What I Wish I Knew: Coffee Shops

Starting a coffee business is not for the faint of heart. It will bring blood, sweat, and tears (plus, a lot of caffeine).

Yet, there’s still something that makes the pursuit worthwhile despite being strapped for cash, overworked and underpaid, running on a un-human amount of sleep, and grappling with the constant uncertainty of your decision to start something of your own.

And as the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. So, what better way to truly learn what it takes to successfully build a coffee business than to turn to those who know best.

We asked individuals behind some of America’s best cups to share what they wish they knew before opening their coffee shops, or other caffeine-infused operations. The result is 34 pieces of advice that all aspiring entrepreneurs would benefit from knowing.

From mistakes made to tricks of the trade, you’re bound to discover at least one nugget of wisdom that will save you time, money, energy, and quite possibly your sanity—or all of the above.

Advice from Coffee Shop Owners

Peter Brown, Six Shooter Coffee (Cleveland, OH): “I wish I had become more of a handyman before launching my business.”
Matt Bachmann, Wandering Bear Coffee (New York, NY): “I wish I knew… to hire a good bookkeeper! It’s my #1 piece of startup advice. They say 'what gets measured, gets done'. Well, if you can’t trust your numbers then you can’t really measure your business. Good information is critical to making good decisions. We’ve spent the better part of a year cleaning up the mistakes we made when managing our own books.”
Jonathan Rubinstein, Joe Coffee (New York, NY): “I wish I had known that you could lease equipment, and they come with service contracts.”
Elle Taylor, Amethyst Coffee Co. (Denver, CO): “I think the thing I wish I had known was how many little decisions I would have to make! What kind of light bulbs, how many chairs? What kind of wood do we use, how far apart should the lattice be spaced? Do we use brown screws or black screws? What kind of patio furniture do we buy? The list goes on and on; I can’t even remember them all anymore!”
Lacie Mackey, Caveman Coffee Co. (Albuquerque, NM): “Starting an online business with no previous experience with an online store, I wish I had known more about operating tools like Shipstation that are available to help small businesses. Learning that there are tools to help online stores get off the ground and find competitive pricing was game changing. We could have saved a lot of time and money if we knew that from the beginning!”
Colby Barr, Verve Coffee Roasters (Santa Cruz, CA): “I wish I had known to work with an accountant BEFORE the first dollar was ever put into a bank account.”
Matthew Tervooren, Pourt (New York, NY): “The total lack of interest contractors have in keeping to a schedule. Time estimates are virtually useless. If you’re going to hire 3rd parties, contracts need to be made as airtight as possible before work begins.”
Caroline Bell, Cafe Grumpy (New York, NY): “I wish I had known how important taking the time to eat proper meals and exercise could be for managing stress. When you are run down or not feeling well, no one is going to take care of the business for you.”
Janine Awan, Woodcat Coffee Bar (Los Angeles, CA): “It’s so hard to narrow it down—I wish we would’ve known how much we truly didn’t know! Equipment, supplies, accounting, payroll, HR best practices, tax laws, scheduling, ordering and even water filtration systems.”
Adam Kallen, JANE Motorcycles (New York, NY): “I wish I knew that when we first got our La Marzocco machine in the shop, it was probably not a good idea to take 10 double shots of espresso a day to 'train' as a barista!”
Caleb Garn, Five Watt Coffee & Big Watt Bev Co. (Minneapolis, MN): “There are several things that I wish I had known prior to launching our business, most of them relate to proper budgeting and truly understanding the city processes.”
Joe Shafer, Slow by Slow (Boise, ID): “The amount needed for impact fees and building permits cost nearly as much as the work itself.”
Marco Suarez, Methodical Coffee (Greenville, SC): “If you aren’t financially smart, it will be doomed. We had to do a lot of course correcting since we opened.”
Lindsay Windsor, Lord Windsor Coffee (Long Beach, CA): “I wish I would have prioritized having working capital in the bank when we opened.”
Micah Svejda, Bootstrap Coffee Roasters (St. Paul, MN): “I wish I had known to not underestimate our growth.”
Geoffrey Meeker, French Truck Coffee (New Orleans, LA): “I wish I had known that an expensive accountant that is good is much cheaper than a cheap accountant who is bad.”
Josh Zad, Alfred Coffee (Los Angeles, CA): “I wish I had known the importance of hiring great people—even if it meant spending a bit more than I was comfortable with.”
Christopher Feran, Phoenix Coffee (Cleveland OH): “I know it feels responsible to buy a used espresso machine–don’t!”
Stevie Hasemeyer, Arcade Coffee Roasters (Riverside, CA): “I wish I had known how vital it was to learn and grow from other leaders earlier in my career.”
Alex Moen, Match Made Coffee (Oceanside, CA): “I wish I’d started out with a more focused grassroots marketing effort.”
Will Shurtz, Methodical Coffee (Greenville, SC): “I wish I had known to put more stock in the feedback we get from our customers right from the start.”
Hudson Gaines-Ross, RISE (New York, NY): “We realized we had to scale with the right partners, removing ourselves from the distribution business.”
Steven Sutton, Devoción (New York, NY): “If I had to do it all back knowing what I know now, I wish I had started with a proper board of directors or advisors.”
Jonathan Riethmaier, Mammoth Espresso (New Orleans, LA): “There’s a tremendous amount of freedom to be found in offloading certain responsibilities onto other qualified partners.”
Camila Ramos, ALL DAY (Miami, FL): “It’s important to have a mentor, a good friend, or even a therapist.”
Noushin Ketabi, Vega Coffee (Estelí, Nicaragua / New York, NY): “I wish I knew that when you’re starting out, it feels like for every two steps forward, you take one step back.”
Casey Goch, Shreebs (Los Angeles, CA): “I wish I would have thought 'big' from the start.”
Mark Vollmer, Theory Coffee Company (San Antonio, TX): “I don’t have any 'I Wish' moments.”
Chris Campbell, Chameleon Cold Brew (Austin, TX): “I wish I had taken the time in the beginning to celebrate all the wins.”
Xavier Alexander, Metric Coffee (Chicago, IL): “I am glad that I went into this not knowing the outcome.”

Advice Summary

Focus on budgeting and financial planning.
Hire knowledgeable professionals early on.
Understand local regulations and permits requirements.
Emphasize customer feedback and relationships.
Keep an adaptable mindset regarding growth and resources.