Ristretto Time: Starting (and running) your own Coffee Shop

What happens when two former corporate leaders trade boardrooms for espresso machines? On this episode of Ristretto Time: Starting and Running Your Own Coffee Shop, Gjergj Dollani sits down with Mo (Mohab) Shalash, founder of Brew Crew in New York and New Jersey. Mo spent 15 years at a global consumer goods company managing budgets in the hundreds of millions. Then he discovered that running one small coffee shop was harder than any of it.They get candid about what the coffee shop books leave out:The ego problem. Why big-company experience can work against you behind the counter.Real coffee shop profit margins. Forget the 15–20% you read about. Mo explains why hitting double digits in your first three years means you’ve made it.Labor as the make-or-break cost. Rising minimum wage, why Mo pays well above it, and why your people matter more than your menu, location, or aesthetic.The hiring gauntlet. 120 interviews, 40 offers, and only 2 hires who lasted past two months in his first six months.Yelp, Google reviews, and liability. One-star reviews, a surprise visit about ADA accessibility, and the legal exposure new owners never see coming.Cash flow and growth. Why growing revenue can still drain you, and how a fast-scaling competitor nearly collapsed.Menu simplification. Why 80% of Mo’s revenue comes from 40 of 110 items, plus what Pop Up Bagels teaches about doing less.Food vs. beverage mix. Mo’s ideal 70/30 split and how food helps offset seasonal slumps.This episode is for anyone thinking about opening a coffee shop, buying a café, or leaving a corporate career for small business ownership. It’s an honest, practical conversation about what it actually takes.Connect with Mo Shalash: Find Mohab Shalash on LinkedIn.Go deeper: Gjergj’s book Grounds: What a Coffee Shop Taught Me That a Career Never Could https://www.amazon.com/Grounds-Coffee-Taught-Career-Never/dp/B0H3PBY1D9

This week I open the Ristretto Time inbox and answer two listener questions I get versions of all the time.Eric in Colorado is building his coffee shop business plan and asks how to estimate tickets per day and average ticket size. I walk through my foot traffic counting method: when to count, what percentage of passersby actually walk in, what average ticket to assume for a coffee and pastry shop versus one serving lunch, and a simple daily revenue target you can reverse-engineer into customer counts.Kasim and his daughter are deciding between building a shop from scratch and buying an existing coffee business on BizBuySell. I cover the questions to ask before buying any operating café: why the owner is really selling, how to read the revenue and profit picture, the landlord relationship, what "under new ownership" does to a loyal clientele, how seller financing deals are structured, and why you shouldn't pay more than two to three times annual profit.Also in this episode: Grounds, my book on the full story of Café Chocolat, the coffee shop I opened and closed on H Street in Washington, DC, is out now on Amazon. It launched as one of the fastest selling books in the Starting a Business category. Buy it and email me at [email protected] and I'll send you my list of the 15 things I wish I knew before I started the coffee shop.If you're opening a coffee shop, writing a business plan, or weighing whether to buy an existing café, this episode is for you.

After some time away from regular episodes, Ristretto Time is back.In this episode, I share the story behind Grounds — my new book about building, running, and ultimately closing Café Chocolat, an independent coffee shop in Washington, D.C.If you've followed this podcast for a while, you know it originally started as a way for me to document the lessons, mistakes, and realities of owning a coffee shop after Café Chocolat closed. Over time, I realized there was a much bigger story to tell: not just how to open a coffee shop, but what it actually feels like to build something you care deeply about.In this episode, I talk about:☕ Why Ristretto Time slowed down and what’s next☕ Why I decided to write Grounds instead of turning the podcast into a traditional “how-to” book☕ The hidden realities of entrepreneurship, business ownership, and taking risks☕ What I learned from building Café Chocolat in Washington, D.C.☕ Why this story applies to more than just coffee shops☕ A reading from Chapter One: “A Walk Through Adams Morgan”You’ll also hear the opening pages of the book, including the story of how one evening walk through Adams Morgan turned into a decision that changed everything.📖 Grounds launches June 1, 2026Want to read Chapter One for free?Visit RistrettoTime.com and sign up to receive the complimentary PDF instantly.Whether you're thinking about opening a coffee shop, running a small business, starting something risky, or simply wondering what happens when a dream changes shape — I hope this episode feels familiar.Topics: coffee shop business, entrepreneurship, small business ownership, opening a coffee shop, café management, Café Chocolat, Washington DC coffee shop, coffee shop memoir, startup lessons, business failure, founder story, Ristretto Time podcast.

In this episode of Ristretto Shots I read Phil’s email to me about a coffee gig he did, describing how it went and how much fun he had going out on his own and making it happen! This is what it’s all about folks; just getting out of your comfort zone and having a blast doing it. http://www.ristrettotime.com

I have been thinking about doing this interview for months!   Ryan and Jamie are the founders of The Nest Family Cafe in Londonderry, NH.  They -- just like me -- started without having any coffee or business experience.   After over a year and a half of hard work, they took the leap of faith, left the comforts of corporate behind and dove into this new adventure.  We talk about how they started, the easy parts and hard parts of owning and running a business.   We talk about how they run their shop, how they manage their staff, marketing, social media and how they feel about their journey as new business owners.  If you are seriously thinking about running a business, listen to Ryan and Jamie and maybe this is the nudge you needed.   Learn more about The Nest Family Cafe online at https://www.thenestfamilycafe.com/ 

I have gotten a few emails with listeners asking what books I recommend. I email each person individually, but decided it would be more beneficial if I just record a Bonus episode. I broke the list in 4 categories: Coffee, Strategy, Operations, Mindset. I end it with some thoughts on work-life balance. As always, email me at [email protected] with any questions or comments. http://www.ristrettotime.com

In this episode, I talk a bit about POSes, but spend a good amount of time talking about various aspects of working with cash and how to protect your business or coffee shop from scammers. I share some issues I ran into and how you can avoid them. Let me know what you think dollani(at)gmail.com. http://www.ristrettotime.com

I spent 1.5 years over 23 podcast episodes talking about what we did at Cafe Chocolat and how we did it. Meanwhile the 800 pound gorilla was sitting right next to me staring at me — Cafe Chocolat had been shut down. I wasn’t podcasting about a wildly successful shop, or some chain that I grew and sold off. For all intents and purposes it was a failed business — regardless of how and why. But here’s the reality — most businesses fail. Yours will probably, as well. In this BONUS podcast episode I revisit the last days of Cafe Chocolat, and what shutting down a coffee shop I loved meant to me (and still does). RistrettoTime.com

In this episode I share a personal story of a childhood book/character that I always think of when I run into something that looks hard and scary, and how I use that to dive in the many directions my career has taken me. I also talk about my favorite episodes I have recorded. Ristretto Time http://www.ristrettotime.com

Yes, FREE Wifi is nice, it’s convenient, it’s fun, but it’s not a right. Should you offer it at your coffee shop? Should you not? Let’s discuss! Ristretto Time: Starting and Running Your Coffee Shop by Gjergj Dollani http://ristrettotime.com