My Cafe Side Project

A lot of developers dream of opening their own cafe, but most of them never will. Well, I did! Last year, I opened my own cafe named
Solenoid (https://solenoid.jp) in the city of Hakodate. I run Solenoid as a side project a couple days a week; on other days I use it as my office for my job as a software engineer.

In this talk, I walk through all the things I had to do to get Solenoid up and running. This includes: buying and renovating a property, getting licenses, dealing with stakeholders, buying inventory, and doing taxes, among other things. I'll also describe the emotional roller-coaster ride that doing this kind of thing involves, and what it feels like to actually come out the other side.

Transcript

1. My Cafe Side Project My Cafe Side Project Chris Salzberg Chris Salzberg
2. About Me • Staff Developer at Shopify • Canadian (Montreal) • 22 year Japan resident • Moved to Hakodate in 2020 • Fairly (?) fluent Japanese
5. Why
6. How
7. Money Passion Keep Quit
8. Money Passion Keep Quit me
10. I am here.
11. The Story
13. Where I started • Rent: ~¥35,000/month + heating/water/electricity • Layout: ~20 m2 (incl. bathroom + kitchen) • Location: ~8 min walk away / tourist area • Residential building (5F) corner unit, good lighting
14. Where I started • Rent: ~¥35,000/month + heating/water/electricity • Layout: ~20 m2 (incl. bathroom + kitchen) • Location: ~8 min walk away / tourist area • Residential building (5F) corner unit, good lighting • Experience: lonely
16. Where I ended up • Price: ¥4M (¥400 万 ) + fees • Layout: ~45 m2 (empty) • Location: ~10 min walk away / tourist area • Ground-floor commercial property (built in ~1990) • Monthly fee ( 管理費 ): ~¥22,000/month • Property tax: ~¥60,000/year
20. まじか
21. The Plan • Use as personal remote work office 5 days/week • Open 1 day/week, 5 hours (Friday evening) • Eventually expand to 2 days/week • Also do other things (space/lab part) • Approximate budget: ~¥700-800 万
36. 1 week later...
38. another week later...
41. another week later...
44. a few weeks later...
49. The Process
50. Things you will need • 開業届 (“Business Opening Notification”) • 営業届 (“Business Activity Notification”) • 衛生責任者 (“Food Sanitation Manager”) • 営業許可書 (“Food Business License”) • JASRAC 利用許諾書 (“Music Usage License”)
54. Things you might need • 防火管理者 (“Fire Safety Manager Certification”) If capacity exceeds threshold, usually 30 people • 深夜酒類提供飲食店営業開始届 (“Late-Night Alcohol Notice”) If serving alcohol after midnight • 風俗営業許可 (“Entertainment Business Permit”) Live music, dancing, etc
55. 「酒税法では、酒場、料理店その他酒類を専ら自己の営業場において飲用 に供する業については、販売業免許を受ける必要がないこととされている ことから、例えば、祭りの会場においてビール等コップに注ぐなどその場 で酒類を提供するような場合は、販売業免許は必要ありません。」 “Under the Liquor Tax Act, businesses that serve alcohol exclusively for on-premises consumption — such as bars, restaurants, and similar establishments — are not required to obtain a sales license. Therefore, for example, serving alcohol on the spot at a festival venue, such as by pouring beer into cups, does not require a sales license.” Things you don’t need
56. Payments
58. Taxes Useful terms: • 家事按分 / 事業専用割合 • 開業費 • 減価償却
60. Inventory
61. The Experience
72. What I learned
73. What I learned • I’m not in this to make coffee.
74. What I learned • I’m not in this to make coffee. • I’m not in this to make money.
75. What I learned • I’m not in this to make coffee. • I’m not in this to make money. • I’m not in this to do more of the same.
76. What I learned • I’m not in this to make coffee. • I’m not in this to make money. • I’m not in this to do more of the same. • I’m in this to build a space that did not exist
77. What I learned • I’m not in this to make coffee. • I’m not in this to make money. • I’m not in this to do more of the same. • I’m in this to build a space that did not exist, for people who belong in that space.