My parents decided they wanted to start a cafe business in a small town in Texas. The whole process has been a nightmare. Everything from improper planning to day-to-day operations. I was not supposed to be a part of this business at all since I already had my own career. I figured I’d help them come up with the menu, branding, and drink recipes because I have barista experience from my college days. Once the business was about to launch, they ended up selling our home, forcing me to move to Texas. I could not afford Boston rent so I had no choice but to quit my job and go with them.
We’ve been open for 6 months now and business is not doing well. We barely make enough to cover rent and utilities. My dad is also spending more money by investing in equipment to expand our menu. He invested about $150,000 so far and we profit about $200 at the end of each month. I understand this is how most small businesses are for the first few years. It’s starting to take a toll on me because I do all the bookkeeping, planning, drink-making, customer service, etc. I work about 80 hours a week with no pay and had to sell my car just to have some funds to cover my student loans.
They are also clueless when it comes to using the POS or making drinks. I can’t even use the bathroom without them yelling my name when a customer walks in. My old man doesn’t even know what’s on the menu.
I don’t even know what to do anymore. I’ve been telling my parents I want to go back to work in my career field. I’m not sure if we should hire a business consultant or just ride it out until the wheels fall off.
Your parents need to come to Jesus moment and you need to stop being a doormat. I’m sorry this is happening to you. Here’s my two cents as someone that has had a number of businesses and grew up in food service.
80 hours a week. So $150k per year of free labor. (Yes $150. after tax and other overhead, it would cost about $75k x 2 for two 40hr employees to take his place)
This means your business is running $150k in the red, AT LEAST.
Time for Dad to wake up and stop blowing money.
Have you heard the joke about the guy who lost his keys and was looking underneath the street lamp, and someone else walks up and asks what he’s looking for? The searching guy says I’m looking for my keys, I lost him over by my car but this is where the light is.
Meaning your dad doesn’t know how to do food service, so he’s focusing on the thing he does know how to do. And doing way too much of it, which is spending money to try and fix a problem.
Its nothing to be ashamed of, almost everyone does it, it’s a pretty natural reaction to your business failing, to throw money at the problem to make it better. It doesn’t, it’s not a big deal that he’s doing it, but he does need to knock it off and pivot, focus on the real solution which is bringing traffic through the door, not on expanding the menu.
And expanded menu is a non-starter on its face because more menu items to sell to who??? Doesn’t matter how many products you offer if there’s no one to sell it to.
You guys could have just started a coffee stand on the back of a trailer, and just sold coffee and would probably be making way more money having parked it across the street from a Home Depot then you’re making right now.
It’s not about a broad menu, customers don’t care about that. They want a few things done well, consistent, for a good price. Look at Starbucks. They do consist strong coffee, they get some bakeries to bake them some some baked goods and cheese trays, and that’s it. They don’t do anything in house except make the coffee everything else is outsourced.
Doing a whole bunch of menu stuff in-house completely violates and nullifies the primary profit point of a coffee shop in the first place. Coffee shops are profitable, because beverages are the most profitable part of the restaurant industry and YOU DONT HAVE A BUNCH OF EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT TO MAKE COFFEE
Now you guys are a restaurant… Not an okay place to be. See if you can return some of that equipment, sell it, anything, to hyperfocus on highly marked up beverages, that is where the money is going to come from. And get traffic in the door.
The first restaurant my family had, they threw a bunch of parties at night. That really helped a lot of traffic during the day by creating some community around the place. My uncle had a Creole band and they would go late and sell beer. And if you’re unable to sell beer you can give it away for free with a couple of giant donation jars next to the kegs and still make a profit.
Your whole family needs to rally and figure out how to get traffic in the door.