Common Mistakes New Cafe Owners Make
We keep seeing the same mistakes in conversations with cafe owners. The interesting part: all of them are preventable.
Not Tracking Daily Expenses
Focusing on revenue without knowing expenses. High daily revenue sounds great — but if expenses eat nearly all of it, the margin is tiny. Without tracking, you don't know the real number.
Not Calculating Food Cost per Product
A commonly used benchmark in the F&B industry: food cost should be roughly 25-35% of selling price (this is a widely-used guideline, not a hard rule). But many owners never calculate per product — so they don't know if a specific menu item has razor-thin margins.
No Written SOPs
"I already trained them." On what, exactly? Without written procedures, every cashier interprets the process differently. The result: inconsistency.
Too Large a Menu from Day One
Wanting to "do everything": coffee, juices, smoothies, full meals, desserts. Ingredient costs balloon, waste goes up, and nothing becomes your signature. Better to start focused with a core menu, then expand based on data.
Decisions Based on Feeling
"I think this menu item isn't selling." Based on what? If you have sales data, you can look — instead of guessing. Sometimes what you think isn't selling turns out to have the best margin.