Just an anecdote; I spoke to a manager at a small coffee shop and he said that they make all their money on coffee alone by 9am (and surprisingly, they licensed Starbucks coffee). Everything else was a pain and barely covered costs because of time, equipment, and effort. But coffee was cheap and easy.

Yep. For all cafe-like spaces I’ve been involved with, drip coffee == free money.

From the places I've worked, drip coffee is essentially free, but the cup it's served in .. less so.

Even for "speciality coffee" it went lid, cup, sleeve, milk, (syrup,) coffee.

How much are they charging for coffee?

Around 2 dollars US for a medium coffee that cost them pennies. According to him, the other things they sold were there just to bring people in. Money was in the coffee because it was cheap and easy.

Medium is what, 12 ounces? Yeah I could see that. You're mostly paying for cup.

But I think you/he should look around. If you're not a fast food restaurant coffee costs a bit more than that these days, and charging 'a bit less' craters your profit margins.

How can you possibly come the the conclusion that 12oz of drip coffee is a loss-leader? That’s like saying soda is a loss leader at McDonald’s.

You have that exactly backwards. All the money is in coffee, which is so cheap it might as well be free. It's just like a restaurant which makes all its money on diluted caramel-colored sugar syrup. Or 12 dollar mixed drinks.

(Of course, the real money is in laundering.)

I can’t recall the last time I saw $2 coffee. I don’t drink drip except my own, probably not for decades, and the last time I remember looking it was more like $2.50, and in towns with lower standard of living. If you’re charging $2 for coffee today you should probably raise the prices if you can’t work out how to make a profit. Fifty cents on two dollars is a 25% profit margin.

Edit: I just looked up the local 50’s diner. $2.79 for what is probably bottomless but burned drip coffee. That definitely makes them money. But That’s 39% more than $2.

To reiterate: if someone tells me they’re planning to sell coffee for $2 I believe them. And then ask where they think they’re making their money because it’s not going to be on the coffee.

> If you’re charging $2 for coffee today you should probably raise the prices [..]

Just for everyone's interest, (and based on 2022 pricing) you can get an espresso in an Italian bar for $1.33 (Trento) all way way down to $0.96 (Naples).

Having tried the US and the Italian versions, I'd take the latter every single day of the week and twice on Sundays over the US version.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/717413/average-price-of-...

I’ve been watching that British coffee critic whose name I can’t recall looking at different coffee making means.

I’ve watched just enough of his stuff for him to sell me on the idea that maybe manual espresso presses produce a more consistent cup with just a little practice. Also they seem to be cheaper. Is that what they were using in Italy?

> Is that what they were using in Italy?

They're using the big industrial-looking espresso machines, since throughput is everything.

You pay at the (separate) till first, then take your paper receipt to the bar, hand it over, and 90s later you're handed your drink.

I've ordered a lot of coffee in Italy and have never ever heard a discussion about drink size, flavours, soy, or skim milk. That stuff is apparently irrelevant.

If you are being paid to launder money, isn't the fee about 20%? My source on that is the Netflix series Ozark. Assuming that 20% is within the realm of reality, I assume that the margin on drip-coffee is substantially higher. Maybe 60% margin on coffee?