The PuQ Press

Increased speed equals increased opportunity with The PuQ Press.

In order to create consistent, high quality espresso shots, it is important to understand each component. Small variables can affect the espresso shot significantly. These variables include:

• Grinder settings (which affects the size of the espresso grounds)
• Amount of espresso in the portafilter
• Cleanliness of the portafilter and espresso head
• Pressure and evenness of the tamp
• Length of pre-infusion
• Temperature of the water

One of the most difficult components to perfect and keep consistent among employees is the tamping process. Thankfully, we found an easy solution to this!

Normally, with a manual tamper, you must place it over the espresso grounds in the portafilter, press down with forty pounds of pressure, and push down evenly so that the surface of the espresso grounds is level. These steps ensure that the espresso grounds are tightly and evenly packed so that the espresso machine extracts the espresso evenly (which affects the taste). Unfortunately, it is difficult to press down with exactly forty pounds of pressure, especially with varying strength levels and heights of employees. Tamping evenly is also difficult to do, especially during a rush. When we opened our second coffee shop with a larger staff and much larger demand, we knew we wanted to create a system that would prevent as much variation in the quality of the espresso as possible.

This is when we discovered an automatic tamping device called The PuQ Press. After grinding espresso into the portafilter, tapping the portafilter once on the counter and smoothing the bed of espresso, you simply set the portafiler on the PuQ Press and wait two seconds for perfectly tamped espresso. You can adjust the pressure of this device to exactly forty pounds, thus eliminating any variants in pressure. In addition, the automatic tamper tamps the espresso evenly every time. With this device, your espresso shots increase in quality and your process becomes faster and easier. It also eliminates the occasional necessity to remake an espresso shot due to incorrect tamping.

The PuQ Press is also easy to clean and maintain and handles high volume coffee shops wonderfully. It is important to use a small brush to dust off any espresso grounds from the metal tamper on the device a few times throughout the day to keep it clean. In addition, there is a button that lowers the tamper for easy cleaning at the end of the day. Our baristas maintain our PuQ Presses well and enjoy this step-saving process. We usually have several hundred drink orders each day, and our PuQ Presses handle the large volume with ease.

We highly recommend the PuQ Press for your coffee shop both to increase your drink quality and to increase your sales. It was well worth the investment for us, and we are thankful we found this option. For more information on the PuQ Press and other products for your coffee shop, visit HOPE Coffee’s sister company, Shiloh Coffee Supply.

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How to Set Your Coffee Shop Apart

We live in a time where there are coffee shops on almost every corner, so how do you set your coffee shop apart? While the number of coffee shops to choose from is wonderful from a consumer perspective, it poses a challenge for new coffee shop owners. How do you capture the public’s attention? How do you make your coffee shop more desirable to visit than the one down the street? Is it simply having better quality coffee?

Finding Your Niche

It is certainly important to have high quality coffee and excellent customer service in order to make your coffee shop a desirable place to visit. However, in order to stand out from other coffee shops, it is important to add an additional service or unique product that few other coffee shops have.

To put it another way, you have to find your “niche.” Some examples of unique additions to your coffee shop include:

• Providing breakfast or lunch options
• Creating a safe outdoor green space for kids to play in
• Offering venue rental options
• Playing live music
• Adding a co-working space
• Providing free books to read
• Offering barista training classes for customers
• Hosting weekly art classes
• Adding massage chairs
• Hosting outdoor movie nights.

There are many more unique options, and each of these additions sets your coffee shop apart from others.

Advertising

Once you find your “niche,” it is time to begin advertising. Social media is always a great place to start. Then it is helpful to reach out to people already connected to your chosen unique service. If you have a space for children to play in, reach out to schools, families, and co-ops letting parents know of this new opportunity. Do you want to have live music? Reach out to local bands and their fans will likely come to support their musician and learn about your coffee shop. Plan to offer coffee training? Talk to your existing customers who may have friends interested in learning about coffee. Each unique service gives your customers one more reason to visit your coffee shop.

Of course, it is important to select unique services and products that match your values and atmosphere. These should be a compliment to your coffee shop, not a distraction.

At our second coffee shop location in Sunnyvale, Texas, we currently have an outdoor green space with lawn games for families, rental and catering options, made-to-order breakfast tacos and sandwiches, and occasional outdoor live music. These additional options provide unique and enjoyable options for our customers. We want to create a cozy, family-oriented atmosphere at this coffee shop, and this is why we chose the options we did. Families play lawn games after school, and customers rent our coffee shop for baby showers and graduation parties. Students grab breakfast before school, and the town enjoys live music together a few times a year. These features not only increase our profit and customer base, but it also strengthens the community and provides a healthy work environment for staff.

If you are opening a coffee shop, or if you already have one, we highly recommend you find some unique services or products to set your coffee shop apart from others. To learn more about our services at our Sunnyvale location, visit hopecoffeesunnyvale.com or visit our Instagram and Facebook pages.

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Tea and Other Coffee Alternatives

All coffee shops serve coffee, but not all coffee shops expand their menu beyond coffee to tea and other coffee alternatives. It may seem unnecessary to add non-coffee drinks to your menu, but by doing this, your customer base and sales will increase significantly. Not only are you opening your doors to non-coffee drinkers, but you are also extending a warm welcome to families with children who desire kid-friendly options. Once these customers experience delicious non-coffee drinks, word will spread, and sales will increase.

The following are the non-coffee drinks we currently offer on a regular basis at our HOPE Coffee Sunnyvale location: *Compassion Tea, tea lemonades, London fogs, cinnamon orange spice tea lattes, specialty hot chocolates, milkshakes, fruit smoothies, and blue and green matcha.

We serve both iced and hot tea, and we have several different tea options to accommodate a variety of preferences. It is important to provide both caffeinated teas and decaf teas. We serve black teas, green teas, white teas, and herbal teas. Our customers are very grateful for the wide selection!

We also serve a few different tea lemonades. Our most popular is our Peach Strawberry Tea Lemonade. Additionally, our two most popular tea lattes (The London Fog and Cinnamon Orange Spice Tea Latte) are served hot, iced, and frozen. Next, we serve hot chocolate and add additional flavors on a seasonal basis.

We also serve multiple flavors of milkshakes, which are a hit for our younger audience in particular. Recently we added fruit smoothies to our menu due to the number of requests from our customers. They are a great seller during the summer! Lastly, we offer both green matcha (made with crushed green tea leaves) and blue matcha (made with crushed butterfly pea flower petals). These are delicious with vanilla, lavender, honey, or white chocolate and cinnamon. Matcha is also available hot, iced, and frozen!

Non-coffee drinks are particularly important when you craft your seasonal menus. For example, when your non-coffee drinking customers notice that you have Spiced Caramel Apple Cider instead of just a Pumpkin Spice Latte and Blackberry Cobbler Latte during the Fall months, they will be thrilled! Now non-coffee drinkers and children can visit for a special fall treat along with their coffee drinking friends. We choose two espresso-based drinks and one non-coffee drink for each seasonal menu to consistently cater to both crowds.

In addition to these handcrafted non-coffee drinks, we also provide bottled drinks in our grab n’ go cold case. In order to maintain quality and aesthetics, we typically fill our cold case with glass bottled drinks rather than canned sodas. We want to match our high-quality menus with high quality grab n’ go options. Beyond glass sodas and sparkling waters, we also sell kids juice boxes and sports drinks. These are great sellers for kids and for busy, on-the-go customers.

When crafting your menu, we highly recommend adding drinks with several different demographics in mind. There are two primary benefits from this. Firstly, it will make everyone feel welcome and served well. Customers notice when you provide their favorite drinks, and this strengthens your relationship with your customers. Secondly, the more customers you cater to, the more your sales increase. We highly recommend adding Compassion Tea and non-coffee drinks to your coffee shop menus.

*Not only does our coffee have an eternal impact, but so does Compassion Tea! The profit of this high-quality tea helps to support medical clinics in Africa. Learn more at CompasioNow. Want to try some of our most popular teas? Order our sample pack here.

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Hiring and Scheduling of Employees

The employees you hire and schedule become the face of your coffee shop. Despite the important logistical and design details you add to your space, customers will primarily associate your shop with your team members and their customer service. Your team will also influence the Google reviews and social media attention your coffee shop receives. This makes the hiring and scheduling process vital for sales and for proper representation of your brand.

Hiring

While searching for trustworthy, hardworking, kind employees can seem daunting, we believe it is better to wait a little longer for a solid hire than to settle for someone you do not feel comfortable representing your coffee shop. We use the following steps to search for excellent new hires. First, we ask existing baristas if they know anyone they would highly recommend for the job. Of course, we do not guarantee that we will hire their recommendation, but we thank them for their suggestion and follow up quickly. Next, we consider our customer base and reach out to eligible candidates for an interview.

After this, we post jobs on joinhomebase.com (we also use Homebase for shift scheduling). Homebase’s job posting function allows you to post your job on additional job sites and to link these job listings to social media posts. We also convert our online application into a QR code and add it to our “Now Hiring” posters that we hang around our coffee shop. This allows customers to apply instantly or to send the link to interested friends. As people apply online through these links, it creates a database of potential baristas for our manager to consider when it is time to hire.

Once you schedule interviews with potential candidates, it is important to ask both logistical and meaningful questions during the interview. This helps to better understand the candidate’s personality, work ethic, and values. When we perform interviews, some things we look for are kindness when they speak about others and their past work experiences, maturity and confidence in conversation, humility, punctuality and professionalism, a desire to go above and beyond, and an appreciation for our company values.

We do not require past barista experience, though it can be helpful. However, oftentimes previous baristas have poor technique that needs to be retrained, so we typically prefer employees with no experience. This way we can train them properly without worrying about bad habits affecting our drink quality. No employee is perfect, but overall we look for employees who desire to grow their skills and serve others well. We hope these interview questions provide a helpful guide for you as you search for quality baristas.

Scheduling

Next, your shift scheduling method for your baristas makes a huge difference in your staff turnaround and coffee shop environment. We choose to treat our team members like we want to be treated, especially when it comes to creating a shift schedule. Rather than creating an unpredictable shift schedule that changes each week, we decided, as much as possible, to create a consistent base schedule for a 2-4 month period of time. While the base schedule remains constant, team members may still trade shifts with managerial approval for various legitimate reasons.

We want our baristas to have dependable work schedules so they can live their personal lives more freely. The consistent weekly schedule also simplifies scheduling for management. After trying this method, we found that our team members’ trust in management increased. Additionally, employment turnover decreased, and barista relationships with customers grew. These intentional relationships built between baristas and customers increased sales and grew our customer base. We value this mutually beneficial environment between management and staff as it effectively communicates our care for employees and customers.

In order to cultivate a welcoming, caring atmosphere in your coffee shop, it is important to begin with your baristas. When your baristas feel cared for and respected, your customers will feel cared for and respected. Taking the time to find quality candidates and create consistent weekly schedules can be overwhelming. However, the many benefits certainly make it worthwhile. We highly recommend you consider our interview methods and scheduling methods as you grow your coffee shop!

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Iced and Frozen Drinks

When you think about owning and running a coffee shop, the initial focus is often on piping hot americanos, cortados, latte art, and the fanciest loose-leaf tea. I think it is also worth considering adding iced and frozen drinks to your menu.

Here’s why: these items are not only delicious, but they will likely make up 20%-30% of your sales. It can seem overwhelming to add several new recipes at first. This is why we created an easy training system that focuses on repeating concepts rather than memorizing 100+ individual recipes.

Iced Drinks

Iced drinks are quick and easy to create, though many coffee shops make the mistake of performing the steps in the wrong order. For example, if an iced latte is not made in the proper order, it will be watered down, and the ice will melt too quickly. For this article, I will specifically explain our iced latte process (there are many other drinks that can be iced as well).

To begin, add your desired syrup into a shot glass. Next, pull the espresso shot into the shot glass with the syrup. While the espresso is filling the shot glass, fill your iced cup halfway with ice. Next, pour the desired milk into the cup, leaving about an inch of room at the top.

It is important to pour the milk first rather than the espresso shot. This is because the hot espresso shot will immediately start to melt the ice (which waters down the drink) and melt the cup (which releases toxins into the latte). After the shot is finished, whisk the syrup and espresso together thoroughly. Then pour into the cup of ice and milk. The reason we mix the syrup and espresso together rather than pumping syrup into the bottom of the cup is to ensure the flavors are mixed and distributed evenly.

Lastly, put on the lid and swirl until the drink is one solid color. The ombre effect of the espresso on top of the milk definitely looks nice. However, if a customer were to stick their straw in the cup and immediately take a drink, they would primarily taste plain milk. We value flavor most, and thus swirl everything together. You can repeat this concept with tea lattes, matcha, and chocolate milk!

Frozen Drinks

Frozen drinks often seem intimidating due to their finicky consistency. We decided to develop a reliable process that eliminates much of the guesswork. Our staff does a great job following this! Again, I will explain our basic process using a frozen latte as an example.

It is important to note that the number of espresso shots in your drink affects the amount of milk needed. In total, you should have the equivalent of a glass full of ice and liquid (espresso + milk) in your blender by the end of the process. For our 12oz and 16oz lattes, we add 2 shots (2oz) of espresso along with half a glass of milk. This is the equivalent of a glass full of liquid. However, our 20oz lattes have 3 shots (3oz) of espresso, so we add 1/3 glass of milk into the blender to compensate for more espresso. In both cases, there will be a glass full of ice and liquid.

When making a frozen latte, first pull your espresso shots so that they can run while you prepare your next step. Next, fill your cup completely full with ice. It is best that the ice sticks out above the top of the cup. Then, fill the cup half full with your milk of choice. Next, pour your milk and ice combo into the blender, and then pour your espresso shots in.

At this point you can add any syrup or sauce into the blender, rather than melting it in with the espresso like we did with the iced latte. The blender will mix it thoroughly. The most important step is to add your emulsifier. The emulsifier is key in achieving a smooth, thick consistency. We recommend Ghirardelli as the added sweetness boosts flavors. Lastly, blend together using a high-powered commercial blender (we recommend the Blendtec Stealth), pour, and serve with whip on top if desired!

Is your frozen latte is too thin? Simply add a few ice cubes and blend again to thicken it. If it is too thick, you can add a tablespoon or two of milk to thin it out. However, it is best not to add too much at the end as it dilutes the drink.

We recommend having a few hot, iced, and frozen staples on your menus that your customers can rely on. In addition, we love changing our seasonal drinks a few times a year to maintain excitement and to add freshness to our menu! For seasonal iced and frozen drink ideas, visit HOPE Coffee Sunnyvale’s Menu.

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How to Manage Stress as a Coffee Shop Employer

It can be difficult to manage stress as a coffee shop employer. You have staff members counting on you, big decisions to make, people to hire, hard conversations to have, and multiple questions and suggestions coming at you simultaneously. You may spend your days putting out fires and wondering if you will be able to take a vacation this year. It is possible that you are exhausted, stressed, stuck in a rut, and discouraged. If any of this resonates with you, we adapted the following stress management tips from a trusted friend at Buscad Primero to assist employers as they seek a healthy work-life balance.

First, it is important to understand what stress is and what types of stress exist. Stress is any kind of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain or tension. Everyone experiences stress in some way, and it can be both negative and positive. An example of positive stress is muscle growth or recovery. This does not occur without the necessary stress or tension placed on your muscles. Similarly, developing character and new skills requires some stress or tension placed on us. Stress becomes negative when it is excessive and without recovery time. In these cases, it becomes physically, emotionally and spiritually harmful. Therefore, it is vital to learn how to manage stress levels so they can have a positive rather than negative impact on both your personal and professional life.

Below are 9 stress management tips to assist employers as they seek a healthy work-life balance. We recommend trying one or two at first to avoid being overwhelmed by multiple new changes at once.

Limit Communication Channels

In order to consolidate the number of questions and messages you receive from employees and partners, have your staff members communicate with you through no more than two communication channels (ex. your scheduling system and email). This will reduce confusion and declutter your notifications. In addition, only allow staff to contact your personal number for emergencies, or you may choose not to share it at all. Without these personal phone boundaries, it becomes easy to unintentionally prioritize work on the same level as family and personal responsibilities. 

Invest in Quality Products for Yourself

If you work an active job where you spend a lot of your time on your feet, purchase comfortable shoes. If you work at a desk job, purchase a comfortable desk chair. Pain often increases stress physically and mentally. Thus, it is important to invest in products that relieve physical pain. 

Fuel Yourself Properly

Drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration, sluggishness, and headaches. If you drink coffee (we recommend HOPE Coffee), drink it after a glass of water and with food to prevent unhelpful jitters. It is also important to avoid excess sugar both in soda and in food. Instead, bring pre-prepped, healthy, protein-heavy snacks and meals to work. Filling your diet with healthy protein rather than sugar stabilizes your blood sugar, which in turn reduces anxiety and physically calms your body. Your ability to focus also increases along with your productivity. In short, when you feel better, you work better. 

Use your PTO

Whether or not you choose to use all your days off, it is important to set aside time for focused rest without work-related interruptions. Vacations reset your mind, body, perspective on what is most important, and your work boundaries. After the initial “withdrawal” from the rush of work, time away can break unhealthy phone habits, minimize constant thoughts about work, decrease the knots in your shoulders, and remind you of the world outside the workplace. Before returning to work, consider adjusting work and phone boundaries to prevent falling into old habits.

Communicate Your Work Schedule and Habits with Friends and Family

It is not healthy to be in isolation on a personal level, and it is especially important to avoid isolation when you are in a position of authority over others. When you invite trusted individuals into your work life (to discuss topics like schedule, fears, difficult decisions, etc.), they can help you spot any unhealthy habits or need for boundaries that you may overlook. They can also encourage you as you navigate difficult situations. Lastly, it is important to keep others in the loop regarding the way you manage others for accountability. If you are stressed, it is easier to lose your temper or not consider others’ needs or feelings. Outside perspectives from wise individuals are helpful because they can provide sound judgment without being clouded by the emotion of the situation. 

Explore New Places on Your Off Days or Evenings

Escaping the management world and finding a change of scenery provides a fresh perspective, rest, and excitement. Change up your routine and try something new! Even something as small as trying a new restaurant or walking at a different park can make a difference in your week.

Delegate Tasks and Learn to Say No

It can be difficult to delegate tasks when you desire perfection. However, it is important to realize that delegation does not mean the task is always done incorrectly. It is often simply done differently, which is not bad. As difficult as it is to imagine, delegation is the perfect opportunity to grow in humility and for your employees to grow in skill. In fact, delegation is often the breeding ground for company growth. When you pass tasks off to others, they can improve in skill and you can give time and attention to more important things. Lastly, remember that for every “no” you say, you are saying “yes” to something else. Saying “no” is simply boundary-keeping and a prioritization of values. It is better to give more time to a few things than to stretch yourself thin while doing too many things.

Exercise and Get Outside

Physically exerting your body helps to clear your mind, boost your energy, and relax your body. If it sounds intimidating or undesirable to begin an exercise routine, find something active you enjoy doing. Exercising does not need to look like lifting weights at a gym or going for a ten-mile run. Instead, it may look like jump roping, dance class, yoga, swimming, rock climbing, ice skating, basketball, or karate. Simply getting active reduces stress significantly! In addition, spending at least a few minutes outside each day reduces stress. On days you do not have the time to take a walk outside, consider eating dinner outside or parking further from work or the store to lengthen your walk inside. Little things add up!

Journal Your Thoughts

Putting your thoughts into words and prayers brings perspective and relief. The more you write down, the fewer thoughts will race through your mind. Journaling provides clarity and can help you verbally articulate your thoughts clearly to others. It is a guide that forces you to slow down and process your decisions, conversations, and thought patterns. It can be uncomfortable, but an easy way to begin is to take 2-3 minutes and write down some thoughts on your phone. Anything is helpful! If you are a Christian, it is especially encouraging to have a written account of God’s faithfulness and provision for you.

As we mentioned before, not all stress is negative. It is a normal part of being human, and it can lead to personal and professional growth. If you follow even one of the above steps, your stress levels will begin to reduce, leaving room for growth rather than burnout. Remember, you need people in your corner to encourage you and challenge you as you pursue work-life balance. Once you share your needs with a trusted friend, begin taking small steps toward healthy stress in your personal and professional life. Once you do this, you may notice that new challenges in the workplace lead to new, fruitful solutions for your company rather than panic. You may notice that problems with employees lead to improved training procedures rather than a headache. Healthy stress leads to growth and improvement in your company (over time, of course). Listen to the warning signs of excess stress and begin the baby steps toward healthy stress management. Over time, both you and your company will experience growth.

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Music that Matches Your Coffee Shop

When we launched our first coffee shop, I knew that music was important, but I had no idea what type of music I should play or what system I should use. I naively hoped it would be as easy as playing a premade Spotify playlist through a speaker. Besides, people usually have headphones on at coffee shops, so does it matter what we play?

Source of Music

It turns out that it matters quite a bit, and that you cannot simply play a Spotify playlist. I learned through our research phase that the law requires commercial establishments to either use music streaming systems that pay royalties to songwriters or to use live radio stations/royalty free music. At our first coffee shop, we did not yet make enough profit to afford the commercial options. Instead, we streamed royalty-free jazz and classical music from Public Domain Radio. It was not our favorite, but it was far better than a radio station full of ads. We realized through this experience the large impact music has in a coffee shop. We knew we wanted to invest in the right system and the right style of music before we opened our second location.

One of our team members researched and tested several well-known commercial music streaming companies. She eventually found a company called Jukeboxy that imports your uniquely made Spotify playlists into the Jukeboxy commercial music system. We purchased their Jukeboxy player and connected it to our sound system. It had the best of both worlds! We could craft playlists exactly to our liking on Spotify (very user friendly) and follow commercial music laws. Jukeboxy is the only company that does this, and they have provided excellent service.

Playlists

Now one of our most commonly asked questions at our coffee shops is, “where did you find this great playlist?” or “what song is this?” This brings us to the importance of selecting music that matches your coffee shop style and values. Do you want your coffee shop to feel upbeat, fast paced, and trendy? Choose songs that are upbeat and unique. Do you want your coffee shop to feel calm, relaxing, and slower paced? Select slow, calming music. No matter what style you choose, it is wise to choose songs that are cheerful and positive so that it lifts your customers’ spirits and makes your coffee shop a desirable place to be.

Our personal method of building Spotify playlists is one that takes a bit longer, but it is absolutely worth it in the long run. Rather than choosing five or six full length albums, loading them into the playlist, and sending it in to Jukeboxy, we select songs individually from a much larger group of artists that share a similar genre. This brings diversity, character, and longevity to your playlist. When you load a few full-length albums into a playlist, the songs quickly grow old as they sound quite similar. Choosing individual songs from a number of artists keeps your playlists fresh, interesting, and unique!

Pro tip: avoiding songs from the radio sets you apart from your local grocery store playlists.

Lastly, your playlists should be around 15 hours long. If your playlists are less than the length of a shift, your staff will quickly grow tired of the music.

As a Christian company, the majority of our songs are within the Christian genre. We decided to choose unique, lesser known, acoustic type artists because we want our atmosphere to be calm, encouraging, trendy, and an escape from the daily grind. Our music also conveys values and messages consistent with our company, because we believe every aspect of your coffee shop conveys something about your business. Customers notice the little things, and we want to be intentional in all that we do to serve them and in the ways we communicate to them. We encourage you to select music that is consistent with what you want to communicate about your business as well.

If you would like to listen to our playlists, click the links below! If you would like to play them at your business, you can email these Spotify links to Jukeboxy and they will import them into your account.

HOPE Coffee’s Daily Playlists:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3JAdGi6h1DqzIzCF6HXfjB?si=f89dbbf47f634a69

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4886kVdvKk2N5uA3ddEHm5?si=92f0342fddd741ce

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/32eIZuPa9oXKZx9QQMWNEK?si=d2c9bb17d5774875

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7yoT3CrWrlLEEIWZlO2U61?si=0480f595e60e4298

Christmas Playlists:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bKKnS26ukbwORdSmeOwte?si=7d6cacb9e4084f66

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6NMK4GYyP17IexgMztlXid?si=8ef3d7dedcff468f

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Coffee Bar Layout

Your coffee bar layout is important both functionally and visually. Customers appreciate its cleanliness and beauty, and whether they realize it or not, they appreciate its efficiency. Baristas also appreciate an efficiently laid out bar as it prevents them from bumping into each other during a morning rush. Designing a bar that is both visually pleasing and efficiently laid out can be overwhelming. After some research and a successful build, we decided to share our findings with future coffee shop owners!

We were not able to design the layout of our first coffee shop since we moved into a previously occupied space. However, our second coffee shop was a new build, so we were able to design the bar layout and plan for proper workflow. We began with sketches of the space and tried out a few different placements of machinery. During this process, Greg Ubert, recommended his book,  7 Steps to Success. We highly recommend purchasing a copy of this insightful book (Ubert’s book includes coffee samples from his company Crimson Cup). In 7 Steps to Success, Greg shares that the bar layout should lead to the barista taking the fewest number of steps possible. This will shorten drink preparation time, thus allowing the barista to create more drinks per hour, which increases profit.

The following bar layout reduces the number of steps a barista takes while also keeping conversations with the customer in mind. In short, the barista will begin by the cash registers with an empty cup, work their way down the counter in a straight line, and reach the end of the counter with a completed drink, and only a few steps taken. For each of your counters, we recommend the following orders.

Customer Facing Counter:

• Cash register (check out our article on POS system recommendations)
• Cups/lids
• Syrups
• Espresso grinder
• PuQ Press
• Espresso machine (with a milk fridge underneath)
• Pitcher rinsers
• Knock boxes with trash cans
• Drink pickup counter.

Back Counter:

• Coffee grinder
• Coffee brewer and tea brewer
• Blending station:
  • Ice machine
  • Blendtech Stealth
  • Blending powder
  • Additional syrups/cups
  • Sink

We have a handwashing sink and microwave on our back bar as well. Finally, it is ideal to put your grab and go food station before the register. This allows customers to browse while they wait in line. With this order in mind, the barista moves seamlessly by taking the order, grabbing a cup, adding syrups, grinding and tamping the espresso, pulling the shot, steaming the milk, rinsing the pitcher, pouring the latte, and serving it to the customer. Because baristas can move relatively uninterrupted in a straight line, they can continue a conversation with a customer and cultivate an intentional and inviting environment.

In addition to determining the placement of your equipment, you will also need to ensure that the proper water lines, drains and electrical outlets (220v and 110v) are available near the location of your equipment. In our experience, the more electrical outlets the better. If you choose to add a drive-thru to your location, we recommend adding a small camera, tv monitor, and tasteful alarm bell to prevent baristas from overlooking a car in the drive-thru. We added these after a few years of being open, and we were thankful we had extra outlets for these additions.

Lastly, it is wise to avoid a porous countertop that would absorb stains easily, a delicate countertop that would scratch easily, and a pure white countertop that would show wear easily. No countertop will be perfect, but purchasing a durable countertop will keep your space looking fresh and clean longer. Next, you want to make sure that your counter is at the proper height for your baristas to reach equipment. Our first coffee shop had a very high countertop which made it difficult for shorter baristas to reach the machinery.

We recommend you build a section of counter that mostly covers the main drink making space from customers. While we follow health guidelines and keep our space sanitary, it is hard to keep a space looking completely put together during a rush. This will keep your space looking clean even during the rushes. Lastly, we provide a water dispenser near the drink pick-up area so that customers can access water at any time. This also prevents orders for water from lengthening the wait time for coffee drinks.

If you would like to see our coffee shops in person, visit our website for addresses and photos.

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What Kind of Espresso Machine Should I Buy for My Coffee Shop?

I did not know what type of espresso machine to buy for our first coffee shop. The former tenant left a Verismo 701, so we began operating with that machine. Within a year, we knew the local espresso machine repair guy well – this machine unfortunately needed frequent maintenance. After about a year, we hired an experienced barista to manage that location who encouraged us to consider a manual espresso machine rather than a super-automatic one.

We began by researching common brands and visiting local coffee shops that used machines such as La Marzocco and Synesso. During this process, a friend told me about the Retro Espresso Machine by Fracino. These espresso machines are unique because they pull the espresso shots with manual levers rather than a button system. It is user friendly, produces high quality espresso, and has a very eye-catching design. I also appreciated that I could perform its simple maintenance process! We purchased the Retro Fracino, and it worked so well that we purchased two more for our second location and became one of Fracino’s US distributors. (Visit shilohcoffeesupply.com to see our selection.)

Regardless of the espresso machine you choose, it is vital that you purchase a brand-new unit. Used or refurbished espresso machines often cost more time and money in the long run due to frequent, expensive repairs. The espresso machine is the heart and soul of your coffee shop. Since this one piece of equipment produces the majority of your coffee shop’s income, I highly recommend investing in a dependable espresso machine made from quality parts.

Espresso machines, including Fracino, come with single, double, or triple group heads. Some have steam wands on one or both sides. These different options affect how quickly baristas can make the drinks and how many staff members are needed. For example, we chose two Fracino machines with dual group heads for our second coffee shop location. The reason we purchased two machines is because this location has a drive-thru (typically about 40%-60% of your business). One machine produces drinks for the drive-thru, and the other produces drinks for in-house drinks and mobile orders. This provides more space for our baristas to work, and they can assign drinks to a specific machine to eliminate confusion. It also significantly speeds up the process. Our first location primarily serves in-house drinks at a lower volume, so one machine with dual groups heads is sufficient.

If you are in the market for an espresso machine for your coffee shop or restaurant, we encourage you to consider a Fracino Espresso Machine. Fracino was established in 1963 and its machines have a reputation for quality and reliability worldwide. In fact, over 70 countries use Fracino machines. They manufacture around 90% of their high-quality parts in Birmingham, England, and the machines are built to last 20+ years with proper maintenance. Fracino is also one of the only companies in the world to offer a propane-powered dual-fuel espresso machine designed for coffee carts, coffee trucks, food trucks, or other remote espresso service locations. This opens up a world of possibilities for coffee shops, restaurants, wedding vendors, and disaster relief efforts. Mobile coffee can be both convenient and delicious!

To learn more, you can visit our sister company, Shiloh Coffee Supply, to see these espresso machines available for purchase.

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POS System for Your Coffee Shop

At first, I did not know what kind of Point of Sale (POS) system we should use for our coffee shop. Thankfully, my business partner was familiar with them, and he helped set up our first POS system. Since we were a very small business at that point, we needed to choose an inexpensive option. After considering several different options, we decided to start out with an Apple/IOS app-based POS system. This system used iPads rather than larger POS devices. It was user friendly, though its functions were fairly limited. The primary limitation stemmed from the regular system updates issued by Apple. The iPads prompted staff to update the devices, but unfortunately the POS systems were often not yet ready to operate on the updated version. Despite these frustrations, it met our basic needs as we grew our business.

A few years later, we were preparing to open our second coffee shop location. We knew we wanted a better POS system not only to limit frustration, but also to help increase sales.

After much researching and testing, we finally landed on Toast. I was relieved and excited! While it is not a perfect system, it is a vast improvement over the previous iPad-based POS system. It is extremely user friendly, offers a host of useful and lucrative features, and is not tied to Apple or IOS updates. Toast’s additional features allow us to compete with corporate brands without the high costs that often accompany POS systems.

One of the three primary features that increased our sales was Toast’s online ordering option. Once we reached max capacity inside our shop and in our drive thru, we were able to increase order volume through the online ordering option. This feature allows customers to order ahead and pick up at their convenience. They simply download the Toast Takeout App, search for our coffee shop, place their order, and pick up at their selected time. As baristas take orders throughout the morning, the Toast POS system connects to a receipt printer and adds mobile orders into the order queue. Bonus feature: Toast also allows us to add professional images and descriptions into the mobile ordering app for each of our products.

The next feature that increased sales and prevented many headaches is Toast’s ability to function offline. On occasion, the internet goes down for one reason or another. When we were using the IOS POS systems, this unfortunately meant that customers could only pay with cash until we could fix the internet. Sales decreased in these instances, and we sadly could not provide consistent service to our customers. Thankfully, Toast allows staff to process both credit and cash transactions while offline. This prevents us from losing sales and upsetting customers. In the rare cases where we experienced technical issues with Toast, the support team responded quickly and effectively.

The third feature that increased our coffee shop sales significantly is Toast’s gift card system. It allows both electronic and physical gift cards which provide two convenient options for customers. These gift cards are great for teacher appreciation gifts, Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, random acts of kindness, etc. These are helpful with marketing and with increasing revenue. The initial capital investment is more than an iPad-based POS system. However, the Toast POS system and hardware are well worth the investment.

If you are searching for the best kind of POS system to use for your coffee shop, I highly recommend Toast. The user-friendly aspects, sales-boosting features, and efficient customer service are difficult to beat!

*Full disclosure: the links provided above are referral links. HOPE Coffee will receive a financial bonus from Toast should your establishment sign up through this link.*

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