The Hidden Cost Behind Your Early Morning Coffee
Starting Monday, 27th July, Dad and the Frog Cafe will be opening a little later.
Our new hours:
Monday to Friday: 7am – 3pm
Saturday & Sunday: 8am – 3pm
Kitchen closes at 2pm daily
Our old hours were:
Weekdays: 6:30am – 3pm
Weekends: 7:30am – 3pm
Kitchen closed at 2pm daily
It's a small shift on paper, but it's the result of a lot of thinking, some real number-crunching, and a genuine want to look after the people who make this cafe what it is. Here's how I landed on it.
It started with a look at the numbers
Before changing anything, I ran a side-by-side comparison of our hourly sales against our hourly labour costs. I wanted to see, honestly, whether those early opening hours were earning their keep.
They weren't. The wages we were paying to have the doors open from 6:30am consistently outweighed what we were making in that window. It's not a criticism of the team or the customers who came in early, it's just what the data showed. Running a cafe means making decisions with your head as well as your heart, and this was one of those moments where the numbers were too clear to ignore.
Then it became about the team
Once I saw the cost side of things, I started thinking about what else the old roster was costing us, namely, my staff's energy.
Long, single shifts wear people down. It's hard to stay sharp, warm, and switched on for hours on end without a real break in the middle of the day. By adjusting our trading hours, I've been able to break up shifts into shorter blocks, which means more people working alongside each other at any given time, rather than one or two people carrying a long stretch solo.
That means:
Less burnout. Shorter shifts are simply more sustainable.
More support on the floor. With overlapping shifts, no one is left to manage a rush alone.
A better café experience for you. A team that isn't running on empty makes better food and coffee and gives better service.
A more flexible way to roster
The other benefit I didn't fully appreciate until we started planning it: a staggered roster is far more resilient. If someone calls in sick or needs to take leave, we've got more flexibility to shift people around and cover gaps, rather than scrambling to fill one irreplaceable early-morning slot.
For a small business, that kind of flexibility is worth a lot. It reduces stress on me as the owner, on my managers, and on the staff who might otherwise be asked to cover at short notice.
What this means for you
We know a lot of our regulars are creatures of habit, and a later opening time will take some adjusting to. We don't take that lightly. But this change lets us keep a happy, well-rested team behind the counter and that's what keeps the coffee, the food, and the whole experience consistent.
Kitchen hours remain unchanged, still closing at 2pm daily, so your favourite breakfast and lunch orders aren't going anywhere.
Thanks for continuing to support Dad and the Frog Cafe. We'll see you from 7am on weekdays and 8am on weekends, starting Monday 27th July.
Dan and the team at Dad and the Frog Cafe