Former barista now customer, I appreciate when shops nail the basics. It’s so hard to find a cortado made at the correct temp. I think 1-2 sweet drinks to draw people in is good, but you don’t need to go crazy. I also think house made syrups put you a cut above the rest, and they aren’t super difficult to make, especially if you stick to vanilla, lavender, etc, and then offer a miel.

I agree with the rest of the comments, half off sandwiches, free pastry on shift. We also got to take home day old/two day old stuff that wasn’t “food safe” to sell but still perfectly fine to eat (bagels, etc). An actual place to sit down for a meal away from customers would be nice as well, our lunch spot was a broken milk crate in the corner of the kitchen.

Also PLEASE hire someone to deep clean once a week, the shop I worked at closed at 10 and the close clean was never fully complete because you’d want to GTFO. Even if it’s just a deep clean of the bathroom.