The Complete Equipment Checklist for Opening a New Cafe in Melbourne

Building a thorough equipment checklist for opening a new cafe is one of the most consequential exercises a first-time operator does. Get it right and you open with the right gear at the right price, on schedule, with cash flow intact. Get it wrong and you discover halfway through your first service that you forgot a glass washer, the prep fridge is too small, and the dishwasher cycle takes 18 minutes instead of three. This guide is a practical checklist organised across twelve categories, with three budget tracks, priority tags, Melbourne lead times, and where MRCE fits as your refrigeration and prep supplier, drawn from forty years of fitting out hospitality kitchens at Melbourne Refrigeration and Catering Equipment.

Equipment Checklist for Opening a New Cafe: The Twelve Categories

Below is the complete equipment checklist for opening a new cafe in Melbourne, organised into twelve categories. Tags indicate priority: DAY 1 means open without it and you cannot trade. PHASE 2 means defer 3 to 6 months if budget tight. NICE means good-to-have, not critical.

Category 1: Coffee equipment

Melbourne is Australia's coffee capital, and the espresso machine is the centrepiece. Most cafes lease their machine through a coffee roaster on a 3 to 5 year supply contract, which is often the most cash-efficient route. Buying outright gives you brand independence.

Category 2: Refrigeration

The largest equipment spend after coffee. A Melbourne cafe needs prep refrigeration under benches for daily ingredients, glass-door display fridges for cold drinks, and an ice machine. Larger cafes add a walk-in cool room. Browse our commercial refrigeration range for current options.

Category 3: Food preparation

Stainless steel benches, slicers, scales, processors, and the smaller benchtop kit. Less glamorous than coffee gear, but daily workflow lives here.

Forty Years of Hospitality Expertise, Since 1984

Since 1984 we have supplied the hospitality industry with professional advice, reliable equipment and excellent customer service. We have a wealth of experience in all types of projects ranging from international hotels to large and small pubs through to suburban restaurants and takeaway outlets. All our staff are equipped with the knowledge, expertise and creativity to add value to your project.

Forty years also means decades of fitting out Melbourne cafes. From small suburban cafes in Springvale and Glen Waverley to laneway specialty bars in the CBD, brunch venues in Brunswick to coastal cafes on the Mornington Peninsula, we have seen what works. Visit our Dandenong showroom to see the gear and talk through your project.

Category 4: Cooking equipment

Depends on menu. Brunch cafes need more cooking gear than espresso-only bars. Food Standards Australia New Zealand sets the temperature and food safety requirements every cafe operates under.

Category 5: Customer-facing displays

The display is what sells food beyond drinks. Refrigerated cake displays, heated pie cabinets, and ambient counter displays drive impulse food sales.

Category 6: Dishwashing

One commercial dishwasher and one separate glasswasher in most cafes. Hand-washing all-day is not realistic at any volume.

Categories 7-8: Front of house and sinks

Front-of-house furniture goes via your shopfitter. Sinks and handwash basins are equipment, and council requirements are strict. WorkSafe Victoria publishes the workplace safety requirements that apply to every Melbourne cafe.

Three Budget Tracks for a Melbourne Cafe Equipment Checklist

The same checklist scales across very different budgets. Here is what each tier typically buys, all figures ex GST for equipment only (excluding building, plumbing, electrical, gas, and front-of-house furniture).

Swipe horizontally to see all columns. Refurbished refrigeration and displays can lower starter and mid-tier numbers further.

Why Rent When You Can Own, MRCE Fast Finance

A new cafe equipment package typically lands between $80,000 and $250,000. Most operators do not want that hitting a single bank statement. MRCE Fast Finance spreads the cost across manageable monthly payments while you start trading.

Melbourne Cafe Fitout Timeline: Six to Nine Weeks

Lead times matter. Here is a realistic week-by-week sequence for a Melbourne cafe fitout, from lease signing to opening day.

The Final Categories: POS, Signage, Compliance, Smallwares

The remaining categories are usually outside MRCE's catalogue but still on the checklist.

From Inception to Completion, End-to-End Project Management

From inception to design, throughout installation to completion, let our expert staff oversee your project. No matter how large or small, we work closely with architects and consultants on your commercial kitchen and bar requirements. We arrange qualified service technicians for equipment problems whenever they crop up, a kitchen that's down is a kitchen losing money. At MRCE we aim to keep our customers coming back as their business grows.

For a new cafe we coordinate the refrigeration, displays, prep equipment and dishwashing delivery to land on the day your shopfitter is ready, plumbed and powered before opening day. Visit our commercial kitchen supplies showroom in Dandenong to talk through your project.

Your Equipment Supplier for a New Melbourne Cafe

For categories 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 of the checklist (refrigeration, food prep, cooking, displays, dishwashing, sinks), MRCE handles the lot. That is roughly 60 to 70% of your total equipment spend, all under one supplier with one quote, one delivery, one installation team and one after-sales contact. New and refurbished stock under one roof. In-house Fast Finance. Free site consultations. Full installation and 24/7 after-sales support. Australia-wide shipping. Browse our full equipment range, our refurbished stock, or our catering equipment range.

Frequently Asked Questions