The profitability of a coffee shop is dependent on a few different factors such as:

• Location
• Competition
• Menu Items
• Quality of Coffee
• Quality of Customer Service
• Efficiency of the Staff
• Interior Layout
• Marketing and Advertising Tactics
• Amount of Space Inside and Outside
• Operation Costs
• And Other Factors

For example, if you have a coffee shop in a good location in a small town and have a loyal customer following, you might be very profitable. This is in part because your competition will be low and your operation costs will be low. On the other hand, you could have a coffee shop in the best possible location in a big city with tons of foot traffic, but you might be less profitable because of high operation costs.

If you want to open and run a successful and profitable coffee shop, here are a few best practices to follow:

1. Search for a Great Location Relentlessly
2. Evaluate Your Competition in the Area
3. Refine Your Menu - If an Item Isn't Helping Your Bottom Line, Nix It
4. Invest in a Quality Website Design
5. Be Active on Social Media
6. Treat Your Baristas Well, Pay Them Well, and They Will Promote You
7. Customer Service is Everything
8. Hire Someone to Do Your Accounting or Pay Close Attention to It
9. Serve the Best Coffee You Possibly Can
10. Latte Art Sells Coffee
11. Don't Forget the Free Wifi... Always
12. Be Active in Your Coffee Shop and Make Friends with Customers
13. Give Your Baristas Permission to Give Out Free Drinks on Occasion
14. Host Events, Have Live Music
15. Open Your Doors - Go Outside and Hand Out Samples
16. Support the Local Community

By following these tips, you will automatically set your coffee shop up for higher profitability.

If you have any questions on this subject, feel free to ask!

I know a guy who filled in for the owners. They had a failing business. The friends reduced the menu to 5 items plus coffee while they were filling in. They treated the people so well that they called friends to come to join them. By mid-afternoon the coffee shop was packed. They made more money in one day than the owners made in a week.

When the owners returned they went back to the full menu and slow service. They went out of business in three weeks.

So if you treat your customers as numbers, you get zero traffic. If you treat your customers like friends, the coffee shop is packed all day long.

As already mentioned, there are too many variables to answer this properly. I had a shop off the beaten path but with barista prices and local overheads, i.e. 2 or 3 bucks for an espresso beverage but rent on local Thai scale - about $600 a month. With myself and my wife as the staff, our overheads were pretty low, and we would’ve sold our first born for sixty customers a day.

The guy who rents a shop on Lockhart Road in Hong Kong or Sixth Avenue in New York City can count on going broke the first month if he only gets sixty customers a day. If you’ve got a location on a high street, you better be looking at sixty customers during the morning rush-to-work period.

The rule of thumb used to be that for every three beverage orders you’ll get one cake, muffin or sandwich order. Sixty customers means sixty cups of something and 20 orders of munchies. Assuming you’re self-financed and not paying yourself a salary it always looks like you can set a low but reasonable target. But you really need to put all of that into the bundle. Not just the rent, but pay yourself back for the capital equipment and site improvement. It’s just on paper, but it gives you a better idea of what you need to make back to have a successful business. Think of it in terms of “I want to sell this place to an investment guy who will need to amortize his initial costs and hire baristas and service staff. Is the profit on those X covers (again 3:1 beverage to food) . If you’re not paying yourself nor paying yourself back for your capital investment $1.50 profit per cover might sound reasonable. If you have to amortize $50,000 in start up costs, though, and pay salaries….? That might not do it,… again, particularly on a High Street, busy transportation hub or office/shopping plaza.

It all depends on where you are, what you’re offering and what your customer base is, and what your rents and overheads are like.

Expecting about 60 customers daily for your coffee shop is a reasonable goal, but it's important to understand that this number can vary greatly depending on several factors. As someone who's spent countless hours in coffee shops and chatted with many owners, I can share some insights to help you set realistic expectations.

First, let's consider what influences customer traffic:

1. Location: A shop in a busy downtown area or near offices will naturally attract more customers than one in a quiet residential neighborhood.
2. Competition: How many other coffee shops or cafes are nearby? Your slice of the local coffee market will affect your daily customer count.
3. Hours of operation: Are you open early for the morning rush? Do you cater to the afternoon crowd?
4. Quality and uniqueness: Exceptional coffee or a unique atmosphere can draw more customers and create loyal regulars.
5. Marketing efforts: How well are you promoting your shop on social media or through local events?

Industry averages suggest that successful independent coffee shops might serve anywhere from 200 to 300 customers per day. However, these numbers can be misleading. I've seen thriving local shops with loyal followings serve far fewer customers, while still maintaining profitability.

For a new coffee shop, 60 customers daily is a solid starting point. It's enough to generate buzz and word-of-mouth referrals, while also allowing you to refine your operations without being overwhelmed.

To reach and maintain this goal:

• Focus on creating a welcoming atmosphere and providing excellent customer service.
• Develop a loyalty program to encourage repeat visits.
• Engage with your local community through events or partnerships.
• Continuously gather feedback and adapt your offerings.

Remember, building a customer base takes time. Don't be discouraged if you don't hit 60 customers right away. Many successful coffee shops start with lower numbers and grow steadily as they establish themselves in the community.

Ultimately, while 60 customers a day is a reasonable expectation, it's more important to focus on providing a great experience for each customer who walks through your door. Quality often trumps quantity in the coffee shop business. As you build a reputation for excellent coffee and service, you may find your daily customer count growing beyond your initial expectations.

Have you considered what unique aspects of your coffee shop might attract and retain customers in your local area?

3–10 years, if ever.

If you open a coffee shop, you will have two tough competitors.

1. Starbucks in your town, which will have the highest salary for workers.
2. Any one who owns more than 1 coffee shop - they have efficiency advantage.

Most coffee shops DO NOT make profits.

How profitable a coffee shop is depends on how well the owner runs the business. Every shop, from a massive chain to a single location must be run by the P&L statement. Provide a great product and even better service; combine that with extreme diligence to minimizing operating costs, reducing waste, and running as lean as possible and your shop can maintain very healthy margins of 40–50%. Much of it will depend on the products you sell, but keep things simple, offer high quality, and make it accessible to your customers. Education for your baristas, as well as your clients is important. Find a roaster you trust and form a good relationship. Do constant cost comparisons for paper goods and other commonly used items like syrups, milk, etc. Be a negotiator for low prices but get creative with your vendors because you can negotiate a lot more than just price. Learn how to fix your equipment yourself, or make sure you get maintenance included from your coffee vendors. Depending on your location, tailor your offerings and service to your customers. Talk to every single person that comes in to understand what they need. For example, if you’re in a metropolitan area, speed and convenience will be most important. Get out in the community, donate, but make sure you get something out of the donation. Don’t discount your product. Coupons are terrible, be more creative with your promotions. Make it fun for your customers. Keep an eye on your competition and be better than them in terms of quality and technology. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Pay attention to places like Starbucks. They are constantly innovating, remodeling, and listening to their customers and they’re on top for a reason.

Your coffee shop will be very profitable if you love coffee, love people, love marketing, and love numbers. You have to simultaneously be detailed and have an eye on the big picture.

Ok, this will be at best a first approximation.

The Daily Beast took a survey (Coffee Capitals: 20 Cities That Drink the Most Caffeine) in 2010 which pegged San Franciscan average monthly coffee bill at $30. How much coffee is that?

Taking Peet's coffee drink prices (in my neighborhood) and naively assuming drip coffee and espresso drinks and the various size are all ordered at the same rate, we get an approximate average price per drink of about $4. I'm going to revised this lower to account for coffee bought at fast food places diners etc. Let's say $3 a drink.

According to this market report, Coffee Shop Research Report, 66% of coffee is drunk outside the home. So let's account for that 1/3 that is drunk at home.

I'm going go with admitted small sampling of bulk coffee prices and go with a number of $11/pound on average.

So if 2/3 of coffee is bought outside the home, $20 of the $30 that San Francisco is drinking is 10 drinks @ $3. 1/3 coffee is drunk at home, so about a pound month.

How much coffee in those 10 drinks? Most espressos and 8 oz drip coffee take around .6 oz per drink to make. Let's revise that upwards to account for larger sizes to 1 oz. That gets to about 10 oz a month or or 5/8 of a pound.

So my guess is about 1 5/8 pound of coffee sold per month per San Franciscan. Which sounds pretty good considering not everybody drinks coffee.

So per day? .05 pounds or .8 oz. If we think coffee consumption has gone up since 2010, let's call it 1 oz per day per person.

Wikipedia entry for San Francisco cites a 2013 population of 837,442.
So about 52,000 pounds of coffee per day.

But don't quote me. I did this without caffeine.

Tea is the most popular and most loved beverage in India. There is a majority of us who need a good cup of tea to begin the day with.

Chaishops in India can be found anywhere and everywhere. Especially near offices, highways, and market places. In fact, every workplace has a designated ‘Chaiwale Bhaiya’.

But have you ever wondered how much does a Tea-seller really earn? And How exactly the business model works?

Let’s take a closer look at how much a tea seller can earn in different workplaces.

First, let us understand the working hours each tea shop has.

Tea Shops near Offices – Working 10 hours every day – Sells 900-1000 Cups.

Tea Shops on highways – Working 14 hours every day – Sells 400-500 Cups.

Tea Shops in markets – Working 12 hours every day – Sells 500 Cups.

Per Day Revenue.

Tea shops near offices – Selling 900 cups a day at Rs 5 to Rs 7 earns Rs 5300 on an average.

Tea Shops on highways – Selling 400 cups a day at Rs 10 earns Rs 4000 on an average.

Tea Shops in markets – Selling 500 cups a day at Rs 7 earns Rs 3500 on an average.

Per Day Expenses. (Including- Milk, Sugar, Tea, Ginger, Gas, and cups)

Tea shops near offices – Rs 4030

Tea Shops on highways- Rs 2350

Tea Shops in markets – Rs 2390

Income Per Month

Tea shops near offices – Rs 29040 (working 22 days a month)

Tea Shops on highways- Rs 54000 (working 30 days a month)

Tea Shops in markets – Rs 32760 (working 26 days a month)

Other Monthly Expenses (Rent, Helper, Misc.)

Tea shops near offices – Rs 1500

Tea Shops on highways- Rs 23000

Tea Shops in markets – Rs 13000

Now, Nett Income Per Month.

Tea shops near offices – Rs 27540

Tea Shops on highways- Rs 31000

Tea Shops in markets – Rs 19760

Source:

Here's How Much Does A Chaiwala Earn In A Month In India

We buy green coffee beans for our operation, and there’s five things I look for when comparing sellers.

1. Do they have detailed descriptions of each batch of beans in each category, written by an experienced coffee buyer that has evaluated and rated their products. In other words, do they taste what they buy, and are they transparent about it.
2. Do they use standard naming conventions, and recognizable standards of evaluation for their catalogue of green coffee beans.
3. Do they offer samples on request.
4. Do they have responsive customer service and prompt shipping.
5. Are their prices competitive with other vendors for the same categories of beans.

The more information and more transparency I can find, the better. I’m currently operating in Japan, and I can’t read Japanese. (though I have help with that) and Japan’s internet commerce, modern web presence for vendors and suppliers is very … uneven. Often things are still done the old fashioned way, with personal visits from suppliers, with paper catalogues.

However, regular personal visits from a friendly and responsive supplier is preferable to an out-of-date website, with a catalogue that doesn’t offer much information. Old fashioned can be good!

I know a shopkeeper in Bangalore who owns a tea stall. He is doing pretty well. He started in year 2015 and is very famous now. I had good relations with him, so he used to share his business insights.

A few factors that were supporting his tea stall make money:

• Weather in Bangalore is pretty good.
• His tea stall is on Bangalore (Jayanagar).
• A lot of office people live nearby. It is a hub for multinational company.

INSIGHTS:

Price of one cup tea : Rs15

Tea cups sold per day : 500

Tea cups sold per month :15000

Revenue from selling tea : Rs.225000

Revenue from selling snacks per day : Rs.3000

Revenue from selling snacks per month : Rs.90000

Total revenue:Rs. 315000 @50% margin

Margin : Rs.157500

I am subtracting Rs.17500 from the profit due to irregular customers. He still makes Rs. 140,000 month.

Please Note : All numbers are approximations

There are many ways for a coffee shop to increase revenue, but we’ve come up with these 10 strategies so far.

1. Buy quality equipment and avoid used machines (they may not have warranties and may need repaired shortly after buying).
2. Buy retail products wholesale. The more you buy, the more you save.
3. Buying your coffee from one supplier and consider buying it in bulk.
4. Employ some point-of-sale promotions. How many times have you gotten to the register at a coffee shop or café and walked away with a pastry or candy bar?
5. Get a good POS system built specifically for coffee shops.
6. Use attractive in-store displays.
7. Offer gift cards and loyalty programs.
8. Add games. You may not want customers to linger for too long if they're only buying one cup of coffee, but with a little creativity, you may be able to profit from customer loitering.
9. Reconfigure your menu. Focus on specialty and high-priced drinks, and place your lower-priced drinks at the bottom of the menu.
10. Evaluate your hours of operation. Consider closing during hours when there is regularly no customer traffic. If weekday afternoons are slow, trim down your hours.

Have something else to add to the list? We’ve covered these 10 strategies in detail in our latest article.

Footnotes

Starbucks claims that they sell roughly 4 BILLION cups of espresso and/or coffee drinks annually. [Source: Global Responsibility Report Goals & Progress 2014]

Leo Qin, using Fermi Estimation, comes up with a slightly lower number of 2.916 (not taking into account refills, re-usable conatainers and freebies). [Source and fun read: How Many Cups Does Starbucks Use In A Day?]

There are currently 28,218 Starbucks stores (according to Google). [In 2017 Statistica reported 27,339 taking into account growth of roughly 1,000 stores per year the 28K @# fits.]

Let’s stick with the 4 BILLION cups annually. Which (divided by 365 days) means that roughly 10,958,904 cups sold daily between ALL Starbucks locations. So we are talking about 388 cups of espresso and/or coffee drinks daily on average per store—globally.

This is in line with E-Imports estimation that the average drive-thru coffee place sells 200–300 espresso and/or coffee drinks daily (a store selling 500 would be exceptional). [Source: Coffee Statistics]

Have you thought about a coffee shop's product? I mean what do they sell?
If you think they sell coffee and cookies and other eatables, you are wrong. They sell time. People don't go to coffee shop to drink coffee, they go to meet someone, think something and work on something.

So if you think from a customer's perspective, a product is a consideration but not the biggest in this case. It is the experience.

Where to start from?
I suggest that you start thinking from the perspective that what different are you gonna offer to customers that they don't already have. You look at the competition and ask yourself if they can do exactly what you do at where you do, will you have an advantage as you are the first one there.

If you have an answer to all this and you think the answer is positive, rest all can be managed.

Keshav

I have my own idea for coffee to go idea and an idea for a bar. I have everything on paper (ideal location, menu (coffees, season drinks, pastries, discounts, loyalty program).

I can sell you my idea, send me a message if you are interested. First we need to sign an agreement that if you don’t like my idea, you are not allowed to use any idea from my plan with your coffee or tea shop. If you agree, than idea is yours, just send me the money. Only crypto accepted.

Finally! Someone to ask a real question on Quora. For this kind of business you need balls.

Even if you are not interested in my ideas and business plan, I wish you to succeed!!!

There are many factors to consider so it's hard to give an average ... I don't think such a figure would be meaningful particularly. But if you just talk about a coffee shop with simple range of drinks, plus pre-packaged cakes, chocolate, some sandwiches, etc then perhaps £250-350 day. If you start to up the food offer then maybe £350-600 per day. If you are in a high footfall area running very effective promotional campaigns and open extended hours selling alcohol too, then you can clearly increase this, but by what factor is hard to predict. To be honest, you need to understand your area and customer potential needs/wants. Then you can take a punt at a daily turnover that will likely be more useful than an 'average'.

It depends on your definition of 'profitable', which can range from a business that is profitable enough to pay the working-owner a wage, right up to a business that can generate a minimum of a 40% return on the owner's investment without the owner needing to work in the business.

There are countless coffee shops that fulfil the lower expectation of profitability as described above but very few that operate at the higher end of the profitability expectation. Those that do will generally adopt the following key strategies in their business model as described here: What's the secret to a successful coffee shop?

The major reason that few coffee shops make it to the higher expectations of profitability has a lot to do with the fundamentals of the industry as analysed by the profit squeeze in Porter's 5 Forces where 3 of the 5 profit-squeeze factors are working against the coffee shop’s profitability. These include:

• The ease at which new coffee shops can enter the market: I believe that new entry businesses exert the greatest amount of profit squeeze on coffee shops. 'Every man and his dog' thinks they can successfully open a coffee shop ... and they do. 'Nothing to it' they say. These operators come and go but meanwhile they force prices down in the market and take enough business from good operators to make it hard for them to ever be profitable.
• The ease at which customers can turn to substitutes: With the prevalence of quality make-it-at-home/office coffee machines, substituting your coffee shop offer has never been easier. Add to this the fact that just about every food item you make can be made by your customers at home for a 1/3rd of the price.
• The significant amount of competitor rivalry: There are big national and international chains in this market with big advertising budgets and who use their market power to secure the best sites, best buying prices and the best staff. Even other independently owned coffee shops will make it difficult for you in the market because they all offer pretty much the same products and compete for exactly the same customers.

In summary, coffee shops would generally be seen as difficult businesses to make money from because they face profit squeezes from three different threats: the significant amount of rivalry between competitors, the ease at which your products can be substituted (customers doing it for themselves) and the ease at which new entrants can and do enter the market. In answering this question it may also be prudent to read my answer to the following, which looks at the more micro profit challenges facing a coffee shop Why do most café startups fail?

As an objective analysis, here are some financial benchmarks produced by the Australian Taxation Office from thousands of coffee shops operating in Australia that identify the profitability of coffee shops at different levels of turnover. The result indicates that even in the highest percentile turnover range of $600,000 turnover per year, the average net profit return = 600,000 x (100% - 90% average total expenses) = $60,000, and that’s before taking out a tax of 30% and without knowing if this includes a % owing to the owner in under-paid wages for the hours spent in their business.

It depends. How busy is the Starbucks? Starbucks stores range from slow (<300 Transactions a day) to busy (>1000 transactions a day). What kind of coffee? Are we talking about just black, hot coffee? The percentage of sales of types of drinks changes from store to store. Some stores might only have 10% of their transactions be black, hot coffee. Others might have 150% of transactions be black hot coffee. If you are counting iced coffee and cold brew the number changes even more. If americanos also count… so on and so forth. But I’d put the estimate at around ~30% of sales at a medium volume store, which we’ll say is ~800 transactions a day for the sake of argument, making the sales of black, hot coffee 240 drinks of probably 1400 drinks total. Of course this is all just a guess.

It depends on where you live. So I will write about the Indian market. People in India prefer tea any day over coffee. Tea is the most consumed thing by the average Indian.

It's there first thing in the morning, and they love it with snacks too. So, if someone is confused about the coffee or tea business in India, they should surely go for the tea business.

Why will a tea shop/business be a great success in the Indian Market?

Lots of already-made customers. You don't need to generate demand for a thing that is consumed a minimum of twice a day.

With tea as a product, one can have various other complimentary products to sell, so this business comes with a good profit.

Since India is one of the greatest producers of tea, one does not have to incur huge expenses for exporting tea.

India also has a huge variety of teas, and you can get expertise in any of the teas and processes, and if successful, you can start your own franchise model.

You might have heard the name "Chai Sutta Bar," the business that started small and now has spread all over India and even abroad. It is an example of how nothing is small and you can make big things out of it.