Customer Volume Projections/Staffing Requirements for New Start-Up

[remedy69]

Hey Folks,

First let me say what a great resource this site is. It has been extremely helpful in researching items related to starting up our new café. So thank you to everyone who contributes here.

With that in mind I do have a couple of questions and would like to garner your opinions/expertise on coming up with an estimate on the number of customers we can expect based on our location/size and then subsequently the number of staff we would require for that volume. Our café is 750 sq. ft. on the main floor of a 3-story office building. The main floor is entirely retail (other tenants on the main floor are a wine store, optometrist, and a large, dine-in restaurant). The remaining two floors will be occupied by offices and will house approximately 250 workers. Our location is 225 ft. from a subway station that averages 6700 passengers/weekday going through it. Vehicular traffic is approximately 18,000 vehicles on the side of the building that we will be on and 33,000 vehicles on the street that building faces. On two sides of the building are residential neighbourhoods however I do not have an accurate count of the number of residents within any particular radius at this time. Peak hours for the subway station are 6:15AM to 9:30AM and 3:30PM to 7:00PM. I am thinking that my hours of operation will be 6:00AM to 7:00PM M-F, and 9:00AM to 5:00PM Saturday and Sunday.

Based on the above information my questions are:

1. What are some conservative, medium, and high estimates for the number of customers I can anticipate from the three sources - office building workers, subway passengers, and vehicles?
2. What should my staffing model/schedule look like based on the anticipated volume and proposed hours of operation?

If you require any additional information to respond to these questions please let me know.

Thanks for your assistance!

 

[JavaJiveJo]

more details

What sort of menu are you offering? Are you offering full lunches? (Sandwiches, soups, etc?) are you offering baked goods? (Fresh, trucked in, or frozen?) How many espresso machines do you have running at a time? do you have a lot of seating available? or are you more of a grab and go style? All of these things will eventually change your projections, and need to be evaluated before any decent numbers can be found. You have tons of information on the surrounding people, but in order to get an accurate glimpse of your shop, you need to share details on your offerings and style of café.
Hope that helps!!

 

[remedy69]

What sort of menu are you offering? Are you offering full lunches? (Sandwiches, soups, etc?) are you offering baked goods? (Fresh, trucked in, or frozen?) How many espresso machines do you have running at a time? do you have a lot of seating available? or are you more of a grab and go style? All of these things will eventually change your projections, and need to be evaluated before any decent numbers can be found. You have tons of information on the surrounding people, but in order to get an accurate glimpse of your shop, you need to share details on your offerings and style of café.
Hope that helps!!

Thanks for your response. We anticipate around 18 seats - 10 bar stool type and 8 sofa-based. Our menu consists of espresso-based hot/cold drinks, teas, french-press coffee, bottled water and juices, pastries (croissants both savory and sweet, cinnamon buns, etc.), sandwiches, and a daily soup offering - all fresh and trucked in for that day. We will have one 2 group machine running.

Let me know if you need any more information.

 

[PinkRose]

In previous years, some of our members have recommended that you overstaff your cafe in the beginning, and then let people go when you see that you don't need them.

I've never agreed with this approach. It's very cruel to hire extra people, knowing that you only plan to use them to help get your business up and running and then you'll be letting them go in a couple of weeks. Most people depend on their jobs, and yanking them around like that is very unfair.

Plan wisely, hire wisely, and take care of your employees.

Rose

 

[remedy69]

In previous years, some of our members have recommended that you overstaff your cafe in the beginning, and then let people go when you see that you don't need them.

I've never agreed with this approach. It's very cruel to hire extra people, knowing that you only plan to use them to help get your business up and running and then you'll be letting them go in a couple of weeks. Most people depend on their jobs, and yanking them around like that is very unfair.

Plan wisely, hire wisely, and take care of your employees.

Rose

I am definitely on board with your philosophy Rose. Thank you for the words of wisdom.