Why choose Blue42
Get systems that help you make decisions and follow through.
Running a coffee shop means knowing what the business needs to earn, what the team needs to do, and what has to change when the results fall short. Blue42 connects those responsibilities through operating software, business tools, and support from people who understand the work.
Your daily operations have a clear process.
Blue42OS brings checklists, training, team assignments, and manager verification into one closed loop. Your team can see what needs to happen, managers can verify the work, and you can follow up on the standards that need attention. The system helps turn what you know into routines the shop can carry out consistently.
Your business decisions have numbers behind them.
Blue42 Tools and our planning work help you examine the assumptions behind a decision. What sales volume does the lease require? What happens if traffic is lower than expected? Can the equipment and staffing handle the volume you’re forecasting? The work samples below show how we connect those questions to financial models and operating plans.
You have help applying the systems.
Shop Support gives you a place to work through what’s happening in your business, with community office hours and direct consulting when a project needs more attention. The experience behind that support includes financial planning, coffee equipment, staffing, training, and daily service, so the conversation can move from the problem to a practical next step.
Your starting point can match what you need.
You may need Blue42OS to organize daily operations, a tool to evaluate a site, or help planning a new location. You can start with the part of Blue42 that fits the problem in front of you and build from there as the business develops.
Our experience
The experience behind Blue42.
The software, tools, and support come from working through the decisions coffee shop owners face.
Blue42 was created to make that experience useful to other operators. The work ranges from testing whether a location can support a coffee shop to preparing a team for opening and building the routines managers use after the doors are open. Those lessons inform the products and services available through Blue42.
Our own café in Moorpark is an ongoing case study in putting operating systems to work. It gives us a place to use and refine daily routines, training, team assignments, and manager follow-through while dealing with the same service demands other owners face. Experience from Calioh’s roasting, equipment, and consulting work adds to that understanding. It is one source of experience behind Blue42, alongside the client projects shown on this page.
For a Blue42 customer, the benefit is a starting point informed by operating experience: systems designed around work a team has to perform, models that account for the demands of a coffee shop, and support that helps apply them to your business.
The team
Matt develops Blue42’s business tools and leads the planning and advisory work behind them. His experience in café ownership, roasting, equipment service, and consulting informs how he approaches feasibility, financial models, workflow, and operating systems.
Nallely helps translate operating plans into the supplier preparation, procedures, training, and follow-through a team needs. Her work supports the practical application of the systems and documents shown here.
What that experience helps you solve
- Whether a concept, market, or location can support the business
- What the shop needs to earn to cover costs and produce a return
- How build-out and equipment choices affect the budget
- What traffic and service volume mean for staffing and labor
- How equipment, layout, and utilities need to work together
- Which permitting and opening tasks need to happen first
- How menus, recipes, and pricing affect service and margin
- What the team needs for hiring, staffing, and training
- How to document routines, checklists, and shop standards
- How managers verify execution and track what needs attention
- How to organize project tasks and opening readiness
- What sourcing and supplier preparation the coffee program needs
- How capacity, water quality, and maintenance affect equipment decisions
Equipment experience informing this work
La Marzocco · Slayer · Nuova Simonelli · Victoria Arduino · Eversys · Fetco · Curtis · Mahlkönig · Mazzer · Faema
How an engagement runs
Get the right help for the stage you’re in.
When you need direct support, we agree on the scope, deliverables, fee, and timeline for each stage before work begins. You can engage us for one stage or continue into the next.
Understand what has to be true.
Examine the concept, location, sales assumptions, opening costs, and operating requirements before deciding how to move forward.
Typical deliverables: Feasibility and financial model · Build-cost scenarios · Owner or board decision package
Turn the plan into opening tasks.
Coordinate the equipment, vendors, documentation, staffing, and project decisions needed to prepare the space and team for service.
Typical deliverables: Equipment schedule and coordination drawings · Permitting sequence · Project board and opening checklist
Give the team a system to follow.
Put the recipes, staffing plan, training, and daily routines into use, then address the gaps that show up during service.
Typical deliverables: Opening-month staffing plan · Recipes, operating procedures, and checklists · Training and sign-offs
Decide what to improve next.
Review sales, costs, labor, and execution to identify the changes that can improve the business and prepare it for the next stage.
Typical deliverables: Cost and pricing reviews · Manager scorecard · Operating review and action plan
Clients and projects
The work and experience behind Blue42.
These projects show how the team behind Blue42 approaches financial decisions, opening preparation, and operating problems. They include client engagements delivered through Calioh Coffee. Confidential clients are described by business type and region, and each example identifies the stage of work.
| Client | The work | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Federal credit unionHeadquarters café with drive-through · Ventura County | The client needed to assess the investment and operating requirements for a headquarters café and drive-through. The work included a construction budget, revenue and break-even models, equipment planning, and materials for the board's decision. A footfall study informed the recommendation for a second espresso machine. The project progressed from planning into a contracted build phase. Feasibility modelIncome and expense modelBuild-cost detailFootfall and labor studyBoard deck and briefLaunch planEquipment layout and elevationsProject boardOpen issues registerBuild proposal | Plan → Build |
| Franchise café openingChai and coffee café · Los Angeles County | The opening work connected the owner's sales forecast to the people, suppliers, and routines needed for service. It included a review of costs and traffic assumptions, a first-month staffing plan tied to the financial model, and a documented coffee program. Supplier accounts, pastry standing orders, and food-handler requirements were also addressed before opening. Financial reviewOpening-month staffing planCoffee programSupplier setupOrdering preparationOpening requirements | Run preparation |
| BrewhouseRestaurant and brewery coffee program · Santa Barbara | Launching the coffee program required equipment, a trained team, and instructions managers could use after the handoff. The work included milk-system and batch-brewer specification and installation, hiring and training support, and employee and manager resource guides. Menu boards, inventory and ordering instructions, and a cost, pricing, and ROI model completed the operating package. Equipment specification and installationHiring and trainingEmployee and manager guidesMenu boardsInventory and ordering guideCost, pricing, and ROI model | Build → Run |
| Mobile coffee conceptCoffee cart with a produce partner · Los Angeles County | The planning work addressed what it would take to operate the mobile concept and prepare it for launch. It included a county permitting roadmap, specifications for the cart and a solar-powered support unit, and manufacturer recommendations. A two-phase launch plan broke the work into a 30-day schedule, agency call scripts, and assigned tasks. Permitting roadmapCart specificationMobile support-unit specificationManufacturer recommendationsPhased launch planTask assignments and call scripts | Plan |
| Independent caféDowntown café · Ventura | A café with a strong concept and weak coffee volume needed an operating assessment and a potential-acquisition review. The analysis included the gap between customer searches and the café's online visibility. A stabilization plan, seller feasibility summary, and letters of intent supported the next decisions about the business. Turnaround assessmentOnline visibility reviewStabilization and operating planSeller feasibility summaryLetters of intent | Plan |
| Private coffee barResidence · Ojai | Planning the espresso station around a restored 1958 Faema Urania required coordination between the equipment and surrounding millwork. A full-size mockup established the arrangement, and water, drain, and power locations were coordinated with the design team before fabrication. Equipment layoutFull-size mockupUtility coordinationMillwork coordination | Build |
| New café build-outFirst-time owner · Central Valley | Discovery work identified the questions, risks, and proposed sequence for a new café build-out. A phased project board, risk register, and revenue model helped define the proposed engagement. A professional services agreement was issued; the example represents discovery and proposal work. Proposed project scopePhased project boardOpen questionsRisk registerRevenue modelProfessional services agreement | Discovery and proposal |
| Guest ranch resortHospitality · Santa Barbara County | Eversys installation and service included water-treatment specification to the manufacturer's requirements. This work contributes to the technical experience behind recommendations about equipment readiness, water quality, and maintenance. Espresso installationEquipment serviceWater-treatment specification | Equipment |
| Specialty coffee caféIndependent operator · Southern California | The equipment work included a reverse-osmosis system with pre- and post-filtration and a 12-month espresso-machine maintenance program. It shows the planning involved in supporting equipment beyond the initial purchase. Water-system specificationPreventive maintenance program | Equipment |
Other engagements and relationships behind this experience
- Dignity Health
- AppFolio
- Restoration Hardware
- Patagonia
- Go Get Em Tiger
- La La Land Kind Café
- The Master’s University & Trophy Coffee
- Dart Coffee
- ACME Hospitality
Listed organizations reflect work and business relationships of the team behind Blue42; listing them does not imply endorsement. Planning figures are forecasts or scenarios unless identified as actual results. Any results identified as our own café’s performance refer to the Calioh café in Moorpark.
Work samples
See the thinking in the work.
These examples show the models, documents, and project tools behind the experience that informs Blue42. They include custom client deliverables and operating materials. Client details have been removed or replaced. Open a category to explore the samples, then tap an image to see it full size.
Financial models and pro formas
See what a shop needs to earn and how sales, costs, financing, and build decisions change the result.
5 samples
Footfall, labor, and staffing studies
Connect expected demand to the equipment capacity, service targets, and paid hours the shop requires.
4 samples
Project management boards
Keep decisions, responsibilities, deadlines, and dependencies visible as the project moves toward opening.
7 samples
Site evaluations and board packages
Make the assumptions, investment, recommendation, and next steps clear to the people deciding whether to proceed.
15 samples
Layouts, elevations, and equipment drawings
Check equipment placement, workspace, and utility needs while those decisions can still be coordinated.
8 samples
Menus, recipes, and training
Turn the beverage program into instructions a team can learn and repeat during service.
5 samples
Find the right Blue42 starting point for your shop.
Tell us what you’re trying to improve or decide next. We’ll discuss whether Blue42OS, a business tool, or direct support fits what you need. If the work calls for a paid diagnostic or a larger engagement, we’ll explain the scope and cost before you decide how to proceed.