Small Low Cost Cafe ...

Recently, a colleague of mine said that we should have a nice quiet place to hang out near work. Being in a new "city" with very limited places to "hang out", it got me thinking about how much does it really take to have a small low cost cafe. The main ingredient is probably the coffee machine and the coffee.

A few months back, I was visiting a friend's office and they offered me a cup of "freshly" brewed coffee. I went to the pantry and what I saw was that they took out this round flat vacuum packed sachet and placed it into an espresso machine, squeezed it and out came a very aromatic smelling coffee. It taste good too! And surprise, surprise, it's not a Krups machine but a Nescafe branded machine. Of course I went on to ask about the setup cost as most espresso machines cost a bomb. Anyway, it doesn't cost much but you will be bound to purchase all your coffee needs from Nestle.

So, back to business ... what is needed. A small unassuming shop of around 500 sq ft or less, seats about 10 people or less, serves "nescafe" fresh brew, maybe freshly made finger sandwiches and of course "designer" furniture. Only need 1 staff to man it and if you are a programmer or works online, it can be a good additional income (especially if you are a coffee drinker yourself). So, what's the cost ...



Firstly, what's the name of the contraption I was talking about ... it's called nespresso (kinda predictable name isn't it?). The website basically tells you all you need to know. So back to cost ...

Renovation for 500 sq ft: USD10,000 (USD20 per sq ft estimate)
Nespresso and food stock: USD5,000 (machine, coffee sachets and cash flow for finger food)
Rental and operations Cash Flow: USD5,000
Miscellaneous: USD2,000

USD22k to start a business instead of paying more than that just for a franchise fee for one of those coffee chains. Errr ... how to make money, that I will leave it to you ...