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Permalink Reply by Brady on October 29, 2013 at 5:48am

Hi John.

Though I know the answers your questions, I am far from the best person to answer it.

A better person to answer this question is the one that is providing your local support - be that your coffee roaster, consultant, whatever. A partner like this will, for a price, happily enable you to muddle through your first 3-6 months.

The best person to answer it is you, after taking the time to take a full set of training classes, work in the business for someone that does it right, or somehow fill in the substantial voids in your knowledge of the whole of the business.

As you've no doubt realized, having a bit of basic barista training and information from an online barista community is not sufficient to enable you to successfully run a coffee-centric business. Your equipment list is an important question, but there are many others as well. Taking a little time and spending some money to give yourself the knowledge you'll need will pay you back and more.

So, here's your answers:

1. What's needed depends on your menu (there are some common threads, but I make a different list for each client). You'll need everything necessary to properly store, prepare, measure, serve, and clean up after every component of everything on your menu - espresso, milk, syrups/sauces/powders/concentrates, serving vessels, etc. I advise you to work through your process from start (before you've touched anything) to finish (everything is clean and back home, covering everything your hands will touch in the process), then add the various bits required for cleaning. There are several ways to accomplish each task, pick ones that make sense for your equipment, situation, and approach to things. That's your list. When you think you're done, page through a smallwares supplier's web store and see if you've missed anything. There are some unnecessary extras there, though, so think it through.

2. Usually it's the height of a standard base cabinet plus a substantial countertop. The right answer, though, is the height that puts your espresso machine's moving parts at the ergonomically-correct working height considering the needs of you and your staff, the construction of your espresso machine, the restrictions of your local codes (consider ability to clean underneath), and particulars of your space.

Really hope that helps. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Caragay on October 29, 2013 at 7:04am

Brady has given some great thoughts so definitely consider those. As for myself, I've built several different coffee bars, each one is different. I like to take a more organic approach and let the space dictate to me what will work best. Sometimes the space goes along with my preference (like an espresso machine on the front counter so the barista can have eye-to-eye contact with the guest) and sometimes it doesn't. No space is "perfect" but that's not to say you can't create a perfectly functional bar with the space you have.

Understanding your menu is key. Know what you're serving and that will help guide you in your decision making process. Planning on Frappes? Then you need space for a blender and whatever ingredients you're going to use in that item. Not going to have an assortment of syrups? Then you can give that counter space to something else. I spent a lot of time (especially when designing) in other coffee and restaurant spaces looking at how they utilized their space. I take photos (sometimes surreptitiously) and comb the internet for images on other operations to see what I can take away from their designs. I also tend to visit a lot of cafes to view their operations - maybe they're doing something that I can import to my operations or maybe their work will inspire a different approach for us.  For example, when designing the new Spro, visits to Caffe d'Bolla in Salt Lake City, Volta in Gainesville, Florida and Caffe de L'Ambre in Tokyo were instrumental in how we ended up designing our service and service environment.

As far as standardized heights are concerned, 42" for bar height and 36" for counter height is typical. But I like to get things as low as possible, so our counters are 36" (which seems to be the lowest we could drop them while still being able to place undercounter refrigerators beneath them. Brew bar height is 33" which allows us to have maximum exposure to the guest and lets them see the entire brew process. BTW, these measurements are from floor surface to the top of the countertop surface.

But take your time and really work it out. Best of luck!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Hayward on October 29, 2013 at 2:31pm

Hello John,

Brady and Jay have given good points that you should think carefully about. One tip I think is helpful is a three step approach - first set your drink and food menu, and I mean exactly. Plan it out just as it will appear on your menu board, complete with prices. Then, for each item on your menu, you need a recipe. Obvious, right? Well, when you write a recipe for each item, you will have your list of ingredients, tools and you will realize what equipment. Then (only then) you can start to plan out your space, and truly understand what you need. The incidentals like steaming pitchers and thermometers, are easily added, just a trip to the local restaurant supply, and less important than having an sound, ergonomic and efficient layout for both staff and customer.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on October 29, 2013 at 6:37pm

Good advice, though it's hard to set prices without knowing your COGS, and awfully hard to work out that without a recipe.

Mark Hayward said:

Hello John,

Brady and Jay have given good points that you should think carefully about. One tip I think is helpful is a three step approach - first set your drink and food menu, and I mean exactly. Plan it out just as it will appear on your menu board, complete with prices. Then, for each item on your menu, you need a recipe. Obvious, right? Well, when you write a recipe for each item, you will have your list of ingredients, tools and you will realize what equipment. Then (only then) you can start to plan out your space, and truly understand what you need. The incidentals like steaming pitchers and thermometers, are easily added, just a trip to the local restaurant supply, and less important than having an sound, ergonomic and efficient layout for both staff and customer.

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