Questions to Ask When Opening a Coffee Shop
Written for someone planning a first coffee shop: some of these you answer alone with a notebook, and others go to a landlord, a coffee roaster, an equipment dealer or the local health inspector. The 54 questions follow the decisions in the order they come: the concept and the street, the money, the lease and build-out, equipment and the bar, coffee and food, then permits, staff and opening week. Permit, wage and lease rules differ by city and country, so where a note touches them, ask how it works where you are.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Concept and location
What kind of coffee shop am I opening: a fast counter, a place to sit for an hour, a drive-thru or a kiosk?
Why ask it
Answer this before looking at a single unit, because each one needs a different size, rent, staff count and street. A counter built for speed lives on commuters and can be tiny, while a sit-down shop needs seats that turn over, and people with laptops hold them for a long time. If you catch yourself saying 'a bit of everything', pick the one that pays the rent and treat the others as extras.
Have I worked a morning rush behind someone else's bar?
Why ask it
If not, ask a shop owner in another neighborhood, one you will not compete with, whether you can work or shadow there for a few weeks. You will learn how fast a line builds, what breaks, and whether you like the job at 5:30 a.m. It is the cheapest research on this list.
Should I start from scratch, buy a shop that is already trading or take on a franchise?
Why ask it
A new shop is the one you pictured, with no customers on day one. An existing shop comes with regulars, equipment and a lease, so ask the seller for the sales records and the reason for selling, and have an accountant read the books before you believe either. A franchise trades a known name and a manual for fees and rules about what you can serve, so read what the agreement fixes before you fall for the brand.
Who walks or drives past this door between six and ten in the morning, and where are they going?
Why ask it
Count them yourself on a weekday and again on a Saturday, and note how many already have a cup in their hand. People heading for a train want to be out in two minutes and parents after school drop-off want a table, so the same number of passers-by can mean two different shops. Treat a figure in a leasing brochure as a claim to check against your own tally.
Who already sells coffee within a five-minute walk, and why would someone pass them to reach me?
Why ask it
List every source: the chain, the bakery, the gas station, the free machine in the office kitchen. Then buy a drink at each during the rush and time the wait. A long line at a competitor is good news about demand, and your reason has to be something a customer would notice, such as speed, seats, parking or a better cup.
Is this unit on the side of the street people use on their way to work?
Why ask it
Morning coffee tends to be bought on the way in, so the inbound side of a commuter road, or the path between the parking garage and the offices, can beat a prettier unit directly opposite. Watch where people cross and which doors they pass without slowing. The shopkeepers next door will tell you their busy hours if you buy something first.
Can someone see the shop, tell that it is open and stop for five minutes at 7:30 in the morning?
Why ask it
Drive and walk the approach from both directions at that hour. Check what blocks the sightline, where a car can pull in, and whether the parking is already full of commuters. Then ask the landlord and the city what signs are allowed here, since a shop nobody can spot from the road has to win every customer some other way.
What does this street look like after two in the afternoon, on weekends and when school is out?
Why ask it
An office district can be empty on Saturday and a campus can go quiet for weeks at a time, while the rent stays the same. Come back at each of those times before you decide. What you see sets your opening hours and tells you whether the slowest month of the year is one the shop can get through.
How long do I want customers to stay, and how many seats does that take?
Why ask it
Outlets, wifi and the size of the tables tell people how long they are welcome. A shop that wants laptops all afternoon needs each chair to earn its keep through food or a second drink, and one that wants turnover can do with stools and a shelf. Ask the building or fire office how many people the room is approved to hold before you draw a single table, because that number caps the plan.
Numbers
What does it cost to get to opening day: build-out, equipment, deposits, permits, opening stock and the rent paid while the doors are shut?
Why ask it
Put a quote, not a guess, beside every line, and keep the list in one sheet you update weekly. The lines people forget are the dull ones: utility deposits, the sign, small wares, professional fees and the stock thrown away during training. Then add a margin for overruns, and ask the contractor how often their jobs come in over.
Where is the opening money coming from, and what does each source want in return?
Why ask it
Savings, a bank loan, family, a partner and an equipment lease each come with different strings, from a monthly payment to a say in the menu. Ask every lender what you are personally signing for and what happens if you close early. Money from relatives is worth writing down as carefully as the bank's.
How will the business be set up legally, and whose name goes on the lease and the loans?
Why ask it
Trading as yourself, as a partnership or as a company changes the tax, who can sign and what you are personally liable for, and the options go by different names in each country. Take the question to an accountant or lawyer before a lease is drafted, since the landlord will want to know who the tenant is. With a partner, put in writing now who decides what, who works which mornings and how one of you can leave.
What does one latte cost me to make, counting the coffee, milk, cup, lid, sleeve and the drinks that get remade?
Why ask it
Build it from real quotes for the exact beans, milk and cups you will use, at the sizes you will sell. Then add the drink poured wrong, the milk left in the pitcher and the shots pulled while dialing in each morning. Do the same sum for your three likely best sellers, since they will set the margin for the whole shop.
What will I charge, and what do the three nearest shops charge for the same drink?
Why ask it
Write their prices down by size, including the extra for oat milk and a second shot. You can charge more than the street, but only with a reason the customer can taste or see. A price set below everyone else to win people over is hard to raise once the regulars know it by heart.
How many sales a day cover the rent, the wages and my own pay, and at what average ticket?
Why ask it
Add up a month of fixed costs, divide by the days you will open, then divide by what is left from an average sale once the cup and its contents are paid for. That gives a number of customers per day to set against the count you made on the sidewalk. If the plan only works with you unpaid, write that down as a cost with an end date.
How many drinks can this bar turn out in its busiest hour?
Why ask it
A coffee shop usually takes a large part of its day in a couple of morning hours, and someone who sees a long line keeps walking. Time yourself or a working barista making your menu, then compare that pace with what the daily number needs at the peak. If the two do not meet, change the menu, the layout or the staffing on paper, where it is free.
If the mornings take months to fill, what pays the rent, the wages and me until they do?
Why ask it
Regulars are won one habit at a time, so plan the first months well below the target and see how long the reserve lasts at that level. Ask two or three owners on similar streets how long theirs took, because it varies with the street more than with the coffee. Fix the reserve before the build-out budget, so that an overrun on the counter cannot quietly eat it.
What will I change first if sales are at half the plan in month three: the hours, the menu, the staffing or the price?
Why ask it
Decide the order now, with a number and a date attached to each step. Cutting the dead afternoon hours costs little, but cutting the second barista at 8 a.m. costs the customers you were waiting for. A plan written while you are calm is easier to follow than one invented when the account is low.
Lease and build-out
What was in this unit before, and is it approved for food service?
Why ask it
A former cafe may already have the drains, the sinks and the right classification, which can save a great deal of time and money. A former clothes shop may need a change of use and new plumbing before anyone will issue a permit. The landlord may not know, so put the same question to the city's planning or building office with the address in hand.
Can this unit's power, water and drains run an espresso machine, grinders, an ice maker and a dishwasher at the same time?
Why ask it
Get the spec sheets from the equipment supplier and have an electrician and a plumber walk the space before you sign. Espresso machines commonly want their own circuit, a plumbed water line and a drain close by, and a panel sized for a shoe shop may not have room. Ask the landlord in writing who pays for any upgrade.
What will I pay each month in total, with every charge beyond the base rent listed?
Why ask it
Ask for one figure for the first year with taxes, insurance, shared maintenance, trash and utilities shown underneath it. That total is what goes into your sales-per-day sum, and it can sit well above the rent on the listing. Ask how much the extra charges rose in each of the last three years too.
When does rent start, and will you give free months or a contribution while I build and wait for permits?
Why ask it
Permits and inspections run on the city's clock, not yours, and every month of rent before the first sale comes out of the reserve. Ask for the rent to start when you can legally open, or failing that for enough free months to cover a realistic build. If the landlord offers money toward the work, find out when it is paid, since a contribution that arrives after opening has to be funded by you first.
Will the lease keep another coffee shop out of this building or center, and does anyone else's lease limit what I can sell?
Why ask it
Ask for an exclusive on coffee and espresso drinks in writing. Then ask the reverse: a bakery or sandwich shop already there may hold an exclusive of its own, and it could stop you selling the pastries or lunch your numbers depend on. Request the wording of any restriction, not a summary of it.
Can I open at 5:30 a.m. here, with deliveries arriving and grinders running?
Why ask it
Some leases and buildings set opening hours, delivery windows and noise limits, and homes above or behind a shop make early mornings a live issue. Read the building rules as well as the lease, and ask what complaints the last tenant drew. A shop built on commuters that cannot open before the commute has given away its best hours.
Can I put tables outside, a sign on the front and a pickup window in the wall, and whose permission does each need?
Why ask it
Each of the three may need the landlord's consent and a separate permit from the city, and the answers can differ for the same address. Get the landlord's yes written into the lease, with a drawing where it helps. Outdoor seats you were promised in conversation are not seats.
How long is the term, what are the renewal options, and what am I signing for personally?
Why ask it
You are weighing a term long enough to earn back the build-out against one short enough to leave if the street turns out wrong. A renewal option at a stated rent protects the regulars you spent years winning. On the personal guarantee, ask whether it can be capped or fall away after a run of on-time payments, and have a lawyer who handles commercial leases read the draft.
What will the build-out cost and how long will it take, quoted by a contractor who has built a food business in this city?
Why ask it
Someone who has been through the local health and building reviews knows which details get sent back, and prices the job accordingly. Ask for two past clients to call, and ask those clients how the final bill and date compared with the quote. A schedule worth trusting shows the inspections as well as the carpentry.
Equipment and bar
What size espresso machine and how many grinders does my busiest hour call for?
Why ask it
Give the supplier your peak-hour drink count and your menu and ask them to size from that, not from the showroom. Ask about a separate grinder for decaf and another for brewed coffee as well. Too small and the line stalls, too large and you have paid for capacity and counter space you will not use for years.
Should I buy new, buy used or lease, and what does each cost over five years?
Why ask it
Compare the full cost: price or payments, installation, service, and what the machine is worth at the end. With used equipment, ask for the service history and who will stand behind it. Read the end of an equipment lease before the beginning, since that is where you learn whether you ever own the machine and what leaving early costs.
Who repairs this machine locally, how quickly do they come, and is there a loaner?
Why ask it
With the espresso machine down there is very little left to sell, so the service answer matters more than the brand. Ask for the technician's name, their usual response time on a weekday morning, and what a call-out costs. A dealer who cannot name anyone within reach is telling you to buy a different machine.
What water treatment does this machine need with the water in this building?
Why ask it
Have the water at the unit tested, then show the result to the supplier. Scale is a common cause of espresso machine repairs, and water changes how the coffee tastes as well. Ask whether the warranty depends on a particular filter or softener, and what the cartridges cost over a year.
Where does a drink start and finish on this bar, and how many steps does the barista take in between?
Why ask it
Draw the path from order to hand-off, then tape the bar out on the floor at full size and make imaginary drinks on it. Milk, cups, lids and the knock box should be within a turn, not a walk. Two people should be able to work the peak without crossing, and it costs nothing to move tape.
Where do people line up, and where do they wait for their drink without blocking the door?
Why ask it
Mark both spots on the plan, with the hand-off away from the register so that waiting customers drift clear of those still ordering. Check that a stroller or a wheelchair can get through with six people standing there, and ask the building office what clearances the local rules require. A line out of the door reads as busy, but one that blocks the door sends people away.
What else has to fit behind the counter: ice, refrigeration, a brewer, a dishwasher, sinks and storage?
Why ask it
List every item with its dimensions, power and water needs before the counter is designed, and include where the milk delivery and the cup boxes will live. Ice is the one to size generously if cold drinks sell well where you are. Leave the sink count until you have asked the health department, because they may decide it for you.
Which point-of-sale system will I use, and what does it take out of every sale?
Why ask it
Ask for the card rate, the monthly fee, the hardware cost and the contract length in writing, then run them against your expected ticket. A fixed fee per sale weighs more on a small ticket than on a large one. Test how many taps a latte with oat milk takes, since those seconds are spent on every order of the rush.
Will I take orders ahead by app or phone, and where do those drinks wait?
Why ask it
Orders placed ahead land in the same ten minutes as the walk-in line and come off the same machine, so count them in the peak-hour figure. Give them a shelf of their own near the door, clear of the hand-off. If a delivery app is in the plan, ask what it keeps from each order and price that menu separately.
Coffee and food
Will I buy coffee from a roaster or roast my own?
Why ask it
Roasting is a second business with its own equipment, skills and floor space, and in many places its own permits, and a first shop has plenty to learn without it. Buying from a roaster lets you open with coffee that is already good and change supplier if it is not. If roasting is the dream, ask a roaster what volume would make it worth doing, and plan it for later.
Can I taste your espresso with milk, the way most of my customers will drink it?
Why ask it
A coffee that shines black at a tasting table can vanish in a latte. Ask two or three roasters for samples, pull them on a machine like yours and taste them side by side with the labels hidden. Bring someone who drinks coffee and does not work in it, because that is who will be buying.
What do you charge per pound at my volume, what is the minimum order, and how many days after roasting does it reach me?
Why ask it
Ask for the price list in writing with the delivery days and the cutoff for ordering. Then ask how often the price has changed in the last two years and how much notice you would get, since the price of green coffee moves. Order sizes should match what you use in a week or so, so that nothing sits going stale.
What do you provide besides the beans, and what do you expect in return?
Why ask it
Many roasters offer barista training, help choosing equipment and someone to call when the espresso tastes wrong. Some lend machines or grinders, usually tied to buying only from them for a set period. Get that deal on paper, including what happens to the equipment if you change roaster.
What food will I sell, and will it be made here, baked off here or delivered ready?
Why ask it
Each choice changes the kitchen, the labor and possibly the class of permit, so ask the health department which line your menu crosses before you buy an oven. Delivered pastry usually costs more per piece but needs no baker and no oven. Start with what sells beside a morning coffee and add lunch only once the mornings are steady.
What time does the delivery reach my door, is there a minimum, and do you credit what goes unsold?
Why ask it
This one is for the bakery or food supplier. The pastry has to be in the case before you unlock, so ask what time the driver really arrives and who lets them in. Some suppliers credit unsold items and others do not, which makes the standing order a guess you will adjust week by week at the start.
Which milks will I carry, and will I charge extra for the alternatives?
Why ask it
Check what the shops around you stock and charge, and price each carton into the drink it goes in. Every extra milk is another open container in the fridge with its own shelf life. Two alternatives done well are easier to run than five.
How short can the menu be on opening day?
Why ask it
List the drinks you would be embarrassed not to have, then stop. Every syrup, size and seasonal special adds stock, training and seconds at the bar, and it is easier to add a drink people ask for than to take one away. A friend reading the board from the back of the line should be able to choose before reaching the front.
Permits, staff, opening
What does a coffee shop with my menu need from the health department before it can open, and do you review plans before construction?
Why ask it
Call or visit with a one-page description of what you will serve and a sketch of the layout. Where the department reviews drawings first, building before approval can mean ripping out a finished counter. Ask for their checklist and the name of the person you can call with questions.
How many sinks do you require and where, and which finishes do you accept on floors, walls and counters?
Why ask it
The answer shapes the whole bar, so get it before the designer draws anything. Requirements for handwashing, dishwashing and mop sinks differ from one authority to the next, as do the rules on surfaces. Ask the inspector to mark up your sketch if they will.
Does anything on my menu move me into a different class of permit?
Why ask it
Reheating a pastry, assembling a sandwich, blending fruit and holding milk-based cold drinks can each be treated differently from pouring coffee. Read your menu to the inspector item by item and write down what they say about each. Dropping one item costs far less than adding a kitchen.
Who else has to approve the shop before opening day: building, fire, the business license office, the tax authority?
Why ask it
Ask each office what it needs, what it costs, how long it takes and which approvals must come first. Put the answers on one timeline and you will see what truly sets your opening date. Add the smaller items while you are at it: the sign permit, music licensing for the speakers, and any food-safety certificates staff must hold.
Which insurance has to be in place before the first customer walks in, and who is asking for it?
Why ask it
The lease, the lender and the local authority may each require cover, and their lists will not necessarily match. Take all three to a broker who insures food businesses, then ask what the shop would still be exposed to: a burst pipe, a dead espresso machine, a week shut after a flood. The premium belongs in the monthly fixed costs behind your daily number.
How many people do I need on the bar at 7 a.m. and at 2 p.m., and who opens when I am sick?
Why ask it
Draft a week of shifts hour by hour and count the hires it takes, including someone trusted with a key. The same schedule shows your own hours, which in a first year tend to include every morning. If the plan has no cover for you, the first flu closes the shop.
Will I hire experienced baristas or train people who are good with customers?
Why ask it
Skill at the machine can be taught in weeks, and warmth at 6 a.m. is harder to teach. One experienced hire who can set the standard and coach the rest is a common middle path. In the interview, have candidates make a drink and talk to you while they do it.
What will I pay, how are tips handled, and what do the shops nearby offer?
Why ask it
Find out local rates by asking other owners and reading their job ads. The rules on minimum pay, tip pooling, breaks and scheduling differ by country and often by state or city, so ask your accountant or the local labor office how they apply to you. Price the full cost of a barista's hour, with payroll taxes and insurance, into your cost per day.
How long will training take, who runs it, and how many practice days will I hold before the sign says open?
Why ask it
Ask the roaster whether they will train your team on your own machine, and pay staff for every hour of it. Then run a few short days for invited neighbors and friends with a reduced menu, and watch where the line stalls. Mistakes made in front of forgiving guests are ones you will not make on the first Monday.
What will I do in the weeks before opening so the street already knows the date?
Why ask it
Paper in the window with an opening date, a listing with the right hours, and a visit to every office and shop within a few minutes' walk cost almost nothing. Hand a free first cup to those neighbors, since they pass the door daily. Decide who keeps the hours and the listing correct after that, because a shop shown as closed online loses the visit.
How to work through the months before a coffee shop opens
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Who each group of questions is for
Yourself, with a notebook
Concept and location and Numbers are mostly yours to answer, standing on the sidewalk with a tally counter and sitting at a desk with supplier quotes. Write the answers down as figures. A plan that exists only as a feeling about the neighborhood cannot be checked by anyone, including you.
The landlord or leasing agent
Take the Lease and build-out group to the viewing, and ask for the answers that matter again by email afterward. The agent usually works for the owner, so a friendly yes about outdoor tables or a 5:30 start counts only once it is written into the lease.
The roaster and the equipment supplier
Both want your account, which makes them generous with their time before you commit. Use it: ask each to look at your floor plan and your peak-hour drink count. Where the roaster also supplies the machine, put the equipment questions to an independent technician as well.
The health department
Go early, by phone or in person, before the bar design is fixed. Bring the menu and a sketch. Inspectors answer specific questions about a specific plan far better than general ones, and the person you speak to now may be the one who inspects the finished shop.
Owners who will never compete with you
An owner across town is often willing to talk for the price of a coffee and a quiet hour. Ask what nobody selling to you will say: how long the mornings took to fill, what the build really cost, and which piece of equipment they would not buy again.
What to settle at each stage
Before you view a unit
Decide the kind of shop, work a rush somewhere, and cost your three main drinks. With those you can look at a space knowing roughly how many customers a day it has to bring, and you will rule out most units from the sidewalk.
Before you sign the lease
Count the morning traffic, get the total monthly cost, settle who the tenant will be, have an electrician and a plumber check the unit, and speak to the health department about that address. Everything in the lease group is cheap to ask now and costly to discover later. Signing is the moment the rent clock and the personal risk both start.
During the build
Order equipment early enough for its lead time, settle the roaster and the food supplier, and bring the cost sheet up to date every week. Line up the approvals in the order the offices gave you. The reserve is most at risk in these weeks, so check it against the plan at every invoice.
The last month
Hire, train, confirm the insurance, hold the practice days and tell the street the date. Leave room between the final inspection and the public opening, because an item that fails needs time to be fixed. Open with the short menu and the hours you can staff well.
Working out the daily number
Start from the month
Add rent with its extra charges, wages with payroll taxes, loan payments, insurance, utilities, software and your own pay. Divide the total by the days you will open. The result is what one day's sales have to leave after cups, coffee, milk and food are paid for.
Turn it into customers
Take the cup and its contents off your average ticket to get what one sale contributes. Divide the daily figure by that and you have customers per day. Run it three times, with a cautious, a likely and a hopeful ticket, and plan on the cautious one.
Check it against the street and the bar
Set the customer count beside your own tally of people passing in the morning, and beside the number of drinks the bar can make in its peak hour. If the plan needs a share of passers-by that owners nearby say they never see, the unit is wrong for this plan, however good it looks.
Where first coffee shops get caught
Falling for the room
Exposed brick and good light do not buy coffee. A plain unit on the morning side of the street, with parking and a sign people can read, tends to out-earn a beautiful one around the corner.
Paying for the machine before the plan is approved
Equipment bought early can turn out not to suit the power supply, the counter or the layout the health department will accept. Choose it early, and pay for it once the drawings have been through review.
A bar designed for the photograph
Low counters, hidden fridges and a hand-off beside the register look clean and work badly at 8 a.m. Design for two people making drinks at speed, then make that look good.
Spending the reserve on the build
Overruns arrive when you are most committed and least able to say no. If the reserve is gone on opening day, the shop has to pay its way in the very weeks when the street is still learning it exists.
Treating another city's rules as yours
Advice from a forum or from an owner elsewhere about sinks, permits, tips or leases may not hold where you are. Use it to know what to ask, and take the answer from your own health department, labor office, accountant and lawyer.