Average COGS for a standalone coffee shop

[Falk]

I have searched for this extensively and can not find it anywhere, please excuse the post if there's a detailed post already.

I am trying to figure out what the average COGS is. I know that it will vary greatly, but I can't seem to get a ball park anywhere. I am asking for the figure JUST for coffee sales (beans, take away cups, lids, sleeves, stirrers, milk/cream, sweetener, napkins), not food or anything else. There will also be sit down customers with ceramic cups but that's a different calculation (I assume).

I am trying to figure out what my costs will be so I can figure out my break even.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[eldub]

You can get most of this info by plugging in numbers from your paper product supplier....

we use double walled, biodegradable cups, lids, straws, etc. With shipping, the 12 oz cups cost us 15 cents each. Lids cost 8 cents. Stir sticks are one cent.

Our coffee wholesales for around $9/lb. There are roughly ten cups of coffee in a gallon and 3.5 gallons in a pound of drip coffee. Figuring 25 cups to a pound means each cup costs around 36 cents.

That means the coffee and containers run about 60 cents each. I'm not sure what the sweetener, creamer and napkin would add to the equation. Most of our clients take their coffee black, but we do keep organic sugar, honey, agave and half and half on hand for the tender feet.

 

[Falk]

Eldub--thanks for the informative response, that certainly makes sense.

I should probably add that we will not be doing conventional large batch drip coffee. We will most likely be doing larger French press serve, then putting the coffee in a press pot. I think the waste/grounds is about the same though.

 

[Mr Shave]

Eldub--thanks for the informative response, that certainly makes sense.

I should probably add that we will not be doing conventional large batch drip coffee. We will most likely be doing larger French press serve, then putting the coffee in a press pot. I think the waste/grounds is about the same though.

If it is a FP or v60 figure out what your brew ratios are going to be
x grams / 453 * price per pound = cost of coffee
+ filter
+ cup

Then figure out appropriate retail price

ex.
24 g in @ $10.00 / pound = .53
cup = .12
sleeve = .065
lid = .05
filter = .07
total .835

Retail $3.50
COGS = .835/3.50 = 23.8%

When I calculate out COGS I don't include napkins but I factor in sugar and milk in every cup, because it averages out and dairy costs are HUGE

YMMV

 

[Falk]

If it is a FP or v60 figure out what your brew ratios are going to be
x grams / 453 * price per pound = cost of coffee
+ filter
+ cup

Then figure out appropriate retail price

ex.
24 g in @ $10.00 / pound = .53
cup = .12
sleeve = .065
lid = .05
filter = .07
total .835

Retail $3.50
COGS = .835/3.50 = 23.8%

When I calculate out COGS I don't include napkins but I factor in sugar and milk in every cup, because it averages out and dairy costs are HUGE

YMMV

Woah! I didn't think I'd get a math lesson too! Thank you so much for the info, that's incredibly helpful.

 

[eldub]

I would rethink the press pot idea. IMO, you will serve a much better product if the coffee goes from the French press to the cup.

We supply beans to a restaurant that serves our coffee in a French press. Their customers absolutely love it. However, after breaking many glass AND unbreakable plastic beakers they switched to stainless steel units and are now a lot happier.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

You will roughly spend about 25 percent of your total sales should be COGS.
If you are much less then 20 percent, either you are serving crap or you are doing something better then anyone else.
If you are much above 25 percent, you are not charging enough.

I have seen many coffee house financials and they are normally around 25 percent.
So the figure Mr. Shave gave seem very accurate.

 

[Falk]

I would rethink the press pot idea. IMO, you will serve a much better product if the coffee goes from the French press to the cup.

The reason I mentioned the press pot is because we plan to primarily serve coffee as single serve pour overs (most likely Chemex), but we need a method for the early morning rush where we would have coffee in bulk ready to be served to our clients. Large batch French press put into a press pot is the only thing I can think of.

Thanks for the input CoffeeJunky!

 

[eldub]

I'd buy a fetco brewer for the rush hour.

 

[PinkRose]

I agree. You'd be better off getting a good brewer and use it to make the coffee for the rush hour.

If you make French Press coffee, and then pour it into a press pot, you'll be tampering with the quality of the French Press coffee. You may as well just brew up some coffee in a good brewer. Fetco is a good choice. You can get a single or a double brewer, It depends on how big your rush hour is.

Rose

 

[CoffeeJunky]

For the rush hour, I would think Bunn, Fetco or curtis all would work but is that what you are trying to accomplish?
Sometimes you should consider, 10-15 unit pour over stations.
I have seen few people have set up large pour over stations with hot water ready. They also have other brewing method. You can have 5-8 cup pour over size to small individual size.

 

[Falk]

What we're trying to do is more of an upscale shop. Our initial vision was single pour over only and espresso drinks. When we started thinking about the potential profit losses of not having a quick option for the AM rush we started thinking about the large french press etc. Does anyone know of a better option than conventional drip for a quality cup in a commercial setting?

I guess I should make another post for this specifically.

 

[Mr Shave]

go visit Four Barrell or Stumptown
Batch French Press then transfer to a server (4b) airpot (scr)

FB will use 5 51 oz fp so cranking 1.5 gallon+ in about 6 min start to finish. There setup allows them to do this, plan accordingly

 

[Falk]

Batch French Press then transfer to a server (4b) airpot (scr)

That's what I was thinking of doing--some people on here recommended not doing so as it would ruin the coffee in the transfer. Thanks for the response!