My rule: keep occupancy cost under 10% of net revenue. Here's what occupancy cost includes and the napkin math I run before signing a coffee shop lease.

If I could get every new coffee shop owner to check one thing before signing a lease, it would be the electrical panel. Here's what else I look at before anyone signs.

We had the perfect spot picked for our espresso machine. Then we measured the distance to the floor sink. Here's how that changed our bar, plus other build-out lessons.

The coffee gear is the part people think about first, and it's the smallest part of the list. Here's everything else our café needed, from refrigeration to sinks.