The full list of equipment needed to start up a specialty coffee shop can be quite daunting. When you’re trying to build an espresso bar on a limited budget, you may face some difficult choices. If you need some guidance on which equipment to prioritize for your cafe, our experts are ready to help.
On the other hand, renting equipment can keep your startup costs under control, while still allowing you to open the cafe with the fit-out of your dreams. Renting gives you the flexibility to try things and see what works for your business — or to rapidly expand your business without a big capital investment.
At Ekuep, we offer cafe equipment rental services to all kinds of businesses, large and small. In this article, we’ll explain how you can make renting work for your business.
Reduce your startup costs
Perhaps the most common reason that many businesses choose to rent equipment instead of buying is to free up capital for other purposes.
When starting a new business, it’s very common to run into unexpected costs, so it’s important to keep some capital in reserve. Renting allows you to eliminate some of those upfront costs. Instead, you can use the income that the business generates to pay for the equipment you need when you need it.
For example, let’s look at a commonly rented piece of equipment: the dishwasher. A classic undercounter dishwasher from Hoonved costs 11,199 SAR — great value for money, but still a substantial amount of cash for a new business to invest.
Meanwhile, renting the exact same dishwasher costs just 750 SAR per month , plus installation costs. At this price, you can rent a dishwasher for a year more cheaply than buying one — and you don’t even have to worry about maintenance costs!
Renting equipment gives you peace of mind, knowing that the installation and all routine maintenance is taken care of.
By renting instead of buying, you can wait until the business is on a sound financial footing before investing more in your equipment. During the first year of business, you might decide that the time is right to buy the equipment outright, once there is some money coming in. On the other hand, there are many reasons why businesses continue to rent equipment, even when they are well established.
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Try before you buy
Buying any piece of equipment is a big commitment, and for a new business especially it can be hard to predict exactly what you’ll need.
Our guides are designed to help you choose the right equipment for your business, but if you can’t be sure what equipment you’ll need, then renting gives you an opportunity to try out different pieces of equipment and see what works for you.
Imagine, for example, that you open a new cafe and quickly find that you’re much busier than expected. If you are renting your espresso machine, then it’s very easy to upgrade from a two-group machine to a three-group so that you can keep up with demand.
Alternatively, if you’re considering upgrading to a high-tech espresso machine (such as the Black Eagle Gravitech ) but are not sure if you’ll really need all the advanced features it offers, then renting offers you a chance to test it in your cafe on real customers. You’ll soon learn if it’s the right machine for you.
If you’re not sure which machine to buy for your business, then renting is the perfect way to find out.
Room to grow
Renting a machine is an easy way for established businesses to boost their capacity, whether for special events and holidays or to take advantage of the tourist season.
Hospitality is by its very nature a seasonal business. Lots of cafes get a boost when tourists arrive and are quieter the rest of the year. Furthermore, specialty coffee businesses can often pick up extra income by offering a high-end coffee experience for conferences and events.
Renting a machine can give your business extra capacity for special events or busy times of the year. You can rent exactly what you need when you need it — without having a machine sitting unused in storage for the rest of the year.
Rental is also a great way to expand your seasonal menus. Perhaps you want to offer ice cream in the summer, but don’t have room to store the machine all year round? Try renting an ice cream machine for the summer — then, when winter comes around, simply send it back to make room for your winter menu.
Renting equipment allows your business to be flexible. Make the most of peaks in trade, and save money during lulls, by paying for equipment only when you need it.
A quick fix
Don’t let equipment breakdowns disrupt your business. Renting equipment allows you to keep on serving your customers if something goes wrong.
All the equipment in a cafe, from espresso machines to pizza ovens, needs regular maintenance. Moreover, sometimes even the best-maintained machine can spring a leak or blow a gasket.
Most of the time, a good technician should be able to fix any problems on-site, so you can get back up and running right away. Sometimes, however, it can take longer — if you need to wait for spare parts, for example, or if the machine has to be taken away to the workshop for repairs. When this happens a rented machine can fill in the gap, for as long as you need it.
Closing the cafe for equipment repairs results in lost revenue and can be a big inconvenience to your customers. Renting a machine allows you to keep the doors open.
How rental works
Renting equipment is very easy. You can book the rental online, and we take care of everything else.
The first step is to choose the equipment you need. You can view the catalog on our equipment rental website — but if you don’t see the equipment you need, ask one of our consultants and they might be able to arrange something specific for you.
You can then simply book the equipment online, and specify the dates for delivery and collection. Our team will take care of the rest:
- We will deliver the equipment and install it for you, on the agreed date.
- Once you’re up and running, if any routine maintenance is needed, our technicians will take care of it free of charge.
- At the end of the rental period, our team will come to you to uninstall the machine and take it away.
It’s as simple as that! You can find full details of the process and policies and the rental terms and conditions on our equipment rental website .
This straightforward process can save you a lot of hassle, and sometimes, a fair bit of money, too. Buying machines is naturally cheaper in the long run, but there are plenty of reasons why renting can be a smart decision — for both new and established businesses.
Thinking about renting equipment for your cafe?
alk to our experts about your needs and we’ll help you find the right solution.
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