Deniz runs Nar Café, a small café in Kadıköy, Istanbul: twelve tables, one barista, weekend breakfast. (Nar Café is a fictional example.) Around 11 p.m., after closing, Deniz picks up the phone and asks: "What do I post today?" Most nights it's another latte photo. Some nights, nothing.
Below is the logic of a café's monthly plan, which needs no tool, followed by how Nar Café built its plan in VonaHub in about half an hour.
Why is "what do I post?" so tiring every night?
The problem isn't a lack of ideas; it's deciding at the wrong time. After a day of orders, suppliers and staff, you pick the easiest option: the last photo on your phone. Posting becomes irregular, followers only see one side of the café, and special days are missed or rushed out in the wrong tone.
A monthly plan moves that decision to the start of the month. You think once; in the evenings, you just follow the plan.
The backbone of the plan: five content pillars
A content pillar is a topic you return to regularly. Pillars turn "what do I post today?" into "whose turn is it today?" For a café, these five usually cover it:
- Menu: Show the seasonal drink, the cake of the week or a new brewing method.
- Space and atmosphere: Share the window seat in morning light, a rainy afternoon, a busy Saturday.
- Team and story: Introduce your barista, say where your beans come from, tell how the café started.
- Events: Announce the book club, live music or workshop ahead of time, then post photos afterwards.
- Guest moments: Reshare photos your guests have posted, with their permission.
Pillars don't need equal shares, but none should vanish for a month. Menu can come up most; guest moments and team stories work two or three times a month. For a broader guide, see the café and restaurant sector page.
How many posts a week?
The right number is the one you can keep up for three months. Three steady posts beat seven one week and none the next. The table below helps you choose.
| Per week | Who it suits | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| 3 posts | The owner runs social media alone and can spare an hour a week for photos. | Each post carries more weight, so balance the pillars over the month. |
| 4 posts | There's one photo day a week and an event or two a month. | Two weekdays and two weekend days is a good start. |
| 5 posts | Someone on the team takes photos, and the menu changes often. | Set up a recurring weekday series, such as "Tuesday cake." |
| 7 posts | Something changes daily, like the soup of the day or the pastry counter. | Ideas run out fast; lean on short videos and stories. |
What time should you post?
VonaHub's plan places posts at 19:00 on weekdays and 11:00 at weekends by default. Weekday evenings are when people leave work and check their phones; weekend late mornings are when breakfast and meet-up plans get made.
That's a starting point, not a rule. Nar Café's weekend breakfast starts at 09:00, so Deniz moved weekend posts to 09:30, when people are deciding where to eat. A morning-coffee café might post at 08:00 on weekdays. Instagram's insights show when your own followers are most active.
Special days: five a month at most, in the right tone
There's a "world something day" almost daily, and posting about all of them buries your own content. Pick five a month at most, each with a real link to your café: a thank-you to teachers at the local school on Teachers' Day, brewing methods on International Coffee Day.
Memorial days follow a different rule. On a day like November 10, when Turkey commemorates Atatürk, there's no celebratory language, no product, no offer and no "come see us." Post something simple and respectful, or don't post at all; both are fine. VonaHub's plan also suggests at most five special days a month and never writes memorial days as celebrations.
Template: four weeks of content pillars
This four-posts-a-week template works without any tool. Every pillar appears at least three times, menu four; the event pillar splits into announcement, reminder and photos.
| Week | Tue 19:00 | Thu 19:00 | Sat 11:00 | Sun 11:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Menu: seasonal drink | Team: meet the barista | Space: window seat in morning light | Guest moment: reshare with permission |
| Week 2 | Event: announce this month's event | Menu: how the cake is made (short video) | Space: weekend breakfast table | Team: where the beans come from |
| Week 3 | Menu: cake of the week | Event: reminder | Guest moment: a guest's photo | Space: late-afternoon atmosphere |
| Week 4 | Team: a moment after closing | Menu: new brewing method | Event: photos from the event | Guest moment: the month's favorite photo |
When adapting it, put the announcement a week before your event and the photos right after. When a special day falls in a week, swap it for one of that week's posts instead of adding it on top. To decide which posts should be Reels and which carousels, read Reels, carousel or story: which format?.
How did Nar Café build its plan in VonaHub?
Deniz applied the same logic with the VonaHub monthly content plan, in five steps.
- 1
Entered the website
Typed the café's URL on the "Tell us about your brand" screen. VonaHub reads up to 5 subpages and respects robots.txt. A café without a website can start with a 20-400 character description and its logo.
- 2
Fixed the profile card
The 8-line card covers what you sell, who to, how you talk and your content pillars. The site's menu page was outdated, so Deniz fixed one line with a plain sentence: "We only serve breakfast at weekends now."
- 3
Chose frequency and times
Picked 4 posts a week, kept 19:00 for weekdays and moved weekends to 09:30.
- 4
Shaped the plan
Each item came with a date, time and content pillar. Deniz asked for "Another idea" on two (up to 5 per item), removed one, and added the third-Thursday book club.
- 5
Approved the plan
On approval, the posts were created and landed in the calendar as drafts. Nothing went live on its own; Deniz checks each draft and schedules it.
Why shouldn't a discount appear if it isn't in the source?
Nar Café's plan had a Teachers' Day item. A writing tool could easily add "20% off for teachers," but Nar Café runs no such offer. If that post goes out, a teacher asks for the discount at the till, and Deniz either honors an offer never made or disappoints a guest.
So VonaHub never writes figures, discounts or claims missing from the source (your website or description); it flags the item and leaves the decision to you. If you have a real offer, add it to the draft yourself, with its terms. Whatever tool you use, the rule holds: read every price, discount and date once more before publishing.
Monthly content planStart your café's plan for this month with your website URLWant a partner or your agency to see the plan first? Share the calendar through the client approval portal; they can approve each post on their phone, no account needed.
Client approval portalSend this month's calendar for approval with one linkStart-of-month checklist
- Note this month's event dates: book club, live music, workshops.
- Update your website or profile card with any menu changes.
- Check how many posts you actually published last month, then choose your weekly number.
- Pick up to five special days and mark memorial days separately.
- Set posting times around your own busy hours and your follower insights.
- Block one hour a week for photos and list the shots that week needs.
- Ask guests for permission before resharing their photos.
- Fix or remove any price, discount or date in the drafts that isn't in your source.
- Check and schedule the first week's drafts before the month begins.