My coffee shop side gig changed after I started tracking foot traffic times

I run a small roastery in Eastern Market, and for two years I just opened at 7 AM every day. Then a buddy told me to look at when people actually walk by, so I sat there with a clicker for three days last October. Turns out 80% of my morning customers show up between 7:30 and 8:15, not the dead 6:45 slot I was killing myself for. I shifted my hours to match that window and added a second barista for the rush, and my profit jumped about $400 a week. Has anyone else found a simple data point that flipped how you run things?

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler_anderson659d ago

Wait, you legit sat there with a literal clicker for three days? That's some next-level dedication to caffeine math. I'd have gotten bored after hour two and started counting birds or something. Still, props for catching that dead zone - most people just keep grinding at the same hours out of habit. That $400 a week bump sounds like a nice payoff for three days of thumb exercise.

thomas2919d ago

Real talk, that thumb workout is brutal but worth it once you spot the 2-3 hour window where sales just vanish every single day. Best part is you can usually fix it with a simple