Where are you opening?

Hey, I'm in Charlotte, and would love to know more about the shop you'd like to open! That's cool!

In todays times you can put together a store on 35k dollars. Rent shoul be no more than 15 %. I HAVE BOOKS I WROTE THAT OUTLINE EVERYTHING YOU NEED 150.00$

1 What kind of coffee machines do you use - Nuovo Simonelli 3 group espresso machine and grinders. Bunn brewers
2 How long do they last. Don't know, but quite awhile if you maintain them properly
3 How much is the rent for your store. I was able to purchase my building, and there are other tenants who pay rent, so I'm fortunate that I don't have much rent expense. I pay what is needed to cover the mortgage and property taxes.
4 After you found your location for your store, what condition was it in
and how much did you spend to fix up? Completely gutted the building. I don't recall exactly how much it was to do the build-out.

5 How much is store insurance a month Approximately $300.
6 how much are your utilities. $800-$1,000 a month.
7 When you were first in business did you ever need a payroll loan,
if yes how long did it take for your credit to become established to get a loan. No

8 how many different types of coffee do you brew a day. 4 kinds - our house blend, a decaf, a dark roast, and one other that might be a single origin, organic.
9 How many employees do you have a day I usually have 3 people working most of the hours we are open, sometimes just 2 during slower times. And I am here much of the time to help during rushes
10 How many pounds of beans do you order in a week. About 60 lbs.
11 Ball park customers and cash take in a month About 5,000 cust. a month, about $25,000-$30,000 gross/mo.
12 how big is your store and town located in. 1,800 sq. ft., town is 28,000
13 do most of your customers live or work in town. Yes, mostly
14 what hours are your shop open. 7-5 M-Th., 7-6 Fri., 8-3 Sat., 9-1 Sun. are current hours
15 how long has your shop been open Nearly 5 years

i have a 1,300 sq ft space...i build from nothing. i am at the new national harbor project in maryland. hard to believe but this is a new city in maryland. use to be trees/woods and developer turned it into a resort area / city. so when i took over i didn't even have concrete, so it was less then a white shell. i got discounted rent for 3 years because of this, but no help to build out. i put in $450k total, equipment, supplies, labor for contractors etc...i admit i went for the best, top of the line equipment. i suggest figure $225 per sq ft for your store. so 200 times the size of your store will get you a very close estimate to get you open. add in $40k for working capital and early inventory. hope that helps.

sophie,

sure. i just opened 2 months ago. my website is www.aromicafe.com i geared it towards a italian cafe more then a starbucks.

thank you to be my friend, AND OF COURSE, email me at paipai57@hotmail.com, Ill be happy to help. and remember organics is the best

I'd be happy to share. I'm clearly no expert, but I can share my successes and my mistakes, and maybe in doing so help you to avoid some of the same!!!

Sophie, ask away...