Coffee shop maintenance costs????

[OneEleven]

Hello all...Just wondering about a baseline cost for monthly maintenance... How much are you spending on espresso machine/grinder upkeep, water filters ect????

 

[shadow745]

When we owned/operated a full blown mobile setup there really wasn't much in the way of maintenance cost as I did it myself. For the machine I backflushed it as needed (plain water or Cafiza), kept it clean/functioning like new, etc. The only parts I ever had to replace were the group gaskets and the seals in the articulating steam wand fittings. Grinder got a quick/thorough cleaning at the end of the day, so no gunk ever built up to cause any issues. Not much to go wrong there except maybe an occasional burr replacement depending on use. For filters, I would buy bulk packs of carbon filters at Lowe's or Walmart and replace it based on water use, maybe monthly. To really help keep things clean/low maintenance for the water I installed a portable water softener onboard so any water that I filled the tanks with was always softened/carbon filtered. Then I would recharge the softener as needed based on use. The onboard water tanks were disinfected about 3 times yearly, but done by me as well. If things are done periodically you minimize maintenance cost and your equipment won't let you down.