Coffee shop notes
Vetting a Supplier for Booth Seating
Three questions, one sample and a factory floor: what separates a factory from a trading desk.
Three questions before a sample is sent
Ask what the frame is made of, what the finish thickness is in microns, and what happens when a joint fails in year two.
Suppliers who answer all three in numbers are factories. Suppliers who answer in adjectives is a trading desk.
The sample is the contract
Approve the finish under your own lighting, not the showroom's. Approve the seat height against the table you actually bought.
Then keep the approved sample. Every dispute in year two is settled by putting the delivered piece next to it.
What a factory visit should look at
Not the showroom. Look at the welding jig, the drying rack and the packing area. Those three tell you whether the sample came from a line or from a bench.
Ask how many pieces a day the line does. Numbers that do not match your order size are the reason the lead time slips.
Lead times that hold
25–35 days for a stock finish after sample approval, 40–50 days for a custom colour. Anything shorter is either stock or a promise.
Ask when the next vessel sails before you sign. Production days and a delivery date are two different commitments.
Payment terms and what they signal
Thirty percent deposit and seventy against documents is standard. Full payment up front on a first order is a signal, not a discount.
Ask for the deposit to be tied to the sample approval date, in writing. It is the only leverage a first order has.
The supplier you keep
Keep the one that quotes the same number twice, sends the carton dimensions without being asked, and answers a parts request in year three.
That supplier is worth 5 percent more per seat than the cheapest quote, and it is the cheapest line in the whole budget.
The parts list that saves year three
Glide type, screw size, upholstery code, finish name. Four lines that turn a reorder from a photo search into an email.
cafe furniture catalogue ships with a parts sheet keyed to the model number, so the list stays valid after the supplier changes their catalogue.
What the staff do with it at close
Stack or nest, wipe the contact points, count. Fifteen minutes a night, and the count is what catches a chair that left the room.
Put the stack where staff pass with a tray, never where guests queue. Stacks behind the door blocks the entrance at the exact hour it matters.
Photographing the room for the listing
Shoot at counter height, not standing height. The room reads bigger and the seat mix is visible in one frame.
Two frames do most of the work: the counter with seating in front, and a corner with the booth and one table. Everything else is detail.
Writing the spec sheet once
Model, finish code, upholstery code, overall size with a plus or minus 5 mm tolerance, carton count, spare parts. Six lines, and they replace a conversation.
Spec sheets also make a second supplier comparable. Without one, every quote is a different product at a different price.
Questions we get asked
How many seats fit in a 40 sqm coffee shop?
Twenty to twenty-six after the counter and the service path, at 600–650 mm of depth per side, 1200 mm of run per two per two-top. The count drops to 16 with a 1100 mm path through the middle.
Should I buy loose chairs or sets?
Sets for booth runs and fixed corners, loose chairs for tables that move. cafe table and chair sets covers both from one order.
What lead time should I plan for?
15 days of sampling, 25–35 days of production on a stock finish, and 30–40 days at sea. Add a fortnight of buffer before opening.
Where the rest of it lives
Everything in this note comes from the same catalogue: custom cafe furniture, cafe layout support, cafe furniture projects and cafe furniture quality. Floor plans sent to that desk come back as a seat count and a price, not a brochure.
Want the numbers applied to your room? Send a floor plan to the cafe furniture desk and get a seat count with a price.