Most independent café owners manage more vendor relationships than they need to and pay for it in ways that don't always show up on a single invoice.
The cold brew program is often where the hidden costs live. Between the supplier delivering pre-nitrogenated product, the CO₂ vendor, the water delivery service, and the equipment maintenance contract, a single beverage category can involve four or five separate invoices, four or five separate schedules, and four or five separate relationships to manage.
This is the vendor math most café owners never actually sit down and run. Here’s what it looks like when you do.
