How Much Does It Cost to Open a Coffee Shop? What Are the Operating Costs for a Community Coffee Shop?

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Before starting this article, I hope everyone can calmly think about the following questions before establishing a coffee shop: "Do you understand coffee consumption needs?", "How much do you know about coffee?", "Why do you want to open a coffee shop?", and "What customer base should the coffee shop target?"

With the popularity of community coffee shops, it's now easy to find coffee shops on streets and alleys everywhere. However, very few can sustain long-term operation. Based on my observations over the past year, I've summarized the reasons:

1. Remote location
2. Lack of professionalism, poor quality control
3. Unclear product positioning
4. Blindly reducing prices and offering discounts
5. Being overly generous to acquaintances
6. Lack of service awareness

Many coffee shops don't last long not because the coffee shop market is saturated, but because most owners don't understand the coffee industry and consumer needs before opening. Another reason is that the owners themselves lack sufficient coffee expertise—unable to personally oversee store products and effectively manage the shop and personnel, leading to increased costs in all aspects.

Remote Location

What counts as remote? Those places far from main roads, in small streets and alleys where even GPS navigation can lead you astray... These locations often have very cheap rent, and many people impulsively rent them without considering transportation and walking convenience. Even delivery workers can't help but say: "Your shop is too hard to find!"

A remote location already determines customer flow. Despite unique decor and great products that may attract some customers, it's difficult to encourage repeat purchases. For general consumers, they're even less likely to navigate through winding alleys to make a purchase.

Lack of Professionalism, Poor Quality Control

Opening a coffee shop requires at least basic professional knowledge of coffee—it's not something that can be done well just based on hobby or attending training classes. Coffee professionalism extends beyond technique to include procurement, quality control, sales, and after-sales service, all requiring a professional approach.

Especially regarding product quality control, knowing how to pour-over or create latte art doesn't equal being able to produce good products. Quality control of raw materials is particularly crucial, especially coffee beans. As agricultural products, coffee beans rely on roasting to present different flavors, and their quality can vary significantly. Without professional understanding of coffee beans themselves, coffee roasting, and extraction, when product issues arise, they may not be detected in time or appropriate adjustments made, putting product quality control and brand reputation at risk.

Unclear Product Positioning

Many community coffee shops particularly favor specializing in pour-over coffee, choosing varieties well-known in coffee circles; or they focus on specialty coffee drinks that look very appealing. Although prices may not be high relative to coffee bean costs, general consumers don't see it that way.

For community residents and consumers, coffee value for money is important. This value isn't based on coffee bean prices, but on whether the product can convince consumers themselves. Often, what brings customers back is a cup of Americano or latte—perhaps not stunning, but stable enough with good value.

Blindly Reducing Prices and Offering Discounts

Many owners who don't understand brand marketing hope to attract more customers through price reductions, believing that cheap prices will definitely attract customers. Selling coffee at material cost indeed has great appeal, but it easily makes products seem cheap. When products return to original prices, customers won't continue to repurchase. This kind of loss-making business is strongly discouraged. Marketing is meant to turn unfamiliar customers into loyal ones. Long-term price reductions and discounts, even if not losing money, offer no benefit to oneself or the brand.

Being Overly Generous to Acquaintances

This can be understood in another way: pricing based on the customer. That is,随意打折、甚至免费 depending on the owner's mood or the closeness of the relationship with the consumer. Whether friends, classmates, or relatives, giving things for free doesn't necessarily show generosity.

Discounts are acceptable, but equality must be maintained. Otherwise, when calculating monthly expenses, you'll find: Hey! Why did I lose so much money! Yes, these amounts may not seem large individually, but they add up over time.

Lack of Service Awareness

Running a community coffee shop is about human connection and attentive service. Customer return visits may be due to products, but more often they relate to the coffee shop owner. In reality, I've observed that many owners only provide after-sales service/product feedback to customers who order pour-over or specialty drinks, rarely asking those who order Americanos or lattes for feedback—but these are also potential customers!

Treating everyone equally is truly important! Regardless of the customer, providing professional and sincere service to each person will never be a disadvantage!

After reading this, I believe everyone has a general understanding of opening a community coffee shop. So how much does it cost to open one? Let's do a rough calculation (this can only be approximate, as situations vary by region, and actual circumstances must be considered).

I'm located in the old district of Guangzhou, where suitable food and beverage premises (30-40 square meters) rent for about 6000-10000 yuan/month (depending on location and proximity to bustling areas).

Personnel costs: I don't recommend hiring staff immediately upon opening—do it yourself first if possible. Your own costs should also be calculated; no need to set them high, even the average barista wage of about 4000 yuan/month is reasonable.

Hard decoration costs: For simple renovation, if you can paint yourself and are willing to source materials from the market, it typically costs 20,000-30,000 yuan. If hiring professionals, it's about 40,000-50,000 yuan. For plumbing and electrical connections, I recommend finding professionals—poor installation can cause maintenance troubles later.

Soft decoration: Initially, you only need basic furniture like sofas, seats, cabinets, and refrigerators. If not particularly expensive, about 30,000-40,000 yuan can provide a comfortable setup. Other items can be added gradually based on needs during operation.

For coffee equipment and utensils, I recommend choosing what's right, not what's expensive. Community coffee shops value stability, so grinders and coffee machines don't need to be high-end brands, but must support consistent production. Do your homework on this before opening! Don't get caught up in tens of thousands of yuan coffee machines and grinders.

Currently, many coffee equipment options offer good value. Usually, 7000-12,000 yuan can buy a very good commercial coffee machine—basically, a single-group machine is sufficient. Espresso grinders cost around 3500-4000 yuan, while pour-over coffee grinders range from 3000-6000 yuan.

Utilities costs: The larger the coffee equipment, the higher the electricity consumption. Generally, community coffee shops' utilities cost about 2000 yuan.

Coffee material costs: Espresso coffee beans vary in price. Looking at it per pound, ordinary espresso beans range from 50-60 yuan; those with more prominent overall flavors range from 70-80 yuan; those with unique characteristics or using estate coffee bean blends/SOE beans range from 90-150 yuan.

Milk costs: Regular fresh milk costs 11-13 yuan/L; better quality fresh milk costs 16-19 yuan/L. Based on the milk needed for a milk coffee plus waste, about 200ml is required, so 1L of milk can make 4-5 drinks, costing approximately 2.5-4.5 yuan.

Other material costs: cups, plates, takeout materials, packaging bags, and so on.

"Opening a shop is easy, maintaining it is difficult." Don't be impulsive—calm down, think it through, and then decide.

Image source: Internet

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