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If someone pulls open the door of your store, and they
see 5 people are waiting in line to order, there's a good chance
they'll wait in line, and make a purchase. But, if they see that
20 people are waiting in line, they may determine that the wait
will be too long, and will simply get coffee elsewhere. This is
lost income! And, if they come to your store multiple times,
and frequently find a long line of waiting customers, they may
decide you are not a viable option for coffee, and will probably
never return. Poor design slows down the entire service process,
resulting in a longer line of waiting customers, and lost sales. So,
your daily business income will be dependent upon how many
customers you can serve during peak business periods, and good
store design will be essential to achieving that objective!

The financial impact of a poor store design can be sig-
nificant. For example, let's say the average customer transaction
for your coffee business will be $3.75. If you have a line of wait-
ing customers each morning between 7:00 AM and 8:30 AM, this
means you have 90 minutes in which you must drive through as
many customers as possible. If you can service a customer every
45 seconds, you will serve 120 customers during this 90 minutes.
But, if it takes you 1 minute 15 seconds to service each customer,
then you will only be able to serve 72 customers. 120 customers
x $3.75 = $450.00 x 30 business days per month = $13,500. 72
customers x $3.75 = $270.00 x 30 business days per month =
$8,100. This represents a difference of $5,400 in sales per month,
coming from just 90-minutes of business activity each day!

So, how should you go about designing your coffee
bar? First, understand that putting together a good design is like
assembling a puzzle. You’ll have to fit all the pieces together in
the proper relationship to each other to end up with the desired
picture. This may require some trial and error to get things right.
I've designed hundreds of coffee bar over the past 20 years, and I
can tell you from experience, it takes me a couple of attempts to
produce an optimal design.

The design process begins by determining your menu
and other desired store features. If you plan to do in-store baking,
then obviously you'll need to include an oven, sheet pan rack, a
large prep table, and perhaps a mixer into your plan. If you plan
to have a private meeting room for large groups, then an extra 200
sq. ft. or more will need to be designed-in. Your intended menu
and other business features should also drive decisions about the
size of location you select.

Typically, just the space required for the front of the
house service area, back of the house, and 2-ADA restrooms, will
consume about 800 sq. ft. If space for extensive food prep will
be required, this square footage may increase to 1,200, or more.
Whatever is left over within your space will become your seating
area. So, a typical 1,000 sq. ft. coffee bar, serving beverages and
simple pastries only, will probably allow for the seating of 15 to
20 customers - max!
Next, you will have to determine the tasks that will be
performed by each employee position, so that the equipment
and fixtures necessary to accomplish those tasks can be located
in the appropriate places. Your cashier will operate the cash
register, brew and serve drip coffee, pastries and desserts. Your
barista will make all your beverages and if you'll be preparing
sandwiches, or will be baking on-site, then a person dedicated to
food prep will be necessary.
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