Open a self-service coffee shop in Düsseldorf

Coffee to go in Düsseldorf: who buys on the move

Düsseldorf is a city of commuters. Every morning lots of people come to work from Neuss, Ratingen, Duisburg, Wuppertal and the rest of the surrounding area and change at the station to the U-Bahn or tram. They buy their coffee on this route: between the platform and the U-Bahn, at the stop in front of the office, at the stairs up to the street. For a self-service coffee shop, these are the best customers. They are in a hurry, know what they want and take the cup with them.

Important interchanges are Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof, Düsseldorf Wehrhahn, Bilk S, Oberbilk S and Benrath S. In the north, Düsseldorf Flughafen has its own long-distance station, where travellers and airport staff arrive. In the city centre people change underground: at Heinrich-Heine-Allee, Steinstraße/Königsallee, Schadowstraße and Graf-Adolf-Platz.

The second group works in offices, and Düsseldorf has offices in several districts. On Kennedydamm, office buildings such as the Sky Office stand close together, at Seestern in Lörick there is the Seestern-Tower, and right next to it the Vodafone buildings on Ferdinand-Braun-Platz. At the Stadttor and in the Medienhafen one office building follows the next, in the city centre the Dreischeibenhaus and the Commerzbank-Hochhaus fill up, and in Mörsenbroich the ARAG-Hochhaus. People there grab a coffee in the morning on the way in and after lunch.

The third group studies. Hochschule Düsseldorf has its campus in Derendorf, and in the south of the city students and staff get off at the Universität Ost/Botanischer Garten and Uni-Kliniken stations every day. There are also the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, the Hochschule Fresenius and the FOM. People buy between two classes, and it is quieter during the semester break; we factor that into the sales plan for a location in a university building.

Which coffee shop formats we install in Düsseldorf

Most people choose the indoor coffee shop, turnkey from €6 425. In Düsseldorf it fits into a shopping mall such as Düsseldorf Arcaden in Bilk, the entrance hall of an office building on Kennedydamm, a university, a hospital or the checkout area of a supermarket. The weather plays no part here, because the customers are already in the building.

The outdoor coffee shop (from €10 709) sells round the clock, in rain and frost too, comes in a vandal-resistant body and needs no premises. Good spots for it are petrol stations, stops and the corner in front of a shop in your district. You agree the space with its owner, for example the supermarket the kiosk will stand in front of.

Cold-drink brings iced coffee, shakes and cold drinks into the summer. It sells most where lots of people are outdoors: on the Rhine meadows, in the Nordpark or in the Ostpark. We quote the price on request.

The address decides the format. First we look at how many people pass by there and where they are going, then we suggest the right coffee shop. Besides coffee, we can also build turnkey vending machines for ice cream, candyfloss, pizza or ready meals on request.

Where to put a coffee shop in Düsseldorf

The map above shows places in Düsseldorf that lots of people pass every day: stops, U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations, supermarkets, office buildings, hospitals and universities. Choose your district and see what is nearby. Below are the places where we start searching in Düsseldorf.

Have you already spotted a free space in a shopping mall, an office lobby or at a U-Bahn station in Düsseldorf? Send us the address, and we will work out the income for that exact site free of charge. If you do not have an address, we take over the search: we check the footfall, talk to the landlord and show you several options. You pay for the search only after you sign the lease with the landlord, and only if you like the site.

How much a self-service coffee shop in Düsseldorf costs

A turnkey indoor coffee shop costs from €6 425 incl. VAT. Outdoor coffee shop: from €10 709. Cold-drink: price on request. Installation anywhere in Germany is charged separately from the price of the coffee shop.

The basic set includes a Kavil-branded kiosk with LED lighting, a Saeco or Jetinno coffee machine, a terminal for card and smartphone payments, Kavil brand design and telemetry. The final price depends mainly on the coffee machine model, and also on the options and the installation. Banknote and coin acceptors and a custom design can be added separately.

You pay in two parts, and only after signing the contract, which sets out the coffee machine model, the equipment, the amount and the deadlines. You make the prepayment after signing and pay the rest at installation. After that, each month you pay rent, taxes and the bank fee for card payments, and you buy ingredients and cups. You do not hand us any percentage of your sales.

What matters in Düsseldorf

On the Königsallee and in the Altstadt rents are high, and there are lots of cafés. A self-service coffee shop is therefore more likely to pay off a few stations further on: at the U-Bahn in a residential district, at an S-Bahn station or in an office district such as Kennedydamm or Seestern, where lots of people arrive at once in the morning.

Office districts have their own rhythm. From Monday to Friday they are busy, at the weekend hardly anything happens. So a location in an office lobby earns on five days a week, while a location by a supermarket or a stop in a residential area earns on all seven. Both can pay off, but the figures differ. For spots at the airport or in the Hauptbahnhof the operator has its own rules, and negotiations can take longer. The calculation for your address shows which option works out for you, taking into account the footfall, drink price, equipment and rent of that exact site.

What you need to launch

You need no business experience. We open turnkey coffee shops even for people who have never run a business: we train you from scratch, and from the day the contract is signed you have a personal manager. We help you with the bank account and the payment terminal step by step.

It all starts with a conversation. You leave your number, we call back, calculate the income for the site you have chosen in Düsseldorf, put together the equipment package and show you the inside of the coffee shop on Zoom. This stage moves at your pace. You read the contract before you pay, and the countdown starts with the prepayment: it takes up to 30 days from then to the first cup. In that time we build the coffee shop in our own workshop, look for a site if you ask us to, and then deliver, install and set up the coffee shop.

Looking after the location itself takes about 15 minutes once every two or three days: topping up ingredients and collecting the takings. You can easily combine this with your main job. You see sales and stock levels on your smartphone, so you know when it is time to go to the location.

How much Kavil partners earn

Taras has a network of 3 locations in retail areas and busy walkways. After 5 months of operation it brought him more than €1 770 of net profit a month. Bohdan has 1 indoor location by an entrance: 80 drinks a day and more than €880 a month after 6 months. Vladyslav has 2 indoor locations with steady footfall: more than €1 480 of net profit a month after 5 months.

Kavil partners’ figures (December 2024), converted to euros. Results vary from location to location: these are examples, not a guarantee. Coffee prices, rents and costs depend on the site, so we do not carry these figures over directly. We calculate the income for your address in Düsseldorf separately and free of charge.

Kavil franchise in Düsseldorf: what you get

You buy the equipment, and the business is entirely yours: 0 royalties, so no monthly share of your sales goes to us. We roast our own coffee, and you buy our beans 25% cheaper than from competitors. We build the coffee shops in our own workshop, buy Saeco and Jetinno coffee machines directly, with no dealer markup, and you get beans, ingredients and cups from us with no middlemen. Thanks to telemetry, you see sales and stock levels on your smartphone every day.

The equipment comes with a warranty, and we write its term into the contract. If sales drop, we go through the figures together, and if the site turns out to be weak, we plan a move. If you change your mind or the location does not work out, we will buy back the equipment at 60% of its value; the buyback terms are in the contract. Would you like several coffee shops in Düsseldorf at once? Ask about our wholesale offer: from 2 to 10 locations.

FAQ: a self-service coffee shop in Düsseldorf