A practical guide to sizing your first bulk order of compostable straws based on what your venue actually pours.
The right bulk order size comes down to one number: how many straw-drinks you pour in a week. Count iced coffees, smoothies, soft drinks and any cocktails that get a straw, multiply by your trading days, then match that to a pack size that covers four to six weeks of stock. That's it. Everything else in this guide is detail to help you get that number right the first time.
Most cafes overthink this and either order too little (and run out mid-shift) or too much (and tie up cash in a slow-moving box). Sugarcane straws don't go off in any meaningful sense before a busy venue gets through them, so the real risk is running short, not running over.
Start with what you actually serve
Walk the till roll or POS report for a typical week and pull out every item that gets a straw by default. Iced lattes, frappes, milkshakes, soft drinks, bubble tea if you run it, and any cocktails on the bar list. Don't forget takeaway cups, which often get a straw added at the counter even if it's not itemised separately.
If you don't have clean POS data, a rough headcount over two or three shifts is enough. You're not aiming for precision, you're aiming for a number you can multiply.
A worked example
Say a suburban cafe pours 60 straw-drinks across an average trading day and opens six days a week. That's 360 a week, or a little under 1,500 a month. A single 2,500-pack of Regular Sugarcane Straws would last around seven weeks at that rate, which is a sensible reorder cycle for a venue that doesn't want stock sitting in a storeroom for months.
A busier CBD site doing three or four times that volume is better off starting at the 5,000-pack, simply because the price per straw drops and the reorder admin halves.
Matching volume to pack sizes
Once you know your rough weekly number, the pack sizes line up like this:
- Under 300 straw-drinks a week: a 2,500-pack lasts roughly two months, a reasonable low-commitment starting point
- 300 to 700 a week: 5,000-packs give you a better unit price without overbuying
- Over 700 a week, or multiple straw types in play: budget for monthly reordering across two or three product lines rather than one giant box
- Seasonal spikes (summer iced drinks, event bookings): order your normal volume plus a buffer pack rather than doubling everything, since demand usually settles back down
Straw type matters as much as quantity
Sizing isn't just about total count, it's about getting the mix right. Cocktail Sugarcane Straws at 6mm x 140mm suit short drinks and bar service, while the standard 6mm x 200mm size covers most iced coffee and soft drink service. Jumbo straws at 8mm are built for thicker drinks like smoothies and milkshakes, where a standard straw is too narrow.
Bubble tea is its own category. The 12mm bore is wide enough for tapioca pearls, and Bubble Tea Straws come in both wrapped and unwrapped formats. Wrapped is worth the small premium for counter service or delivery, where a loose straw sitting in a dispenser doesn't look great. Unwrapped is fine for a bar or kitchen area where staff hand straws over directly.
If you run more than one drink category, it's usually cheaper and simpler to order two smaller packs of the right sizes than one large pack of a straw that only half fits your menu.
Storage and reordering cadence
Sugarcane fibre straws don't need special storage conditions, just a dry spot away from the dish pit or any standing water. A sealed box under the counter or in a dry storeroom is fine.
Because there's no minimum order threshold for free freight, it's worth ordering to a cadence that suits your storage space rather than trying to hit a shipping discount that doesn't exist here. Freight is quoted at checkout from the carrier's live rates and charged at cost, so a smaller, more frequent order isn't penalised the way it might be with a flat shipping fee elsewhere. Warehouse pickup is also available if you're close enough to NSW to make the drive worthwhile.
Standard delivery runs three to seven business days, with express at one to three, so building a reorder point a week or two before you expect to run out gives you comfortable margin either way.
Getting the first order right
If this is your first bulk order, don't try to solve a year of stock in one go. Order enough for six to eight weeks based on your real numbers, see how the pace of use compares to your estimate, then adjust the next order up or down. The bulk orders page has current pack pricing across all sizes if you want to compare unit costs before deciding on quantity.
For venues juggling multiple drink types or locations, our team can help sense-check a mixed order before you commit. Reach out at [email protected] with your rough weekly numbers and we'll help you land on a sensible starting split.
