The Cafe Doctor

12/10/2026

Trouble with Employees? Got a contract that is giving you a headache? Need some legal information? 👇👇

Free plain-English legal information for NZ cafe, bar and restaurant owners. One question sends you to the right Fair Call guide: staff problems, or contracts and disputes.

05/10/2026

In case you're wondering...

02/10/2026

If you're sick of working weekends and nights, then drop me a line....
[You own the business, not the other way around]

23/09/2026

Need Help with Marketing? Free tool for Cafe Bar & Restaurant owners here...

Free hiring assistant for cafe, bar and restaurant owners — ask real interview questions and get straight answers from The Cafe Doctor's Recruit Right method

07/09/2026

07/09/2026

Who says you can’t get something for nothing….

04/09/2026

A bad hire in hospo doesn't cost you a wage. It costs you the wage, recruiting costs, the training time, the mistakes in front of customers, and the good team member who watched you tolerate it and started looking elsewhere.

Most owners can tell you what a bad hire pays them per hour. Almost none can tell you what it costs per month once all of that's added up; it's probably more than you think.

If you've had one in the last year, you already know the number's bigger than you want to admit.

Comment "yes" if you've lived this; curious to see if you've ever done that...

02/09/2026

How clients get six weeks to travel through Europe every year….

01/09/2026

Every venue running delivery has a third till.

Not the eftpos machine. Not the cash drawer.

The aggregator, taking its cut before the order even reaches your bench.

Some owners know that percentage cold. Most just know it's "a lot" and leave it there.

"A lot" isn't a number you can run a business on.

What's your platform, and what's it taking? Comment the app. I'll tell you where that number should actually sit.

31/08/2026

Your rent hasn't gone up as fast as everything else this year. That's not the win it looks like.

Ask most owners what their highest fixed cost is, and they'll say rent, because it's the biggest number on the page.

It's rarely the one actually killing the business. Wages moved. Food cost moved. Rent sat still, and everyone kept blaming it anyway because it's easy to point at.

The venues that struggle aren't the ones with high rent. They're the ones who never worked out what the rent should be as a percentage of turnover but still signed whatever the landlord put in front of them.

What's your rent actually costing you as a percentage, not a dollar figure? Drop it in the comments; I'll tell you if it's healthy.