David Harrison, Onboarding Specialist at Campos Coffee, reveals how to design a café for maximum flow and efficiency.
When putting the plans together for your first café, it can be easy to get carried away with the look and feel of the place and let the logistics slip to the back of your mind. A streamlined workflow is essential for a successful café, but thinking about the dimensions of equipment and counter-space efficiencies aren’t as sexy as selecting colour palettes, comparing brand logos, or sampling brunch dishes.
What’s more, knowing what’s needed to maximise flow and efficiency requires experience. First-time café owners may have worked in hospitality, yet orchestrating the right equipment and workspace for the specific venue, team, and clientele is a whole different ballgame. That’s why Campos Coffee in Sydney employs a full-time Onboarding Specialist whose sole focus is to help new cafés and expansions succeed.
Having worked as a barista for more than 20 years, Campos’ Onboarding Specialist David Harrison knows his way around a coffee bar.
“The main part of my role is working with new accounts in the very early stages, when they’re planning out their café. I’ll help them design their workflow, select the best equipment for their setup, and provide any training their team might need,” he says.
“Opening a café can be quite nerve-wracking, so I’m there to help the process go smoothly. We are very proud of our coffee, so we also want to provide the knowledge and equipment to ensure it is prepared as it should be experienced.”
First things first
When embarking on a new coffee shop project, David says one of the first things to consider is the basics of the business: Who is the client base? Is it going to be high or low volume? Will it be mostly sit in or takeaway?
“Knowing the answers to these questions is essential as they will form the basis of the workflow of the café. Once you know this, it’s time to get your roaster involved to help design the workflow,” he says.
“One of the biggest problems we see is owners steaming ahead and only getting the roaster involved once the shop designs are finalised or even executed. This can cause problems to arise as there might not be adequate plumbing or electricity to support the equipment, or enough space on the bar to facilitate an efficient workflow.”
David says he normally gets involved around the design stage and works alongside builders to ensure the space can support the desired coffee setup.
“Locking in your roaster early is very beneficial. Often, you will have signed a multi-year contract, so that roaster wants to support and invest in the business to help it succeed,” he says. “Start building the relationship early and lean on their experience when planning.”
Things to consider
There are many elements to consider when planning a café, but once you’ve ironed out the basics of client base, location, and style of venue, David recommends using this information to map out the coffee bar workflow, identifying any bottlenecks, and resolving them before opening.
To do this, you’ll need to have your drinks menu confirmed before the design stage is complete, to allow space for all the necessary equipment.
“You need to work out how much counter space you’ll need. For example, if you want to serve batch brew you’ll require space for a brewer, or if you’re going to have a number of coffees available, you’ll need multiple grinders,” he says.
“You’ll also need to consider the number and skill level of the baristas to make space for additional equipment such as automatic milk steamers and tampers.”
And it’s not just the workflow behind the bar you’ll need to consider. David says having a clear menu and area to order is also essential.
“Place the menu in a clear space so it’s easy for customers to see as soon as they enter the venue. It’s also important to have an obvious place where customers can order that won’t cause any congestion issues,” he says.
“You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to order, without causing any barriers that might result in them turning around and walking out.”
David says coffee machine placement is a crucial element in reducing the risk of bottlenecks.
“If you’re operating a mainly takeaway venue, you need to ensure the coffee machine placement, pick up location, and ordering point of sale area are sensibly located so you don’t have people waiting to pick up their orders in the way of customers wanting to place an order,” he says.
Once all these elements are in place and the equipment selected to suit the venue, David recommends road testing the workflow multiple times to highlight any of those pesky bottlenecks. He also suggests doing a soft launch to test the system in a real-life café scenario, but with a little less pressure than the opening day.
Training zones
Before the grand opening, the new team will need to be trained so they’re up to scratch. Knowing who your dream team are going to be before launching may even influence some of the equipment and workflow decisions.
“I think having a great barista can be more important than having a great machine,” says David.
“It’s vital that your team have the right training and not only know what they’re doing but are also comfortable with the role they play at the venue and the equipment they are working on. They need to be familiar with the coffee and food menus too, so they are able to answer any questions customers could ask.”
Theory in action
Dave recently worked with the team at
Black Grain to launch the café group’s eleventh New South Wales venue. He says that even with customers who are seasoned pros at launching coffee shops, Campos provides valuable insight and advice.
“I worked with Founder David Dib and the team during the installation phase to best utilise the space and design the workflow. Every café David opens gets better and better, and the new space in Greenacre is no exception,” says David.
“When you have a recipe for success that works at other venues, when a new venue is launching as part of that group it’s about replicating that and adapting it to the new location, considering the local demographic and venue type.”
David Dib, who has 25 years’ experience in the hospitality industry, says the support David Harrison and Campos has provided has been invaluable.
“I launched my first coffee shop eight years ago and have been working with Campos from the very beginning. David plays a huge role in ensuring all our installations go smoothly – he considers everything from the plumbing to the power supply to the staff protocols,” he says.
“As I’ve expanded, David and Campos have been there every step of the way. Their service is excellent – as is their coffee.”
For more information, visit camposcoffee.com
This article appears in the April/May 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
