Finding the Right Home

We’re currently exploring spaces around 10,000 square feet — enough room to meet the unique needs of our church family on Sundays and to run The Front Room as a fully functional third space for our neighborhood during the week.

A space like this would give us:

A flexible worship and gathering area for Sundays.
Dedicated areas for kids and families.
A café-style third space that stays open all week.
Quiet study and co-working zones.
Small rooms for meetings, mentoring, prayer, and midweek gatherings.

This isn’t just about solving a Sunday problem — it’s about building a place where hospitality, conversation, and connection flow naturally seven days a week.

Estimated Start-Up Costs

TOTAL ESTIMATED STARTUP COST:

~$180,000–250,000

Estimated Monthly Costs

TOTAL MONTHLY OPERATING COST:

~$37,000–39,000/month

Our goal is that The Front Room’s café and membership model would help cover a significant portion of these costs — reducing the long-term burden on our church budget and freeing up more of our giving for mission and people, not just overhead.

Key Details

Church covers Community Manager/admin internally → no added café payroll cost.
No salaried café manager yet — your baristas + your team handle daily open/close and operations.
Workspace is 24/7 but unstaffed overnight — no overnight labor cost.
Pop-up dinners/events can help offset rent but are separate revenue streams.

Next Steps

We’re actively:

Identifying potential spaces that match our vision.
Running detailed financial scenarios.
Seeking partners, creative leases, and innovative ways to share risk and funding.
Praying for favor and wisdom at every turn.

This page isn’t the final word — it’s the starting point for honest, faithful conversations about what it would take to build something beautiful, sustainable, and deeply local.

POTENTIAL SPACE EXAMPLE: 89-91 N San Gabriel Blvd, Pasadena (agent reached out to Frontier via email regarding the church meeting here). Click here for link to property details.

How Membership Covers Most of This Quickly

Goal: Cover at least $27–30K/month with memberships + café profit, so the church only covers $7–10K max.

Membership Price Point

O3-inspired ‘Villain’ tier:

$40/week → about $160/month per member.
Includes ~$40/week ($160/month) in included coffee/food credits — so people get their money back in café value if they visit just once or twice a week.

This is tangible: “Your membership pays for itself if you work here and buy coffee instead of at Starbucks.”

Example: How Many Members Cover Core Rent

Break-even membership math:

200 members x $160/month = $32,000/month
That covers ~80% of your total costs immediately.

So with ~200 paying members, your café + pop-ups only need to cover:

Payroll profit gap: ~$5–7K.
Misc. supplies: ~$1–2K.
The church covers only a small gap ($5–10K/month).

The Café’s Role

Many members will spend above their included credits — second drink, extra snack, bring a friend.
Non-members will buy coffee too (walk-ins).
This extra café sales profit ($2–5K/month net) covers that gap.
Example: 50–100 extra daily transactions at $5–10 average spend can gross $15–30K/month — net ~10–15% = $2–5K real margin.

Pop-Up Dinners/Events

One monthly pop-up restaurant can net ~$4,000–5,000.
This covers more of your rent or builds margin for slow café days.

The Smart Perk: $40/Week Membership = $40/Week Café Credit

When you market this:

“Your membership includes up to $40/week of coffee, tea, snacks — that’s 1–2 visits fully covered. After that, stay as long as you want. Study, meet, belong.”

Immediate perceived value: “I’m not losing money — I’m getting my money’s worth and then some.”
People feel smart spending the same $ they’d spend at a normal café — but now it funds your mission and their community.

Your Launch Strategy

1. Pre-Launch Goal: 100–150+ members committed before doors open.
2. Early adopter push: Offer limited discounted founder memberships ($120/month) for 3–6 months.
3. Use church network: Many early members may be friends of Frontier but don’t have to attend church — they just value the space.
4. Launch café + pop-ups: Layer in wine dinners, concerts, or art nights to push word-of-mouth.

REALISTIC RAMP

Break-even: Hit 200–225 paying members + modest café profit + pop-ups → you can cover 90–100% of rent + operating costs, with only a minimal buffer from church giving.

Key Point

Your Third Space is not just a coffee shop — it’s a sustainable mission footprint funded by people spending money they already spend elsewhere, but now redirected to fuel community, hospitality, and discipleship.

Summary

“Every membership basically pays for itself in free coffee and pastries — so people feel smart signing up, you cover your rent sustainably, and your church gets to open its doors all week long without carrying the entire cost alone.”