Most church cafes and coffee-shops are not normally exceptionally large. The general rule is a handful of cafe tables, either at dining height or bar height, and an appropriate number of chairs and bar stools. Such settings lend themselves very well to personalizing some items to promote the church’s “brand”.  And nothing will stand out more than the actual table tops.

The Furniture Lab can creating an amazing array of custom designed tables.  Their in-house graphics department regularly assists church in creating truly unique tables. Here are several examples of their offerings.

Save Your Church Money is a national dealer for The Furniture Lab. Be sure and contact them first as their pricing will be the lowest. Jobs are often registered and your first contact can be critical in helping you obtain the best pricing.

• Dining Height:  These tables are 30″ high and the chairs around them are standard height chairs, which means the seat is about 18″ from the floor.  Certainly this height is most common in all settings.
• Counter Height: These tables will be 36″ high which is the same height as most kitchen counters.  Chairs are going to have seats that are 24″ from the floor.  This height of tables and chairs is becoming increasingly popular.
• Bar Height: These tables are the tallest at 42″ high, taking their name obviously from the normal height of bars around the country.  The accompanying seating or stools, are going to be 30″ high.  Most settings will have some bar height tables and stools.

As you furnish out your church cafe or coffee-shop, you will want to consider which heights will be best for your application.  I find most churches will choose two of the above heights and use some of each in their project.  You’ll also want to check out  Save Your Church Money for great pricing on all three cafe styles of seating.

1. Buy the Best Coffee Equipment: In my opinion, this means buy Bunn-O-Matic!  I have personally used other options and have researched churches that have made other choices.   My non-scientific findings are churches that chose Bunn-O-Matic have no regrets, while those that chose other brands often do.  You may ask, “But doesn’t Bunn cost more”?  That’s a fair question with a simple answer.  There are many vendors that can provide Bunn-O-Matic equipment at a wide range of prices.  For churches though, if you will take advantage of Save Your Church Money and their special relationship with Bunn, you will find prices well below the going rate, and Bunn will become a viable option for your church.  Go with the best!

2.  Calculate how much coffee you brew each Sunday: Too many churches buy coffee equipment that’s not meant to prepare the volume of coffee they need to brew.  The result is that people wait for coffee and also that the quality of the coffee is degraded.  Coffee is intended to be brewed at a constant temperature.  When the equipment is overtaxed, then the water temperature varies and the flavor is affected.  Determine how much coffee you’re going to brew, bump that amount a bit to accommodate special days, and then obtain a recommendation from Save Your Church Money as to what level of equipment is needed.

3.  Determine where you need the coffee served: Are you going to have coffee located in several satellite locations, or is there going to be one central location where everyone gets their coffee?  This will help you determine what size of air-pots or thermo-servers you will need to purchase.  By the way, the days of keeping coffee under heat in a serving area seem to be over.  Studies have concluded that the flavor of coffee degrades under heat.  With the quality of today’s air-pots and thermo-servers, whether you use one location or several, I recommend them enthusiastically.  There’s no need to keep the coffee under heat and degrade the flavor, or pay for the electricity to do so.

I hope this this helps your church.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Right now I’m going to go have a cup of coffee!