How to Start a Coffee Shop in Pakistan: A Step-by-Step Guide for New Café Owners

How to start a coffee shop in Pakistan comes down to a handful of decisions more than the interior: who you're serving, where, with what equipment, at what cost per cup, and with which trained people behind the bar. We train café owners and their staff, and the same lessons come up every time. This guide takes them in order, like a simple business plan you can work through on paper. It applies to a café in Karachi, Lahore or Multan just as much as one in a smaller town.

The reel above shows hands-on barista training in our lab. It's a fair picture of the skill level your bar team will need.

Step 1: Decide your concept and customer

Your concept decides your equipment, menu, staff and rent, so settle it first. Write one sentence: who comes in, when, and what they order.

• Grab-and-go kiosk: small footprint, short menu, speed matters most. Suits offices, universities and busy markets.
• Neighbourhood café: seating, Wi-Fi, a food menu and longer stays. Suits residential areas and families.
• Specialty coffee bar: premium beans, pour-over and espresso as the star. Needs highly skilled baristas and customers who will pay for quality.

Be honest about your market. In Pakistan, sweet, milky and iced drinks sell well alongside classic espresso, and summer heat makes a strong iced menu worth planning from day one.

Step 2: Choose the right location

The best location is the one where your target customer already walks past at the times you plan to be open. Visit candidate sites at morning, afternoon and evening, on weekdays and weekends, and count the people.

Also check parking, visibility from the road, the reliability of electricity and water supply, whether there's space for a generator or UPS, and whether the landlord allows the plumbing, drainage and electrical work a commercial espresso machine needs.

Karachi, Lahore and other cities: what changes

The steps are the same everywhere, but the conditions aren't. In the big cities like Karachi and Lahore, rent in popular commercial areas is high and you'll often have several cafés on the same street, so your concept needs a clear reason for people to choose you. Late evenings tend to be busy, which affects staffing and opening hours.

In smaller cities such as Multan, Sialkot, Bahawalpur or Abbottabad, rent is usually lower and competition lighter, but many customers are still moving from chai to coffee. A sweeter, milkier menu and fair prices often matter more there than a long list of single origins. Wherever you are, plan for the local summer (fierce dry heat in much of Punjab and Sindh, humidity on the coast) and for how often power goes off in your area.

Step 3: Build a budget from real quotes

Costs vary hugely by city, size and equipment, so don't rely on figures from the internet, including ours. Get at least two written quotes for each category below and add a contingency for surprises.

• Premises: security deposit, advance rent and any agent fee.
• Fit-out: counter, plumbing, electrical work, flooring, lighting, seating, signage, air conditioning.
• Equipment: the bar and kitchen items in the table below.
• Backup power: UPS and/or generator, so load-shedding does not stop service.
• Licences and professional fees: food authority licence, tax registration, accountant.
• Opening stock: beans, milk, syrups, cups, lids, cleaning supplies.
• Staff and training: salaries for the first months and barista training before launch.
• Marketing: signage, launch offers, photography.
• Working capital: enough cash to run for several months before the café pays for itself.

Café equipment list: what you actually need

At the core of every coffee shop are three things: a commercial espresso machine, a dedicated espresso grinder and proper water filtration. Everything else supports them.

Choosing an espresso machine for a café

Buy for your busiest hour, not your average one. A machine that can't keep up with the rush costs you customers every day. Most important, choose a supplier who can service the machine in your city and keeps spare parts, because a broken machine means a closed bar. Waiting for a part to come from another city can take days. Barista Studio supplies espresso machines, MONIN and 1883 syrups and barista tools; see our coffee equipment and supplies or message us for advice on what suits your concept.

Water needs special attention, because quality varies a lot between cities, areas and sources (municipal line, borewell or tanker). Read our guide to the best water for coffee (TDS and hardness) before you buy a filter.

Coffee shop menu and costing basics

Keep your opening menu short and cost every item before you set a price. A focused menu is faster to make, easier to train and wastes less stock.

Bean choice affects both taste and cost. Many cafés use an Arabica-based espresso blend, and some add Robusta for body and crema; our guide to Arabica vs Robusta explains the trade-off.

A typical core menu includes espresso, Americano, cappuccino, latte, flat white and mocha, a few flavoured lattes using syrups, and iced versions of your best sellers. Our guide comparing cappuccino, latte, flat white and mocha explains the differences you will need to standardise.

How to calculate cost per cup

Cost per cup is the sum of every ingredient and disposable in one drink, plus an allowance for waste. The formula is:

Cost per cup = (coffee dose × cost per gram) + (milk used × cost per ml) + syrup + cup, lid and sleeve + waste allowance

Here is a worked example. These numbers are made up purely to show the method; they are not market prices. Replace them with your own supplier prices.

1. Beans: if a 1 kg bag costs you PKR 10,000, that is PKR 10 per gram. An 18 g double shot costs 18 × 10 = PKR 180.
2. Milk: if 1 litre costs PKR 300, that is PKR 0.30 per ml. A latte using 200 ml costs 200 × 0.30 = PKR 60.
3. Cup, lid and sleeve: say PKR 40 for takeaway.
4. Subtotal: 180 + 60 + 40 = PKR 280.
5. Add a 10% waste allowance for test shots, spilled milk and remakes: 280 × 1.10 = PKR 308 cost per cup.

To set a price, decide what share of the selling price you want ingredients to take (your target cost percentage), then divide: Price = cost per cup ÷ target cost percentage. In this example, with an illustrative target of 30%, the price would be 308 ÷ 0.30 ≈ PKR 1,027 before tax. Check it against what customers will pay; rent, salaries, electricity and taxes still have to come out of the difference.

Fix your recipes in writing: dose, yield and milk quantity for every drink. Our guide to espresso ratio, dose, yield and time will help you set a house recipe your whole team follows.

Registration and licensing for a café in Pakistan

Before opening, you'll generally need a food business licence from your provincial (or ICT) food authority and tax registration with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). Requirements, fees and procedures change, so confirm everything directly with each authority.

• Islamabad (ICT): the Islamabad Food Authority requires food businesses in the capital territory to register and hold a licence, and has run enforcement drives against unregistered outlets. Contact the authority for the current process and documents.
• Punjab (Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and the rest of the province): the Punjab Food Authority licenses food businesses and offers online applications through its Smart Food Licensing System. Reports also indicate Punjab Revenue Authority registration may be needed first; check this when you apply.
• Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan: each province has its own food authority (the Sindh Food Authority, the KP Food Safety and Halal Food Authority and the Balochistan Food Authority) and its own revenue authority for sales tax on services. Ask the relevant authority in Karachi, Peshawar or Quetta for the current process.
• Tax: register for a National Tax Number (NTN) through the FBR's IRIS portal, and ask an accountant whether you also need sales tax registration for your business.
• Other approvals: depending on your location, you may need permissions from your housing society or local administration for signage, fit-out or trading hours.

This is general information, not legal advice; a local accountant or consultant can confirm what applies to you.

Hiring and training your café staff

Train your staff properly before you open, because the same beans and machine make excellent or poor coffee depending on who's behind the bar. Hire people who are reliable and good with customers, then teach them the skills.

• Train before opening day, not during it. Your team should pull consistent shots, texture milk and pour basic latte art before the first customer arrives.
• Learn the basics yourself. Owners who understand extraction and milk can spot problems, train new hires and protect quality when staff change.
• Write recipes and cleaning checklists so every shift makes the same drink the same way.

Launch and marketing

The two most important free marketing tools for a new café are a Google Business Profile and an active Instagram account. Set both up before you open.

• Google Business Profile: add your exact location, opening hours, phone, menu and real photos, so you appear on Google Maps when people nearby search for coffee. Ask happy customers for reviews and reply to every review.
• Instagram: post your drinks, your team and behind-the-bar moments.
• Soft launch: open to friends, family and neighbours for a few days first to fix workflow problems before the public opening.

Common mistakes new café owners make

• Spending everything on décor and buying a cheap grinder. Customers return for taste.
• Skipping water filtration, then facing scale damage and repair bills.
• Not costing drinks, so the busiest items quietly lose money.
• Opening with untrained staff and hoping they learn on the job.
• Running out of cash because there was no working capital for the slow first months.

Barista training for café owners and staff

At Barista Studio in Bahria Town Phase 6, Islamabad, head trainer M. Khizar Abbas trains owners and staff hands-on on commercial espresso machines. Owners who want to understand the basics often choose the 15 Days Program, while staff who will run your bar benefit from the 30 Days Program. See all options on our barista courses page and our open barista course fees in Pakistan guide.

If you're opening near us, our page on the barista course in Bahria Town has local details. Owners from other cities can send themselves or a lead barista to Islamabad for a program; classes run 10 AM to 1 PM, and our page on coffee training in Pakistan explains how that works. When you're ready, book a seat for yourself or your team.

FAQ