8 Cafe Success Stories [2024]

Updated: November 19th, 2023
Open A Cafe

Here are some real life success stories of starting a cafe:

1. Camper Cafe ($180K/year)

Beth Baxter co-founded Camper Cafe, a mobile coffee van business, when her partner decided to convert his vintage VW campervan into a trailer for his motorcycles. Baxter suggested putting a coffee machine in the trailer instead, and the idea took off. Now, 11 years later, Camper Cafe is on its sixth mobile coffee unit and supplies major sporting events and works with international brands, generating around £150k in revenue from only 70 days of work per year.

How much they make: $180K/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
Current team size: 2

article

We Built A Coffee Shop In A Van That Makes $180K/Year

This case study follows the co-founder of Camper Cafe, a mobile coffee van business which started as a hobby and now has 6 units that supply the UK's biggest sporting events, commercial and film shoots, generating around £150k from working only 70 days of the year.

About
Beth started Camper Cafe over 12 years ago
Revenue
Beth grew the business to $15K/month
Costs
It cost Beth $5000 to start the business
Read by 5,509 founders

2. XO Marshmallow ($1.3M/year)

Lindzi Shanks, co-founder of XO Marshmallow, started the business after her partner Kat Connor created homemade marshmallows as a gift and received overwhelming feedback. Realizing the potential, they decided to launch an online shop and later opened the world's first marshmallow café. They relied on customer feedback and suggestions to develop new flavors and products, using their culinary and branding expertise to create a successful lifestyle brand.

How much they make: $1.3M/year
How much did it cost to start: $200
Current team size: 7

article

How We Started A $1.5M/Year Gourmet Marshmallow Brand With $200

XO Marshmallow, the premier gourmet marshmallow company and home of the first marshmallow café, discusses how they became the leader in their market by creating a compelling lifestyle brand primarily through social media and organic traffic, leading them to do $1.5 million in sales last year with continued YoY growth ranging from 25-300%.

About
Lindzi started XO Marshmallow about 8 years ago
Revenue
Lindzi grew the business to $108K/month
Costs
It cost Lindzi $200 to start the business
Read by 3,148 founders

So... can you actually make money with a cafe?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

5. DoorDash Food Delivery

Best local restaurants now deliver. Get breakfast, lunch, dinner and more delivered from your favorite restaurants right to your doorstep with one easy click.

Where they're located: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Website traffic: 66.7M/month

article

So... can you actually make money with a cafe?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

7. EzineArticles

Where they're located: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Website traffic: 1.05M/month

article

News, Markets and Analysis for the Food Processing Industry

Where they're located: Manhattan Community Board 1, New York, USA
Website traffic: 390K/month

article