Add in... dishwashing station, all appliances commercial grade, commercial food prep and storage areas- remembering food safety, FIFO, 6" rule, ect, fire supression system(s)... OSHA requirements, ADA requirements- Servesafe certification, Food Inspection qualification.... building codes and operating codes. If there is a bathroom and it is accessible to the public, it needs to be handicapped compliant. If it's regular house electric, you might need to get it upgraded to commercial use.

And the house is in a commercial zone- but is it building zoned for commercial use or special permitted for it? If not, you need to get it zoned or permitted for commercial use.

If you have any kind of staff, payroll- you need an accounting system for that- even if the only employee is you. A business tax accountant.

If you have anything with a grease trap, set up grease disposal service. Otherwise you can usually use standard commercial garbage- usually a form of closable or lockable dumpster/cans to be critter proof.

Linens and rug service should be set up. If you have a lot of windows, an exterior window cleaning service.

Menu plans, ordering plans, supplier contracts or other supply chains established, learning delivery inspection if you don't know it already. Cost analysis and pricing. Advertising services or other get your name/number out there things.

Insurance. Lots of it.

A Point of Sale system.

I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting some stuff, been many years since working on a mock-up.

ETA: Parking. Many places have some sort of parking requirement. Based on things like occupancy, kind of establishment. Sometimes it's moot because of street parking, but not always. Find out if your area is one of those places.

A lot of it will depend on city/state jurisdiction. A few things that come to mind on the building/construction side: floor drain, grease trap, bright lighting, mop sink (I don't *think* this can be shared functionality). Electrical may need to be upgraded for commercial appliances. Separate storage areas for cleaning chemicals. That's all I can think of for the moment. Sounds like a fun project!

The house itself is commercial zoned, but has been used for residential. So it can be used for commercial, but all requirements must be met, and a truckload of fees paid to “change use”. That truckload may be prohibitive, we’ll see.

- Mop sink

- NSF equipment

- Ware washer

- Commercial appliances

- A visit to my local city bureau

The bathroom is another issue. I think there’s enough room to make an ADA facility.

Commercial food safety procedures, that’s up to the operator. She has experience in commercial cooking, running a commercial kitchen, health inspections, etc.

One of my friends does the bookkeeping for many restaurants in town, and will advise on accounts, services, etc. I have a few friends who own and run coffee shops - not cafes, no real cooking.

I happen to own three or four commercial espresso machines and three or four commercial coffee grinders.

I need, next week, to build out a rough financial model, with blanks to be filled in.

If, big if, this happens, it will be interesting, fun, and a lot of work.

Hmm, basically gut the kitchen, redo the floor, floor drain, electric and plumbing, FRP or SS or tile the walls, then prep tables, storage, refrigeration, cooking equipment, grease hood, wash station and dishwasher, lighting.

Likely with a totally different layout than the current residential kitchen. Commercial workflow is so different from home cooking.

It’s a 1908 house with a small 1940s (?) 12’ x 17’ kitchen plus attached small storage room. Kitchen is pretty vintage-cute with the original cabinetry and range, shame all that will be tossed (I’ll find the range a good home).

Alternative is to do the very minimum to meet code, leave the original layout/cabinetry, defer the gut job until the cafe is proved to work (concept, location, market, execution). Idea being if disproved, then easier to convert back to a rental apartment.

I recall when my brother was building commercial kitchen for his business that there were so many fire requirements for his hood, and of course for the building as a whole. Don't forget loading and unloading areas, refrigeration, insurance, insurance, insurance. I also loved the area he had to spray down floor mats outside.

Dang, this is a lot to fit into the space available. The dish pit will take up most of a wall, and that’s assuming an undercounter dishwasher will work. I think it will - very small cafe planned.

If it's the original 1908 house kitchen... yeah, that is a total gut and remodel. It's not commercial, and it's not code. Even if you are able to try to wiggle in under cottage instead of commercial, and the kitchen is immaculate, it isn't going to fly.

What is actually going to be made in that kitchen? Or done? Is the cafe going to serve just coffee? Serve pre-made food? Make food in-house, and if so, what? A mornings baking, cooking things through service time? And how many covers are you planning on? These questions will impact your kitchen.

And you say you will have an operator running things. Does that mean you are going to be a landlord to that person? Or are you the owner and they are your chef? If it's the latter, you are the one responsible for health inspections. Your chef should know what is needed or wanted, that is very necessary. Especially handy if they know all the front of the house things as well as the back of the house if you are relying on them to be your manager and chef. If the operator is your business partner, they share the responsibility as a co-owner. If they are an employee, you should make keeping up the standards as part of the terms of their employment, but ultimately they aren't on the hook when the inspector comes by.

It will be my daughter’s business - she’s the “operator” I referred to - and she’ll co-own the property.

Menu will be simple, varied, small plates. Probably written on a board daily rather than on a paper menu. There will never be a QR code menu or a queue of DoorDashers. Each day there might be six to eight things offered, changing weekly. Made in-house, save for bread. Thinking 20-40 covers/day.

Cuisine varied, French and Italian influence, Asian influence (not the roaring wok type, more dim sum ish), always dietary choices (vegan, vege, gf). Adapt items to available time, food cost, and facilities. Focus on items that can be prepared ahead with very simple workflow upon ordering.

Also the coffee, tea, matcha, baked and grab-and-go breakfast stuff typical for a little coffee shop. Baked goods probably bought in. Eventually will want to roast coffee in-house.

Think a little family cafe in Marseille, and that’s the general vibe.

Plus books.

The plan is to start with just the coffee shop part, after that is running smoothly to add more food for the cafe part.

Employees . . . ugh. Marketing . . . sigh. Social media . . . brrr.

I have my own business, a little professional services company. When I started it, right at the beginning of Covid, my vows were i) no employees ever, ii) no marketing ever, iii) hard and low limit on number of clients. I’ve stuck to that, and it’s been good. All the administrative stuff that takes time and energy away from what I’m actually paid to do - I outsource, or automate, or don’t take the work. Social media in my field just invites regulatory scrutiny, I have only a website that says as little as possible, largely a place to publish required disclosures.

That approach is not so practical for a cafe!

Will start small, just a little neighborhood coffee shop, the kind of place with usually just one person working. That person will be my daughter with help/relief from her brother, my wife and me. Keeping it in the family at first. Do this for a while until she’s ready to grow and the right employee comes along.

I’d rather lose money initially from not enough days open or limited offerings, than from launching with too many rando employees and a full menu with uncontrolled food cost before the business and owner are ready.

Two of her closest college friends are in town and do social media marketing and online presence for various restaurants, clubs, and product companies. We’ll tap them if daughter doesn’t want to do it herself.

Sounds like a good solid starting group. Your various skills are definitely a plus. My husband used to walk in the door and say ”what’s broken?”

Am predicting more True refrigerators in your future ( with a thermometer in each).

True are 2-3X the price of the cheaper commercial brands! Hobart ditto. We’ll see what the budget allows . . .

It’s more daughter’s skills. I can do stuff in the kitchen, but have been demoted to sous-chef and meat/fish specialist for family meals.

I can also do build/fix stuff, but we have pro resources too so only the grunt or emergency work need be DIY. One of my daughter’s close college friends is a contractor, I’ll hire him if he’s back from Europe in time. Another of her college connections is my cabinet maker. My electrician has become my friend and will work for me at half-rate. I have a good friend who is an architect specializing in old and historic structures.

I’m going to have fun with the espresso part. The country’s best rebuilder and parts source for the brand of Italian commercial eapresso machine I have is just a couple hours away. I’ll rebuild two machines and set them up on rolling bases that fit and latch into the coffee bar, with quick-disconnects on the hoses. If a machine fails, I want it to take only five minutes to swap it out. As for roasting, a friend is a coffee roaster and will help us figure it out; I gave him an espresso machine to start his coffee shop, and am his on-call espresso machine repair service.

Daughter has been working in commercial kitchens since 15 y/o, at one point ran the Berkeley family camp kitchen (recipes, ordering, scheduling, training, supervision of 20+). She did all the “dietary” meals herself. Guests were allowed to fill out a dietary card upon arrival and she had to improvise dishes starting that afternoon for whatever weird diet the guests were on. ”I can’t eat garlic or onion, am allergic to tomato, gluten intolerant, no soy or derivatives, only organic, no beans, of course I’m meat-free. My doctor says I need more protein. Are you sure these beets are cruelty-free?” Naturally the dietary folks also considered themselves righteous foodies. It was good training, both culinary and customer-side. She learned to really enjoy dietary cooking.

Then she ran the whole camp, coaching and firing and everything else. After she got sick of that, she worked prep and line cook jobs up here. She’s spent months at a time working seven days a week, 16 hours a day. So I’m confident she has the experience and grit to run a little cafe. And she’s young.

She lacks any experience with business things - accounting, taxes, insurance, etc - and glaringly any with espresso. So when she returns from Marseille, her task is to get a barista job - or help out at some friends’ cafes - and take a small business class at the community college. Apparently her BFA program wasn’t heavy on cost accounting.

You’d think these last six months she could have been the one to make the family lattes, but oddly that has remained my job.

A back up espresso machine is a lovely option.

Maybe you could bring in food trucks to park at the property and use the house for the bathroom and dining. Rotate the trucks. You could add rotating art or local history exhibits inside the house. Less to worry about!

There is already a food cart pod just a block away, and no enough parking anyhow!

It occurs to me that if possible, have a couple of excellent pastries baked in house. Food cost for these can be relatively low enabling ’baked fresh today’ with minimal loss on the day olds.

During covid we learned new ways of batching pastries that gave us flexibility when we didn’t know what to expect. For example, scones were mixed, shaped, and frozen allowing us to bake off the quantity needed. Similar with cookies. This makes it easy to bake more during the day.

We also froze our day olds and donated to the infusion center, fundraisers, etc. for community connection and good will.

That is exactly what my daughter said! Good to hear it works.

Daughter is more cook than baker. She did spend a few months making croissants and etc for a crazy French baker in Alsace during her WOOFing year. More helpfully, she has a friend in the Bay Area who grew up in a baking family and has become a professional baker. M____ worked in bakeries but has now switched to recipe development and testing for cookbooks. When needed, she’ll come up and help set up the baking aspects.

If your daughter can produce 1 or 2 really good (but not necesarrily laminated dough type fussiness) it can be a strong part of the cafe’s identity. Much of the world does gravitate towards sweet.

1. Health Department Food Safety classes and certificates for anyone ever possibly being an employee. And constant retraining.

2. Gut to the walls and rebuild with stainless studs and cement board covered with FRP or stainless, depending on station. This is so your cooking station can actually be close to a non combustible wall assembly, rather than maintaining a 12” clearance to it, because it not a non combustible assembly.

3. Sprinkler system, combined with emergency shutoff for HVAC when they go off.

4. All new electrical drop, with 3 phase, if possible. An industrial area should be possible. You can get industrial HVAC and run induction then.

5. New plumbing with backflow prevention, and grease traps everywhere.

All new slip resistant quarry tile floors, and physically sanitizable walls will need to happen. If an old home isnt built to take the weight of a quarry tile floor plus heavy appliances, you may need structural support addendums.

I’m sure that a restaurant supply house in your area can connect you with a commercial kitchen designer.

I ran across “epoxy paint”. This is supposed to be a tough, washable wall treatment, an alternative to stainless steel, FRP, or tile walls.

Any thoughts on this stuff?

Seems like it sure would be easier to spray a wall than tile a wall, where heat resistance is not needed.

WAY more expensive than FRP. By a lot.

Good to know! Thank you.

Looks like this project will go forward.

Exciting! Best wishes and looking forward to hearing about the process.

Yes, I’m excited to sprinklerize the building and wade through mountains of permits/fees before finally getting to the kitchen :-)

Oh, and I’ve realized that an architect’s job is in part like a lawyer’s . . . lots of reading code and finding ways to do and not do things. For example, I used my city’s ” online permit estimator “ and saw, with alarm, that there will be $40,000 in transportation “system development charges” (basically a fee on new/remodel construction, in theory meant to pay for increased load on city infrastructure but in reality also simply a city bureau funding mechanism). So I dug through the code and found an exemption for remodel and change of use of less than 3,000 sf. Because it is an exemption you have to know about and affirmatively claim, I guess it’s not enabled by default in the estimator. My architect knows about it, I’m sure, but I’m trying to be educated.

I haven’t found such an exemption for the other bureau SDCs, which means I’ll have to pay around $15,000 for plumbing fixtures and water/sewer connections that already exist.

The fire sprinklers are not absolutely required, but will obviate other fire safety work (1 hour rated fire separation, additional exits from upper floors) which could then trigger accessibility work (ADA access and bathrooms) not otherwise required, and allow more flexibility in usage of the upper floors. Since it is a 113 y/o wood structure, I think fire sprinklers will also help with insurance.