Eight years running a small cafe: what I have learned
Sparrow Windmill opened in the spring of 2018. Eight years is long enough to have made most of the obvious mistakes and to have learned, slowly, which things actually matter. This is not a list of business advice. It's more a set of observations from someone who has been opening a cafe at 7:30 in the morning for eight years and has some thoughts about it.
Keep the menu short
The first menu had fourteen items on it. Within six months it was down to eight. The shorter menu was better in every way: less waste, more consistency, easier to explain to someone standing at the counter at 8am who hasn't had coffee yet. The current menu is one side of a chalkboard and that feels about right.
The temptation to add things is constant. Someone asks for a toasted sandwich, someone else wants a smoothie, a supplier sends samples of something interesting. The answer is almost always no, not because the idea is bad but because adding something means either doing it properly or doing it badly, and doing it badly is worse than not doing it at all.
The supplier relationship matters more than the product
The coffee roastery we use has been the same since 2018. The relationship matters more than any individual blend. When something isn't quite right, there's a conversation. When we want to try something new, there's a conversation. A supplier you can talk to is worth more than a marginally better product from someone you've never met.
Sixteen seats is enough
The cafe seats sixteen inside. People ask fairly regularly whether we've thought about expanding. The honest answer is that sixteen seats is the right number for one person to run a kitchen and a counter without things going wrong. More seats would mean more staff, more complexity, and a different kind of place. The grain store is the right size for what this is supposed to be.
There's also something about the scale that makes the regulars feel like regulars. When you see the same faces most mornings, you know their order, you notice when they haven't been in for a while. That doesn't scale.
If you're thinking about opening a small food business and want to ask something specific, the contact details are on the website. Helen replies to most emails herself.