• An excellent working environment lowers turnover and increases the average skill per employee which has a host of benefits:

  • Higher efficiency which leads to lower staff need and therefore greater pay, which loops to enhance the working environment

  • Longer employee relationships and, in turn, higher satisfaction for regulars

  • Lower cost related to hiring and training

  • A culture that naturally attracts better employees and customers

• We think barista-first in the following ways:

  • We create simple and powerful routines and systems that set clear expectations for what needs to be done and when

  • We buy equipment and design layouts with the barista in mind, aiming for simplicity and efficiency while considering comfort

  • Where a majority of shops that have short-shifts to cover rush times and schedule week-to-week, we release employee schedules well in advance and only have full-day shifts

  • We have clear and accessible means of communication, allowing team members to feel heard

  • We remain transparent with staffing cost targets, encouraging efficient systems that enable us to operate with a leaner team. This allows us to offer higher-than-average barista salaries while maintaining lower overall staffing expenses

• We put a lot of thought into designing workflows that are simple, efficient, and easy to teach, with a few examples being:

  • We have a form for guests to request event coffee, which creates a ClickUp task for the team to know what to make and when

  • We utilize Zapier and Make (formerly Integromat) in conjunction with ClickUp to automate tasks like updating inventory spreadsheets, sending daily summaries, requesting reimbursements, and more

  • We utilize a form that allows inventory to be taken on an iPad, which updates a spreadsheet and alerts the manager to place an order for only the items that need restocking.

• With an expert-level knowledge of productivity systems, we will be able to leverage ClickUp, Zapier, OpenAI, and other SaaS platforms to devise automated workflows that will intelligently increase results and decrease cost and effort.

Buying in bulk is a huge cost saving that many companies don't have the ability to capitalize on. The faster we're able to scale to buy pallets of items like Oat Milk and Chai, the faster we'll be saving 15-30% in COGS. Since that's upstream of revenue, it makes a massive impact!

• More than a coffee shop

  • In addition to opening more cafes, we want to change the way people run coffee businesses. With a focus on the system as a whole and not just the expansion of one brand, we're able to consider additional streams of revenue that would be zero-risk.

• Vertical Integration

  • Our goal is to start making products in-house whenever possible. These items could include:

    • To start:

      • Syrups

      • Baked goods

      • Roasted coffee

    • Once we have a warehouse space, the hope is to get creative about additional business ventures that would support our coffee business. Other aspirations include:

      • Screen-printed merchandise such as t-shirts and totes

      • Clear ice for cocktails and specialty drinks

      • Software services such as inventory and scheduling applications

  • Once we have a network of cafes, we can add the types of ventures listed above with very low risk.

    • This is because they will, at least, allow us to produce high-quality goods at a reduced cost for our own cafes.

    • In addition, we'll be able to offer those items within a wholesale program

• Multiple concepts

  • We want to create several concepts that will address slightly different market segments but that can share supplies and products.

  • We have our original concept (Setlan Coffee) and an additional concept that will be more focused on milk drinks, and that will be intentionally more "lightweight".

• Expanding our reach

  • Once we've established our network of cafes, we would use the delivery process that we'll eventually create for those cafes to also supply other local businesses with our roasted coffees, products that we purchased with scale discounts, and more.

    • This could eventually be the core of our model. A stretch goal would then be to open additional distribution hubs like this in other cities that would allow us to open cafes and sell wholesale goods at the same time.