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Cafe Overheads

Tim Noye · Posted 31 Oct 2023 · Blog · Resource
Man and woman working together.

Overhead control is critical to your cafe's stability and profitability.

4 Tricks & Techniques

  1. Establish a budget: When there is no clear budget, there is often no clear future. A well thought out cafe budget will help you limit your costs and plan for the future.
  2. Determine your overheads: Make a detailed list of all overhead expenses, including but not limited to lease fees, electricity bills, insurance premiums, and equipment costs.
  3. Track your overheads: There is little point in creating a budget and recording overheads unless you intend to track and monitor them on a regular basis; it is common for operating expenses to spiral out of control due to a lack of frequent monitoring.
  4. Educate your team: Spend some time training your cafe staff on budgeting and cost awareness; this will allow them to be more accountable for overheads under their control and contribute to maintaining a healthy overhead margin, which means a sustainable bottom line. Share the responsibility and include your team; this will improve team culture, trust, and growth.

3 Home Truths

  1. Profitability will decline: Excessive expense can reduce profitability and make it difficult to stay in business. Given how difficult it can be to make a profit from cafes, you really don't need the additional stress that not knowing your overheads can bring.
  2. Extra Stress: High overheads can put a strain on your cash flow, making it harder to pay invoices and suppliers on time. This is a dangerous slope from which it is difficult to recover.
  3. Reduced competitiveness: If your overheads are consistently high, you may be forced to make shortcuts, raise menu pricing, and cut labour. This frequently results in a decline in client experience, which is never good news.

How HospoSure Can Help

  • Allows you to import and adjust over 50 common cafe overheads, saving time and stress.
  • Gives you a comprehensive picture of your cafe's overhead allocation for everything you sell.
  • Allows you to model and optimise your overheads in order to stay within your cafe's budget.

Try HospoSure free and start planning your cafe with confidence

Jars of pickles and ferments lined up on a cafe shelf