You’re brewing great coffee. Your shop is buzzing. But when you check your numbers, they don’t add up.
If you’ve ever asked yourself, “Why am I working so hard and still not taking home more?”—you’re not alone. At joe, we work with hundreds of independent coffee shops, and we hear this all the time.
The good news? The problem isn’t you—it’s likely a few hidden inefficiencies in your operation that can be fixed with the right strategy and tools.
💡 Benchmark: Beverage costs should be 20% or less of the menu price. Signature drinks that require more prep or premium ingredients should deliver even higher margins.
What’s going wrong:
Many shops hold off on raising prices when supplier costs rise, fearing they’ll alienate loyal customers. But pricing discipline is essential for sustainability. It really does all start with the profit per cup. Give yourself permission to run a healthy business - you won't regret it!
Common Mistakes:
Best Practices:
How joe helps:
With joe, you can instantly update prices across all digital menus—mobile, kiosk, and online. Stay in control of your margins without printing a single menu.
💡 Benchmark: Labor should sit between 25–30% of revenue.
More staff doesn’t always mean better service. One of the biggest drivers of excess labor cost? Workflow inefficiencies.
When baristas spend time punching in modifiers, explaining loyalty programs, or navigating poor layouts, you’re paying for low-value tasks that add no revenue.
Common Mistakes:
Best Practices:
How joe helps:
joe automates loyalty, reorders, and order communication across kiosk, app, pos, and online—so your team can focus on what matters. Our workflow tools reduce manual entry and keep lines moving, improving both team morale and profit per labor hour.
Your rush is your biggest opportunity—but only if your team can move fast and efficiently.
The real killer? Tech and systems not built for the precision and speed of a coffee workflow.
Common Mistakes:
Best Practices:
How joe helps:
joe centralizes all orders—from every channel—into one seamless queue with full visibility. Loyalty is handled in the app, reorders are a tap away, and batching tools help your team crush the rush while delighting customers. Less chaos, more flow, and way better tips.
💡 Benchmark: Loyalty program costs typically run 8–15% of revenue for coffee shops—so they should be delivering at least that much in sales growth.
Too often, shops treat loyalty like a checkbox. If you’re giving away drinks but not seeing measurable growth in return visits or average tickets, something’s off.
Common Mistakes:
Best Practices:
How joe helps:
joe’s Universal Offers Engine is built to drive growth and is subscription-free. It intelligently targets offers to the right customers to increase order size, visit frequency, and total revenue. And it gives you the data to prove it.
The reality: Rent, software, and subscriptions don’t care if sales dip. They stay the same—even when your foot traffic drops.
Common Mistakes:
Best Practices:
How joe helps:
joe charges no monthly subscriptions. Our model scales with your sales, meaning when you need cost relief most, you actually get it. We only grow when you do.
We offer a free coffee shop health check that compares your numbers to industry benchmarks—and helps you identify opportunities to grow sales, improve margins, and work more efficiently.
Whether you’re running your first shop or scaling your fifth, these fundamentals can make or break your profitability. For a free consultation, email Thrive@joe.coffee to get started.