Retail shelves are popping up in more and more cafés, and it's not hard to see why. With the cost of everything across the board rising, more business owners are getting savvy and looking for additional streams of revenue. In your café, that could look like turning a blank bit of wall, a dusty corner, or some unused counter space into a retail shelf to showcase all the same products you already use and trust. That's why we’ve put together our Retail Shelf Essentials range, a dedicated home for milk pitchers, filter papers, scales, and more. All available at wholesale prices for you to sell on at retail.

Still unsure? Here's why a retail shelf could be one of the easiest and most profitable upgrades for your café.

A retail shelf easily turns an unused area into an income source, increasing your spend per square foot. With plenty of DIY guides and sources of inspiration online, the addition itself doesn’t need to be costly either. When you buy through a wholesaler like Bombora Supplies, you get equipment at a genuine trade price and sell it on at full retail. Keeping the margin for yourself, rather than splitting with a middleman, or passing on those extra costs to customers.

Here's an example: say you sell 10 milk pitchers a month at a wholesale cost of $10 each, selling at a retail price of $20, that’s a profit of $10 per pitcher, or $100 a month from a single product. Add in thermometers, scales, merch, knock bins, and retail coffee beans, and you can realistically add several hundred dollars a month in profit, with no extra labour and no extra floor space required.

Coffee beans work the same way. A customer who buys a $15 bag every fortnight to brew at home is choosing your café over a supermarket shelf, making additional revenue on a product you're already stocking.

Retail products give your regulars a way to support your café beyond your daily order. It lets customers bring a piece of your café home with them and doubles as an easy gift for the home baristas and coffee lovers in their life

Home coffee setups are becoming more popular than ever, and the go-to choice for your customers are the products they know you use and trust. A set-up with a Rhino milk pitcher, some Spectrum filter papers, and retail bags of your house blend lets your customers recreate their coffee order at home, all while supporting your café and your roastery.

Branded merch gives your café a presence outside your four walls, and gives your customers a way to support you. Imagine your logo turning up on cups, jugs, and hats all over your community, exposure hundreds of dollars in advertising couldn't buy you. It's also an easy addition to a loyalty program, giving regulars something to earn or redeem beyond another free coffee.

Unlike food, retail doesn’t require the same procedures or costs. No fridge, no prep, no extra rostering. Minimal staff training is required to sell products they use and trust every day, making it easy for customers to learn how to dial in a bag of your house blend, or the best dripper to use for a v60.

Restocking stays simple through one wholesale supplier account with Bombora Supplies.

Retail products give you content and promotions almost for free. Bundle deals e.g. help boost average spend, and the products themselves are naturally photogenic, ready for seasonal gifting pushes or everyday social content taken by either yourself or customers.

Our Retail Shelf Essentials range includes milk pitchers, scales, filter papers, and so much more. All available at wholesale pricing so you can sell at retail and keep the difference. The full range is now live under the What's New section of our website.