A cafe that cooks needs a plan that covers both a kitchen and a coffee bar, and this template opens with one already filled in. The example is a made-up 36-seat breakfast and lunch cafe in US dollars: kitchen equipment and an espresso machine, a full fit-out, a head cook, a cook, two baristas, three servers and a dishwasher, and a forecast of 110 customers a day at an $18 average. Replace each section with your own, and the template works out the money still to find, the monthly profit or loss and your break-even, then downloads as a PDF for a bank or partner.
Part of the free Restaurant business plan template.
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Fill in each section. The numbers add up as you type, and the plan stays saved on this device.
Check the costs behind each dish
The free recipe cost calculator works out what each portion costs, so your food cost and prices in the plan are your own.
A plan for a made-up business of this kind is filled in, so you can see what goes in each section. Start a blank plan when you're ready.
Write about your idea, menu, site and customers. Add your staff, start-up costs and monthly costs; totals, profit and break-even add up as you type.
Check each page in the preview and download one tidy A4 PDF with a cover. Your plan stays saved in this browser to come back to.
Compare your costs with published medians, carefully
For limited-service restaurants, which include counter-service cafes, the National Restaurant Association's 2024 medians were 32.4% of sales for food and drink, 31.7% for labor and 5.2% for occupancy. Use them to sanity-check your forecast; the Association says they are not targets.
Count the hours, not just the heads
A cafe open eight hours a day, seven days a week, needs more people than one shift suggests. Count the hours each role works in a week, multiply by pay and anything you pay on top, and put the monthly cost for each role in the staffing table.
Price weekend brunch on its own
Weekend tables turn slower and the average spend is often higher than on a weekday. Try the forecast twice, once with weekday numbers and once with weekend ones, and use a blended average spend so a quiet Tuesday doesn't hide inside a busy Sunday.
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