Coffee shop
Illustrative case · Counter-service café in an existing leased unit · United States · illustrative leased-site case
Explore this business · Overview
This case is a counter-service cafe serving drinks and bought-in pastries from an existing leased unit. Its opening decision turns on usable services, a supportable morning queue and cash through the sales ramp.
A coffee shop works financially when repeat transactions cover staffed opening hours and rent before the cash reserve runs out. This leased-unit reference case needs $227,600 at opening and models $366,053 of first-year sales. The first year does not cover all scheduled debt payments from operations; opening liquidity matters. How this case is calculated.
Observed industry evidence
What the SBA records show
The category covers coffee shops, snack bars and other nonalcoholic beverage businesses. It is broader than this operating case. Loan amounts measure financing recorded by SBA, not the cost of opening this business.
Explore amounts, terms, lenders, states and outcomes →
Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA files, snapshot 30 June 2026. Recomputed from original records on 1 October 2026. FY2025 is the most recent complete fiscal year in these files. Definitions and exclusions.
The business this package covers
An independent, owner-operated café selling espresso drinks, brewed coffee and bought-in pastries from an existing retail unit. Customers order and pay at the counter. The assumed $8.25 average ticket is net of sales tax and includes the expected drink-and-food mix; it is not the price of one espresso.
The model uses 30 trading days per month, 10 hours per day and 170 transactions per day at maturity. The owner works in the shop and receives $4,000 monthly compensation before personal taxes. A separate employee roster is included. No roasting plant, hot kitchen, drive-through, franchise fee or property purchase is in scope.
- Start with the opening budget if you are choosing a space.
- Use profitability to understand the slow opening period and the lower-demand case.
- Use unit economics to test average ticket, labor coverage and counter throughput.
- Read the plan example to see the same assumptions carried into a financing narrative.
What a lender still needs to see
A national scenario cannot establish that a particular shop has enough customers. Before using these projections, document the proposed lease, local competitors, morning pedestrian counts, menu pricing, owner experience and a roster that covers busy periods. The absence of this evidence is a limitation of the example, not proof of demand.
The historical coffee-shop lending page is a separate historical lending dataset. Its broader industry grouping does not establish this café’s costs, chances of approval or current loan rate. This package does not import those statistics into its financial case.
For a combined equipment and working-capital request, discuss permitted uses and repayment evidence with a lender. SBA 7(a) guidance.
Use the loan-planning document checklist to track evidence and the financial projection guide to turn operating inputs into a personal forecast.
Count the morning service window
Observe pedestrian flow by time slot, then distinguish potential passers-by from paid transactions. Match the menu to preparation time and the actual counter queue.
Use actual observations to challenge the case before signing the lease or committing the fleet. The opening funding requirement is $227,600 under these assumptions. The material-cost review shows which major purchases remain unresolved.
Explore this business
Sources and scope
- Reference-case assumptions and calculation method · Checked 2026-10-01 · Fictional US planning case authored 1 October 2026. Budget allowances, demand, rent, labor, finance and scenarios are assumptions, not market averages.
- SBA — 7(a) loans · Checked 2026-10-01 · United States; permitted uses, lender application process and ability-to-repay requirement. No approval, rate or equity percentage is promised.
- SBA — 504 loans · Checked 2026-10-01 · United States; qualifying long-term fixed assets; working capital and inventory excluded.
- WebstaurantStore — Appia Life Compact two-group machine · Checked 2026-10-01 · Listed machine price checked 1 October 2026. Required service-plan selection and site work are separate; this is not a complete equipment quotation.
- FDA — How to Start a Food Business · Checked 2026-10-01 · US retail food businesses: state/local oversight and site-specific licenses; not a local permit checklist.