway.

As far as specific foods go, I mentioned fresh fruit, but bagels are very popular. Muffins, biscotti and scones of course. Good dark chocolate pieces... Mmmm... Tartines are a cute idea, but only if you're customers dig the French feel. Then there all the outside-the-cafe-box foods you could get...

For further reading, this article from Slate Magazine is somewhat informative. Although I have to admit, the part about the guy serving old hot coffee as iced coffee grossed me out a bit. The analysis of the psychology and economics of opening and operating a coffee shop are spot on though.
http://www.slate.com/id/2132576/


Good luck!

Michael, that Slate piece was brilliant... can't believe I haven't run across it before. Thanks.

We do bagels, muffins, scones, and fresh fruit in the morning. We buy all from a local baker. After a long learning curve we now have a pretty good balance and go through things in about the right amount of time without running out or throwing out too often. Margins are ok. Cinnamon rolls and pastries are an occasional treat... we limit how often they are offered so that they disappear quickly when we put them out. Gotta keep things moving... the same person that will drink a medium vanilla latte every day for 2 years will get sick of blueberry muffins in a week. Pick a selection of things that you like and that work, offer half of them to start, and watch their sales. Once things start to slow down, pull them and bring in something else. Let it sit out a month and then bring it back. Can we call that the McRib strategy?

We also make sandwiches in-house. Very limited selection. The housemade chicken salad makes a solid contribution... the margins are good and the waste is minimal. There are some days where it has been the difference between a good day and a bad day.

I am for selling food IF it is done to the same quality level that your coffees, if it doesn't take away from your coffees, and if it makes you money.

Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by chuck celentano on June 17, 2009 at 2:45pm

Well we also survive on the food here. Unfortuanately the former owners really hurt the coffee trade here, our non-espresso business is great, but the espresso drinks are not really going well. Our food is all prepared on-prremises, with the exception of our Panini rolls. I bake fresh muffins, Red Velvet Cake, Scones,Irish Soda Bread, Tarts and an assortment of desserts. I make a coffee cake that is an original Irish recipe, that utilizes an ingredient that has to be purchased from Ireland. I roast my own Top Round for our Roast Beef Panini, I rost my own Turkey Breast for our Turkey Panini, complete with home-made dressing and gravy with a cranbery dipping sauce. The emphasis here is in freshness and originality, I try to do unusual things. Food is really important to our business.

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Permalink Reply by Al Sterling on June 18, 2009 at 8:15am

BTW..... I listened to the audio version of the www.slate.com "bitter brew" story Michael shared. I found it brillliantly written and tragically amusing; it bleeds of truths.

At the Las Vegas Coffee Fest, "Chef Stack" was showing their "pancake tunnel/conveyer oven", which cranked out these great diameters that you could butter, fill, fold-over, or whatever. The mix bags, per the rep., come from Krustez Co., and the oven device had that typical small footprint for an in-store semi-home made bakery item. (www.chefstack.com) When I was in Salt Lake last year, I visited Jon Stoval, who owns Bevalo Coffee. He and his wife bake scones and specialty cakes. I'm entrigued with the "par-bake and finish-in-the-shop" food and bakery items. And frankly, when I've worked the numbers, once the shop square footage goes beyond a cart footprint, the need to generate additional profit centers appears directly proportional to the increased square footage. I don't know how you can cover overhead in a fixed location lease space without the basic "coffee-bakery-and beyond."

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Permalink Reply by Andrew R. Tucker on June 18, 2009 at 8:27am

We offer a limited amount of food, two salads, and two salad sandwiches ( chicken or curried pear tuna), where we premake the salad mixes and prepare as ordered. Our food offerings are limited for a reason, we focus on our coffee but provide easy lunch items that don't detract from the mainstay of the business.
As for baked goods, we offer scones and cookies that get delivered three times weekly, and quiche and brioche pastries delivered daily from a baker next door.
On both the food offering categories, we don't spend much time (work hours) in prep, as the salad sandwiches take 10-15 minutes to make a batch, and the pastries are ready to serve once delivered. The only real work done is when we wrap scones/cookies, or make a sandwich.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew R. Tucker on June 18, 2009 at 8:29am

Also, bagels! How could I forget!!?

Andrew R. Tucker said:

We offer a limited amount of food, two salads, and two salad sandwiches ( chicken or curried pear tuna), where we premake the salad mixes and prepare as ordered. Our food offerings are limited for a reason, we focus on our coffee but provide easy lunch items that don't detract from the mainstay of the business. As for baked goods, we offer scones and cookies that get delivered three times weekly, and quiche and brioche pastries delivered daily from a baker next door. On both the food offering categories, we don't spend much time (work hours) in prep, as the salad sandwiches take 10-15 minutes to make a batch, and the pastries are ready to serve once delivered. The only real work done is when we wrap scones/cookies, or make a sandwich.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Spence on June 19, 2009 at 1:08pm

Hey Al - I pay attention :) - By the way I have a customer that is putting one of those pancake machines in their drive thru for kids and customers in the morning. Not a bad idea.


Al Sterling said:

BTW..... I listened to the audio version of the www.slate.com "bitter brew" story Michael shared. I found it brillliantly written and tragically amusing; it bleeds of truths.

At the Las Vegas Coffee Fest, "Chef Stack" was showing their "pancake tunnel/conveyer oven", which cranked out these great diameters that you could butter, fill, fold-over, or whatever. The mix bags, per the rep., come from Krustez Co., and the oven device had that typical small footprint for an in-store semi-home made bakery item. (www.chefstack.com)

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Permalink Reply by Al Sterling on June 19, 2009 at 4:15pm

Mike, it's like you've got eyes in the back of your head! You know, I've only visited one essentially coffee-only operation in the last 5 years that looked as though it was running well into the black; BlueBottle in the alley on Linden, San Francisco. My thought for small footprint locations; add cinna-buns with a wafting aroma that permeates up the street and into the neighborhood! Get 'em in with a super-star entree/dessert item. Develop a reputation as ".....the shop that serves those incredible (whatevers), along with great coffee." I'd love to hear about how the pancakes work for your drive-thru contact?

Mike Spence said:

Hey Al - I pay attention :) - By the way I have a customer that is putting one of those pancake machines in their drive thru for kids and customers in the morning. Not a bad idea.


Al Sterling said:

BTW..... I listened to the audio version of the www.slate.com "bitter brew" story Michael shared. I found it brillliantly written and tragically amusing; it bleeds of truths.

At the Las Vegas Coffee Fest, "Chef Stack" was showing their "pancake tunnel/conveyer oven", which cranked out these great diameters that you could butter, fill, fold-over, or whatever. The mix bags, per the rep., come from Krustez Co., and the oven device had that typical small footprint for an in-store semi-home made bakery item. (www.chefstack.com)

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