Cafes are a typical small business model. Cash is lean, passion is rich, vision is large, ideas are flowing.
To keep cash flow in check and save money, the business owner becomes an ‘expert’ at everything… very quickly becoming the head chef, waiter, bookkeeper, food and equipment buyer, human resources and I.T.
Sound familiar?

However, no one can drive your business brand or love the coffee-loving customers the way that you do.

So go and talk to your customers. Understand what brings them joy in your cafe and what you can do better. Talk to your employees and watch them work while giving on the spot guidance and training.

Your role is to be the strategic eye of the business by taking a helicopter view and leading your team to excellence.
Sure, you can jump in and help chef with the pans on a busy night or work alongside the barista when the coffee queue is out the door.
But your best value is leading and managing your team, and talking with your customers to drive sales and branding.

As your bustling cafe grows, you will need to move higher up the business to stay across all the sections and how they are working.
If you don’t, you will become the bottleneck to growth and quality.
At a later date, if you sell your restaurant or cafe business, the buyer will look for a business that isn’t dependent on you on a daily basis, so plan around this now.

Look at what you enjoy and are good at – then delegate the rest.
Find the best chef you can afford. Appoint a bookkeeper to enter, manage and communicate your numbers. Employ and train wait staff to give your customers that first class experience. Free up your time to be the master of your entrepreneurial vision.

The value is in the freedom to grow. Not the cost.

The Australian Bookkeepers Network has a short video that will help you identify how a bookkeeper will allow you to move into the space of entrepreneur and business leader. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!

Call Restaurant Bookkeepers Australia now 1300 043 327 for a chat about your future as a cafe entrepreneur.