One challenge for bootstrappers trying to keep down the cost of start-up can be brick and mortar establishments, particularly anything involving food preparation where health and other regulations come into play.

Here, from a café/cart builder in Tacoma, WA, is some great bootstrapping advice to a coffee shop entrepreneur in Minnesota facing high renovation costs about how to start on the cheap with the idea of reinvesting in 6 to 10 months from operating revenue.

Check the top of this forum thread to read Green Cat's lament, than scroll down about five posts to read espressomaniac's recommendations. They are:

Your first requirement is to keep the health department happy, this way you are up to code, no worries and no games, equipment, ie. sinks, plumbing systems, etc. can be purchased used if you don't mind doing alot of cleaning, as long as it gets the job done, then go for it.

For cabinetry, espressomaniac, a kiosk builder, suggests:

...1/2" particle board, you can even have home depot or lowes cut it to size for you, just use a heavy layer of non (porous) paint to the exposed areas, instructions for the hinges and handles on the doors are included within the hardware you buy itself. You can also use those (cheesy) home depot counters if you want to avoid laminating a counter, alternatives would be sponge paint with a minwax clear coating, or, use hardwood and simply minwax that as well. Along the edging, they make wood edge banding that just irons on. The design itself, well, just plaster a strip of wood to the walls to act as a mounting plate and L bracket each divider "square piece of wood" onto it. You'll need a square, level and measuring tape to do so, but afterwards, you are just laying down a piece of wood, and can glue it in place if you want to get even more hands off.

For the walls:

...Paint/goodwill pictures, chalk board, general crap you'd normally see hanging on the walls at any local cafe. The idea here, cheap.

Ambiance:

...you may have to sacrifice your home stereo system to the cafe, but sound will make up for a budget operation, I'd keep the lighting more dim as well to go...with it all. Let your equipment and signage accent the area and when you are ready to put forth some real money into it, you can easily tear out what exists since there wasn't anything into it in the first place.

Theme:

...in order to give you even more breathing room, I'd be creating it to resemble more of a comfortable (living room) the average joe would be hanging out in, your goodwill hunts will prove to be much more fruitful going with it big time.
Since starting a café has long been a dream for my wife and I, I'd like to add one additional suggestion here.

Today in our conventional Drip filter and/or Starbuckized culture, it is easy to forget that there are other (sometimes more cost effective) ways to brew the bean.

I was reminded that a fancy shmancy (not to mention expensive) espresso machine isn't always necessary when I dropped into this joint and discovered the pleasure of the French press inspiring a post in The Upstart Entrepreneur earlier this year.

Be warned, however, that though tasty and affordable, it is not necessarily a health conscious choice, since according to Wikipedia, the press produces higher "bad" cholesterol, another example of the so-called French Paradox.