Groundwork is the planning platform from Timberline Coffee School. It walks you through every decision that goes into opening a coffee shop, in the order you actually have to make them. This article gets you from sign-up to your first plan.
1. Create your account
Go to groundwork.coffee/signup, enter your name, email, and a password, and confirm your email address. We use your email for password resets and the occasional product update, nothing else.
2. Finish onboarding
After you log in, Groundwork asks a short series of questions about the shop you want to open: city, concept, target opening month, and rough budget range. These answers seed your plan so you don’t start from a blank page.
You can change any of these later from the Concept workspace. Nothing you enter during onboarding is locked in.
3. Find your way around the dashboard
Your dashboard lists the eight planning modules in the order we recommend tackling them:
- Concept:your shop’s identity, location type, and opening timeline.
- Location & Lease: what to look for in a space and how to read a lease.
- Menu & Pricing: drinks, food, costs, and target margins.
- Build Out & Equipment: the equipment list and buildout costs that feed your startup budget.
- Suppliers: coffee, dairy, and the rest of your supply chain.
- Hiring: roles, pay, and your launch team.
- Operations Playbook: opening, closing, and daily standards.
- Financials:Year 1-5 projections, P&L, and cash flow.
Each module saves automatically as you work. You can leave one in the middle and come back later without losing anything.
4. Ask Scout when you get stuck
Scout, the Groundwork assistant, lives in the bottom-right of every workspace. Ask anything about your plan. Scout reads what you’ve already entered and answers in context.
5. Need a hand?
If you’re stuck on something Scout can’t help with, email hello@timberline.coffee or use the contact form. A human will get back to you within one business day.