The money
Coffee GP is typically high, often 70-80% on a milk drink, but each sale is small, so volume is everything. Labour can run at 30-40% because cafés open long hours with uneven demand. Rent relative to turnover is often punishing on prime streets. Food attach, retail beans and catering orders lift margin. Laptop dwell time means seats may earn very little per hour on quiet afternoons.
Numbers that matter
- Cups per day
- drinks volume
- Average transaction value
- spend per customer
- Food attach rate
- share of orders with food
- Labour %
- staff costs as share of sales
- Sales per labour hour
- productivity during service
- Waste %
- unsold food and spoiled milk
What keeps owners up
- Green coffee price volatility
- Dairy and oat milk cost increases
- High-street rents
- Chains and drive-through coffee competition
- Low pay and limited progression for baristas
- Seasonal and weather-driven trade
What we talk about
- Is barista a career or a phase
- What specialty coffee owes the farmers
- The laptop problem and the economics of a seat
- Coffee competitions and the craft community
- Why a flat white costs what it costs
- The traditional café as a working-class institution