You love your morning coffee. Who doesn’t? And now your love of coffee has transcended into a desire to open a coffee shop. You must be wondering, “Where do I start?”

The 5 vital things you need before opening your coffee shop include:

  1. Handle the legal aspects of your business.
  2. Get your business finances in line
  3. Learn how to properly hire and maintain employees.
  4. Have a soft opening event.
  5. Create a marketing and advertising plan.

If you’re thinking about opening up your coffee shop, you’ve probably realized there are many things to get done to be successful. We’ll cover everything from finances to hiring your staff and more!

Legal

Before opening day, there are quite a few things you need to get done before you can even legally open up your shop. Though not always required, getting an LLC for your establishment is highly suggested.

Take Note

It’s highly suggested to take note in this category, read through everything, and then read through it again. There are things you may not think of like bean importing or compliances, but as a business owner, you will need to be educated on such legal aspects and have them easily accessible if or when they will be needed.

Permits and Licenses

For starters, you will need permits and licenses. The specific ones you will need to acquire will depend on your state and your city as each will have different requirements and you will need to research to find out which ones you will need for your city and state. Licensing a coffee shop is usually in the same category as a restaurant license, even if you’re not serving food.

Lawyer Up

It cannot be stressed enough to get a lawyer when you’re a business owner. Not only can they help you with all the other legal parts needed to open an awesome shop, but they will also know many legal aspects that you may not and be very helpful.

Since you are in a business where people are consuming items made in your establishment, it’s smart to have a lawyer in case a patron gets sick from something served at your shop and decides to take legal action. Yes, this is pretty rare for coffee shops but as the saying goes: it’s better safe than sorry.

Employees

This section is different from the “Staff” section you’ll read about below. Since this is a legal topic, you must consider what you need to have when hiring and maintaining employees, assuming you’re not going to be the only one working from 6:00 am – 10:00 pm 7 days a week.

Consider providing insurance for employees, setting up a plan of what needs to happen if an employee gets injured on the job, and all other policies needed for having a staff.

Finances

It’s not rocket science: opening up your own business takes money and a lot of it. Money can be the whole motivation behind having your coffee shop in the first place, and if not, it’s still one of the most vital components of the business.

Banking

First, get a completely separate business bank account. Even if you are the only owner, you will need it separate from your personal bank account. You can have it at the same bank as your account. That could benefit you if the staff knows you already.

Compare different types of business accounts and their interest rates at different banks or within the same one. Many banks offer several different account types and it’s worth looking into since you will be using this account constantly.

Loans and Investors

Whether this is done at the bank of your choosing or an entirely different company, nearly everyone needs loans and investors. Since opening up a coffee shop isn’t something you’d necessarily see on Shark Tank, you’ve got to go and find the loans and investors yourself.

Decide how much you still need and how much equity you’re willing to spare for investors. Be honest and ask many questions because having the right loans and investors can make or break your shop. If this is done incorrectly and you handle money poorly, this could land you in legal trouble.

Be open with how much you have, the work that needs to be done in the shop, and when you plan on breaking even. This leads us to the next point.

Break-Even Point

A break-even point is very smart to project when opening up your own business. Take the amount of money that will be spent opening up your shop including everything such as rent, employees, inventory, and licensing, and see how much product you will need to sell in what amount of time until you make all of your money back.

This includes loans and investments. It has been said to have enough to be able to run the shop for 2 years without running out of money. Some people can have a very low break-even point and hit it within a few months. Though this is rare given the short time frame, it is possible.

Read more about starting a coffee shop here.

Staffing

Some people believe when opening up a coffee shop or any business when it comes to staffing, the only thing to do is hire people. Those folks couldn’t be more wrong. There is so much involved when hiring and maintaining employees.

Overtime

The Fair Labor Standard Act sent in a new rule to protect overtime pay and minimum wage. This means that under Federal Law, you have to pay overtime to anyone who makes a salary of $47,476 or more annually.

This rule was overturned in November 2016 as the new rules were seen as an unconstitutional exercise of power. It still stands under the Fair Labor Standard Act that you must pay overtime to anyone who makes a yearly salary of $23,660 or more.

Minimum Wage

At the time of the article’s publication, the Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25. Several states are choosing to raise the minimum wage on their own. For example, California’s minimum wage is currently $10.50 and will gradually increase until it reaches $15 per hour by 2022 for large businesses and 2023 for smaller businesses.

Discrimination

It’s illegal to discriminate against who you hire based on race, sex, religious views, and sexual orientation, but there’s a lot more that goes into this than some soon-to-be business owners may like to know.

For example, there is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which passed in 2009 that allows employees to file a complaint of unfair wages within 180 days of the employer’s decision on what to pay said employee.

Beginning in September 2017, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has required businesses with more than 100 employees to submit compensation data to them. If you have a staff with a wide range of diverse people, not only is it a good thing to do as a human but as a business owner. Patrons and employees will take note and you will often be commended for a diverse staff.

Tip Pooling

Tip pooling can be hard to explain with words, but as someone who’s been a barista in shops that split tips differently, it can surprisingly affect your income. There are 2 ways you can do this: per shift or hour.

For example, Jim and Pam are working a shift together, and then at noon, Michael will come in to start his shift. When Michael comes in, Jim and Pam will split the tips between the two of them. Then when the next person comes in, Jim, Pam, and Michael will split i,t, and so on. This is the “per shift” method.

The “per hour” method can be more complicated and from my experience, you make dramatically less than being paid under the per shift method. Employees can also see this way as unfair as to how you’re getting the same amount of tips whether you worked an insanely busy rush or a slow Sunday night.

Per-hour tip pooling is taking all the tips from a week and dividing that by the number of employees that worked that week and the hours worked that week. So if you have 10 employees and $100 in tips for that week. If 5 employees worked 40 hours, and 5 worked 20, that’s almost $1 in tips split for the entire week.

Your employees will be jealous of Jim, Pam, and Michael bringing home the bacon. Per hour worked tip pooling can also be complicated if you don’t have easy numbers to use like the ones in the example.

Soft Opening

Before opening your coffee shop, you need to have a soft opening. A soft open is an event you hold as a business owner shortly before opening to the public. During this event, you invite your staff, friends, family,y and even investors.

You offer everything you will offer on the menu to the public. This gives a small group of people a chance to try out your product and give you feedback with enough time to take into consideration what they’re saying and make changes if necessary.

This will also allow them to try out the seating, see the lighting,g and be able to post online about what a great experience they had and how excited they are for all of their friends and family to try your new shop.

A fun way to hold a soft open is by hosting a latte art throwdown. If you don’t know what a latte art throwdown is, it’s a latte art competition. If you are hosting this event, have it in your budget to go through a lot of milk and beans that will not be reimbursed by paying guests.

This event will give local baristas and coffee fiends a chance to check out your shop. It will also give your baristas a chance to get a little more practice before the doors open to the general public. This is a good way to get honest reviews about your coffee and pastries.

The local baristas are well-versed and will be able to tell you in detail everything they like and what could help improve the shop or product. It is an easy way to start getting your name out there because baristas and shops talk about throwdowns since they’re such fun events that bring the coffee community together.

Marketing and Advertising

Marketing and advertising can make or break the profitability of your shop. Before opening up your shop, it is smart to have your website and social media accounts for the business.

If you live in a populated area, consider if it will be beneficial to advertise in the newspaper or even a billboard. The easiest and cheapest way to get marketing is word of mouth.

Let’s face it: people love coffee, and independent coffee shops are extremely trendy. Not only is word of mouth free but so are most social media platforms. Hyping up your new shop on Instagram before opening will do amazing things for your shop.

Post aesthetically pleasing interior photos or a shot with a latte with a rosetta and the menu all while geo-tagging the location of the shop. Have a countdown or a giveaway leading up to the opening of your shop. Getting people excited to try a new coffee spot will get you regulars in no time.

This way, once the doors are open and foot traffic is high, you will have social media influencers tagging your shop in well-taken photos, and that in and of itself is free advertisement.

I worked at a trendy shop in Saint Paul, and I can’t tell you how many customers would say things like, “I found you guys through Instagram,” or, “I saw so-and-so post this drink and said it was delicious.”

I know some people can roll their eyes at social media, but as a business, it is a wonderful, easy, and relatively free way to market and advertise your business.

Final Words

So, those are 5 vital things you need before opening your coffee shop. Did you learn something new?

Was there a lot more to staffing or finances than you thought? It may seem intimidating at first, but these things are vital for a reason and will better your experience as an owner in the long run.

Does owning a coffee shop sound like the right thing for you? If you feel stressed after reading this article, know that this is normal. Owning a coffee shop is not for everyone, but even if you’re the person for the job, it will take research, hard work,k and plenty of time and effort.

Do you think there are more vital things needed before opening up shop? Of course,e we didn’t cover absolutely everything you need to do before openinga shop. There are things to do such as the search for the right location, designing the interior, or buying equipment.

The 5 things listed in this article are what are seen as the most vital before opening your doors.

We hope you were able to learn something, take some notes, and be even more educated on your way to opening up your shop.

Remember to be good with your money, treat your staff equally, get all the permits you need, enjoy a soft open with some friends, and, of course, get all the free promotions you can!

Frequently Asked Questions

How much money do coffee shop owners make per month?

According to the Coffee Shops Startup Blog, the number of sales and the cumulative receipt total for each sale are the two keys to high-profit margins in the coffee shop business.

After accounting for fixed expenses such as leases and variable expenses like Cost of Goods Sold, a steady coffee shop business can glean about $5,000 to $20,000 per month for an owner. You can read more about your potential for earning money as a coffee shop owner here.

What equipment do you need to open up a coffee shop?

According to the ShopKeep blog, here is a list of basic equipment and supplies you will need to successfully run a coffee shop:

  • Milk and water
  • Industrial coffee grinder
  • Automatic drip coffee machine
  • Espresso machine
  • Ovens, toasters, or any cooking devices
  • Refrigeration system
  • A point-of-sale system
  • Industrial blenders
  • Freezer and refrigerator storage

Interested in learning more about how to open your coffee shop? Click here for even more tips and tricks.

Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.