How to open a coffee shop in Lahore: a step-by-step guide
Location, licences, budget, equipment, team and launch: the full path to opening a coffee shop in Lahore, from a consultant who does it on the ground.
Read the guideCafé menu development and coffee costing
Signature drinks and a menu priced for margin, with recipes your team can repeat on a busy evening.
Service 03
Menu development & costing: what it is and who it’s for
Café menu development in Pakistan is often treated as a design job, when it is really a costing job with a creative layer on top. A menu has to taste good, look distinctive on Instagram and still leave a healthy margin after milk, cups, syrups and imported beans, all of which move with the rupee. This service builds that menu with you, drink by drink.
Ahmed Hussain is a Lahore-based coffee consultant who has created drinks for café opening days and worked as a beverage expert at Monin Pakistan events. He designs signature and seasonal drinks around what your customers in Lahore or anywhere in Pakistan already enjoy, prices them from the real cost of every ingredient, and writes them up so a new barista can make them the same way at ten on a Saturday night.
What you get
What you receive
- 01
Signature and seasonal recipes
A set of signature drinks plus summer and winter specials, developed and tasted with you until they are right for your customers.
- 02
Cost per cup
A costing sheet for every drink, built from your actual supplier prices, cup sizes and recipe quantities.
- 03
Menu pricing
Recommended selling prices that reach your target margin and sit sensibly against the cafés your customers compare you with.
- 04
Recipe cards and build sheets
Printable cards with quantities, build order, cup and garnish for each drink, designed to be read at a glance on the bar.
- 05
Menu structure review
Advice on how many items to list, which to drop and how to group them so the menu is easy to read and quick to serve.
- 06
Price update method
A simple way to re-cost the menu when milk, beans or packaging prices change, so you know when to raise prices.
How it runs
How menu development & costing works
Menu and cost review
Ahmed reviews your current or planned menu, your supplier invoices and what nearby cafés charge.
Recipe development
Signature and seasonal drinks are developed and tasted on your bar with your beans, milk and equipment.
Costing and pricing
Every recipe is costed per cup and priced against your target margin and local market.
Build sheets and training
Recipe cards are printed and the team practises each drink until it comes out the same every time.
What a cup really costs in rupees
Most owners know what a kilo of coffee costs. Fewer know what a single iced latte costs once everything that goes into it, and out of the door with it, is counted. The table below breaks down a typical 12 oz iced latte with a flavour syrup. The figures are indicative PKR ranges only. They vary by supplier and area, and change with the dollar rate and the season.
| Component | Typical quantity | Indicative cost range (PKR) |
|---|---|---|
| Espresso | Double shot, around 18 g of coffee | 110 to 230 |
| Milk | Around 200 to 250 ml | 50 to 90 |
| Flavour syrup | Around 15 ml | 40 to 100 |
| Ice | One cup’s worth | 5 to 15 |
| Cup, lid and straw | One set | 30 to 70 |
| Total ingredient and packaging cost | roughly 235 to 505 |
A common approach is to keep ingredient and packaging cost at around a quarter to a third of the selling price before tax, then check the result against the market. Remember that sales tax on services in Punjab and other provinces, card machine charges and delivery app commissions all sit between the menu price and what you actually keep. For a fuller walk-through of pricing logic, read café menu pricing in Pakistan.
Designing for Lahore’s seasons
A café menu in Lahore lives two lives. From roughly May to September, iced drinks, cold brew and blended drinks can make up most of the orders, so the menu must be built for an ice machine that keeps up and a bar where cold drinks are fast to assemble. From November to February, hot drinks take over, and evening trade around smog season pushes people indoors.
Local flavours tend to sell better than imported ideas. Cardamom, saffron, rose, jaggery and the pink colour of Kashmiri chai are familiar to customers and work well in milk drinks. Ramadan changes trading hours completely, with quiet days and very busy nights after iftar, which suits a short list of sharing drinks and desserts.
The beans matter too. A blend that tastes clean as a flat white may disappear under syrup and ice, so recipe development is often done alongside specialty bean sourcing to pick a coffee that holds up.
Build sheets a busy evening can follow
A recipe that only works when the person who invented it is on shift is not a recipe. Each build sheet in this service includes:
- The cup size and type, so nobody improvises with a larger cup.
- Ingredients in grams or millilitres, with the measuring tool to use.
- The build order, which matters for layered and iced drinks.
- The garnish and how the drink should look when handed over.
- A photo of the finished drink for reference.
Recipes are then taught to the team as part of barista training, so the menu on paper and the drinks in the cup stay the same after opening week.
FAQ
Menu development & costing: questions
Still unsure? Ask Ahmed on WhatsApp.
Start from the cost of each drink, not from a competitor’s menu. Add up coffee, milk, syrup, ice and packaging for the exact recipe, then set a price that keeps that cost at a sensible share of the price after tax. Finally, check the result against cafés your customers would compare you with and adjust the recipe or cup size if needed.
Fewer than most owners expect. A focused list of espresso classics, a handful of signatures and a small seasonal section is easier to execute well and faster to serve. Items that sell rarely still need stock, space and training.
Yes. Cardamom, saffron, rose, jaggery and other familiar flavours often work well with espresso and milk. Each drink is tested on your bar until the balance is right and it can be made quickly during service.
The focus of this service is drinks. Ahmed can advise on food that pairs with the coffee menu and on how food orders affect the bar, but a kitchen menu is best developed with a chef.
Keep exploring
Related services and guides
02
Barista training
Hands-on training for your team in espresso, milk, latte art, hygiene and speed of service.
Learn more
07
Specialty bean sourcing
Choosing beans and roasters that suit your menu, with cupping, blend design and supply continuity.
Learn more
08
Feasibility & business plan
Investment, running costs, cost per cup and break-even, written so you can decide before you sign a lease.
Learn more
Café menu engineering: how to price coffee drinks in Pakistan
Work out cost per cup in rupees, set prices that protect your margin and design a café menu that sells the drinks you want to sell.
Read the guide
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Ready when you are
Let’s build the café you keep sketching on napkins
Tell Ahmed where your plan stands today. You get a clear next step within one working day.