The Café Owners Education Series is a conference program aiming to support café owners in running better businesses, with practical advice on efficiency, marketing, profitability, and sustainability all to feature as part of the sessions.
Organised in partnership with BeanScene magazine, the sessions aim to provide café owners with relevant, up-to-date information.
The Café Series will take place across the three-day show.
Access to the Café Owners Education Series is included in the MICE ticket.
What does it take to start a café from scratch? A practical breakdown of the true costs of opening a café, from leases and fit outs to staffing and working capital, designed to help new operators avoid expensive early mistakes.
How not to fail in your first year of business. Discover the most dangerous phase of café ownership unpacked, exploring risk versus reward, common mistakes, and what operators must prioritise to survive the first 12 months.
How can cafés stay profitable without losing customers? A practical guide to pricing coffee in a high cost environment while protecting margins, customer trust and perceived value. This session will break down the financial levers that actually drive profitability and prove why being profitable isn’t an accident.
Hear from international and Australian producers about the reality of life on the farm, the obstacles, the opportunities and how café operators can embrace meaningful provenance stories with their customers.
From cold foam and pistachio milk to coffee mocktails, learn how to create viral beverages that also make commercial sense, and discover how the addition of a signature Drinks Menus can be a profitable addition.
What do green bean prices really mean for café owners? Explore the impact of climate change, sourcing decisions, and whether the industry is any closer to closing the coffee value gap. What’s more, discover how to educate your customers on the price per cup.
What does sustainability really mean for cafés today? Explore how operators can implement environmentally responsible practices (packaging, waste reduction, energy, sourcing) without eroding margins, and where sustainability can actively drive customer loyalty and revenue.
Understand what Gen Z values from a café menu; their expectations and spending habits, and how cafés can deliver relevance and connection without blindly chasing trends.
An honest look at workload, people management, visas, wages, overtime and compliance, and how to move from constant survival to sustainable success.
Explore how menu size impacts speed, margins and staffing, how cafés can strike the right balance without adding labour pressure, and what are the must-have considerations to a strong menu that makes ordering easy and supports the venue’s bottom line.
An exploration of how AI and automation are changing productivity, staffing and operations in the café market –and where the human touch still matters most.
An insight into how large operators are influencing customer expectations and what independent businesses can learn from scale and systems.
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
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