Fit-Out Timeline for Cafe Tables, Start to Opening

Sampling comes first, and it is not optional

Sampling takes about 15 days from a factory that stocks the material: one chair and one finish material. Everything after this step is cheaper to change than the sample.

Sign off three things on the sample: the finish colour under your own lighting, the seat height against your table, and the stack height if you plan to stack.

Production runs on a calendar, not on a promise

Bulk production of cafe tables runs 25–35 days after sample approval for a stock finish, and 40–50 days for a custom colour or a non-standard size.

Chinese New Year is the one date that moves everything. Factories closing for two weeks in February means orders placed in December land in March.

Shipping is two clocks, not one

Sea freight to Europe runs 30–40 days door to door, to the US west coast 18–25 days. The clock that catches people is customs clearance, which is 2–5 days and can stop for a document error.

Book the vessel after production is 70 percent complete, not before. Rolled bookings cost a week; a missed production window costs a month.

Site readiness decides whether the delivery is a win

Furniture arriving before the floor is finished means storing it, and storing it means damage. The install date should sit 5–7 days after the final clean.

Walk the route from the street to the room with a tape measure. Doors 800 mm wide will not take a 900 mm booth run in one piece.

Staging the install keeps the opening date

Install by zone, not by item: seating first, then tables, then the small pieces. Rooms with all the chairs and half the tables can be photographed; rooms with all the tables and no chairs cannot.

Keep a two-person team on site for the first day of trading. Wobbles found at 8 am are a five-minute fix; the same wobble at 11 am is a bad review.

Build a buffer you can actually use

Plan the opening 10 days after the install date. If everything lands early you get a soft-open week; if one container is late you still trade.

The buffer is not padding. It is the only part of the schedule that absorbs a customs hold.

What the purchase order has to say

Furniture orders that go wrong usually went wrong on paper. The line that causes the argument is rarely the price — it is the finish, the size tolerance or the packing.

Write these onto the order: model number, finish name and code, upholstery code, cafe table overall size with a tolerance of plus or minus 5 mm, carton count, and the spare parts list. Anything not written is a guess at the other end.

Three things to check the day it lands

Open one carton per model before signing the delivery note. Check the frame for a bend at the leg, the top for a chip on the edge, and the seat for a colour difference against the sample you approved.

Photograph anything you accept with a note. Defects recorded on the delivery day are warranty claims; the same defect reported three weeks later is a discussion.

How the quote is actually built

Frame, upholstery, finish, packing and freight. Those five lines cover almost all of it, and the only one that varies with quantity is frame and upholstery.

Ask for the unit price at 20, 50 and 100 pieces. Quotes that do not move between those steps are either already at the floor or padded at the top.

Ordering the same thing again in two years

Dye lots change. The frame you reorder in year three will match the drawing and may not match the seat next to it, which is why the spec sheet matters more than the photo.

Keep the finish code and the upholstery code on file. cafe furniture catalogue reorders from that code without a new sample round, which saves three weeks.

Where to go next

The full range sits in one place: cafe tables, custom cafe furniture, and the cafe layout support desk for anything off-plan.