Opening a cafe in Melbourne: choose the trading week before the fit-out

The City of Melbourne publishes hourly counts from fixed pedestrian sensors.¹ The comparison below uses every Tuesday and Saturday in August 2026 at two sensors with complete records for the selected hours.

At Collins Place, the Tuesday morning hour was much busier than lunchtime, and Saturday morning was almost empty. At the Carlton point the pattern went the other way: lunchtime beat the morning, and Saturday lunch was busiest of all. That is a reason to plan different service hours. A smaller flow of people making a deliberate visit can matter more than a larger flow rushing past.

These are two points in the City of Melbourne municipality, not a survey of Greater Melbourne.⁶ The council's sensors do not cover Richmond, Brunswick or suburban strips in other municipalities. Start with the council responsible for the actual address; metropolitan Melbourne is not one licensing authority or one cafe market.

For a site you are seriously considering, do your own count:

CBD office lanes

Inner-suburban strips

Neighbourhood and residential streets

In January 2025, the Guardian spoke to Ned, proprietor of inner-city Melbourne cafe Fiord. He said he had raised prices per cup by about 5% every 18 months over the previous four years and expected further increases to be gradual.⁷

Raising prices for regulars who already know you is different from asking strangers to try a new cafe at that price. If you are buying, find out what regulars come for: a barista, quick service, familiar food or the owner. If you are opening, decide what will make people switch.

Get current bean, milk and food quotes, and compare the whole deal: minimum orders, delivery days, equipment bundled with a coffee contract, servicing and exit terms. A cheaper pack that leaves more waste, or a machine deal that locks you into one supplier, can wipe out the saving.

The Restaurant Industry Award covers cafes within its scope, with exclusions, so confirm coverage and classifications first. For ordinary hours it sets these minimum rates:⁴

Percentages of the minimum hourly rate; casual figures include the casual loading. Restaurant Industry Award 2020, Table 8, consolidated to 1 July 2026.

Victoria adds its own holidays. In 2026 there are 14 public-holiday days, including the Saturday before Easter Sunday, the Friday before the AFL Grand Final and Melbourne Cup Day (Tuesday 3 November).³ Cafes are exempt shops, so they may open on Good Friday, Christmas Day and Anzac Day morning, but being allowed to open is not the same as the day paying for itself.⁸

Casuals must be engaged and paid for at least two consecutive hours each time. "Someone just for the rush" still costs a two-hour engagement, plus preparation, closing and superannuation. Match the roster to complete orders: someone taking payment and handing over food while the barista makes drinks, and more hands once a cooked breakfast adds plating and washing up.

If you run the shop yourself, put your own opening, ordering and cover shifts into the plan. Paying yourself for that work is different from earning a return on the money you put in.

A landlord's willingness to lease a shop does not mean your use, equipment or alterations are approved. For a retail lease covered by Victorian law, the Victorian Small Business Commission (VSBC) says the landlord must give you a disclosure statement at least 14 days before you enter the lease.¹⁴ Read it alongside the lease and the estimated outgoings, such as water rates, council rates and owners' corporation fees; under the Act you pay outgoings only where the lease sets them out.¹⁵

Then take the menu and equipment plan to the council and qualified building and services advisers. Adding cooking can raise questions about extraction, electrical capacity, drainage, trade waste and building work. A limit on any of them can force a menu change, not just add a fee. Resolve those dependencies before paying as though approval is certain.

Treat outdoor tables the same way: find out what can be permitted and where the footpath must stay clear, then check that indoor trade can carry the business on days the outdoor area is empty.

Maintenance rights do not put cash back immediately

The lesson is the sequence: the business needed the equipment working before the dispute was settled, and the settlement was future rent relief, not cash. Before taking over a fitted cafe, record the condition and ownership of each piece of equipment and have the maintenance and end-of-lease clauses reviewed.

An existing cafe offers records a new fit-out cannot. Review sales by weekday and hour, then have an accountant reconcile the point-of-sale reports with accounts, BAS, banking and payment settlements. Ask for enough history to separate regular trade from an event, a temporary office contract or a change in hours.

In Victoria, when a lease is assigned as part of selling a business, the VSBC says the outgoing tenant must give the buyer business records for the past three years.¹⁷ Have your adviser check those records, the disclosure and the landlord's consent alongside the sale contract.

If the advertised earnings add back the owner's pay, work out which jobs the owner did and what replacing them will cost.

A franchise brings a brand and a system, but ask whether its required hours, menu and approved suppliers fit the trading week you observed. Speak to current and former franchisees. Australia's Franchise Disclosure Register is a useful starting point.¹⁸

National ATO benchmarks can flag an odd cost assumption. For Australian coffee shops with annual turnover of $250,001-$600,000 in 2023-24, cost of sales was 35-41% of turnover and total expenses 81-90%.¹⁹

Build a dated cash plan from your site's quotes and roster: deposits and professional fees first, then fit-out and equipment, pre-opening wages and stock, then payroll, rent and supplier bills while customers build.

Rate how much evidence you have for each item. Heavier items change the decision most.