Made Fresh

Simple and highly effective way of selling profitable scones at Churchfields Farmhouse Ice Cream's cafe - reassure customers that the scones really are fresh.

Homemade Profits

One way to boost those cold drink margins - home made lemonade in three flavours (including cherry and grapefruit) and iced tea (lemon, peach) at chain operator Paul

How Not To

Confectionery in a Cafe - great for the confectionery brand but little margin, almost no cash profit, zero creativity and suggests an operation more in tune with a newsagent/forecourt than a cafe that wishes to build its own brand.

Tis Time for Lemonade

Home-made lemonade; refreshing, appealing and wonderful profit margin at the Island Bakery on St Agnes.

Flavoured Water

I have always maintained cafes should be profitable given they sell mainly flavoured water (tea, coffee and soup) and flour (scones, cakes and cookies).  Jelly fits the bill perfectly and helps with the calorie count.  Red Cherry Berry Jelly at EAT.

The Cold Drink Conundrum

Those smart trendy bottles of cold drink are popular but don't do much for your margins.

Solution: Decant bulk-bought quality juices (or your own lemonade) into plastic cups as done here on the eye-level top shelf at smart operators Pain Quotidien.