Coffee Shop / Cafe Conversion Inspection Manual

WHERE THIS CUISINE QUIETLY COSTS YOU MONEY

Coffee Shop / Cafe-specific conversion gotchas

• 01 · Espresso machine amperage

  A 3-group commercial espresso machine pulls 30–40 amps at 208V — that's a dedicated 50A circuit, not the 20A receptacle a retail tenant left behind. Add the grinder (15A), milk fridge (15A), and brewer (20A) and a typical café needs 80–100A of fresh electrical. Budget $5K–$10K for the rough-in.

• 02 · Water hardness + RO system

  Most U.S. municipal water runs 100–300 ppm hardness. Espresso group heads scale up at >60 ppm and a fouled boiler is a $4K+ repair. A 3-stage RO + softener loop is $2,500–$4,500 installed and pays for itself in 8 months. Plumbing rough-in to the espresso bay needs the RO loop designed in.

• 03 · Pastry case + cold-chain footprint

  A grab-and-go café needs 6–10 linear feet of refrigerated pastry display + a separate back-of-house pastry walk-in or reach-in. Plan the sales line to put the pastry case across from the register, not behind the barista — counter-flow ruins throughput at 8 AM rush.

• 04 · Ventilation for milk steam + bakery oven

  Pull-shots, steam wands, and a small convection oven add humidity and heat the standard retail RTU can't handle. Plan a small Type II hood over the steam/oven area ($4K–$7K) and check that the existing HVAC has the latent-load capacity, or schedule it for upsize.

• 05 · Outlet density at every table

  Customers expect to plug in. A café with one outlet per wall loses the laptop-worker daypart entirely. Floor-box outlets at booths and double-receptacles at every table cost $300–$600 each on rough-in but $1,500+ to retrofit. Decide on outlet density before the electrician walks.