Coffee shop business plan example
Illustrative case · Counter-service café in an existing leased unit · United States · illustrative leased-site case
Explore this business · Business plan example
Counter & Cup is a fictional independent café used to demonstrate how an operating story connects to a financial model. The example is internally calculated and still needs a real site, market evidence and owner information before it can support a financing application.
Read the example with its assumptions
Use this as a worked planning case. All financial exhibits come from the same monthly model used on the costs and profitability pages. The café has no invented trading history, named competitors, customer contracts or approved loan. Replace assumptions with evidence and rerun the model before adopting the narrative.
Counter & Cup — illustrative business plan
Concept and customer
Counter & Cup would serve nearby residents and workers who want a dependable coffee stop with a short queue. The offer is espresso drinks, brewed coffee and bought-in pastries, paid for at the counter. The positioning depends on convenience and repeat visits. No location or verified catchment has been selected for this example.
Market validation and launch
Before committing to a lease, the owner would compare nearby menus and opening hours, count relevant foot traffic across several dayparts, observe queues and test product preferences with prospective customers. The launch approach is visible storefront signage, local discovery listings and direct sampling near the proposed catchment. The marketing allowance is $450 monthly; it is an expense assumption, not a proven acquisition cost.
Operations and management
The owner manages purchasing, quality, cash control and part of the service roster. Employees provide 95 paid hours per week. Operating procedures would cover opening checks, milk and food handling, recipe consistency, cleaning, closing counts and equipment maintenance. Local food-service approvals must be confirmed for the selected unit. Regulatory context.
Funding request and use
Total startup funding is $227,600, comprising $150,000 assumed debt and $77,600 owner equity. Capitalized opening assets total $151,600. The remaining funds pay preopening costs, inventory, deposit and the $45,000 cash reserve. The startup budget itemizes these uses.
Financial projections
| Base reference case | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $366,053 | $504,900 | $504,900 | $504,900 | $504,900 |
| Operating surplus (EBITDA) | $12,957 | $104,260 | $104,260 | $104,260 | $104,260 |
| Profit before income tax | −$16,789 | $75,477 | $76,542 | $77,717 | $79,016 |
| Principal + interest | $23,787 | $23,787 | $23,787 | $23,787 | $23,787 |
| Change in cash after debt | −$12,703 | $80,472 | $80,472 | $80,472 | $80,472 |
| Year-end cash | $32,297 | $112,770 | $193,242 | $273,715 | $354,187 |
| Year-end loan balance | $140,799 | $130,634 | $119,405 | $107,000 | $93,296 |
Risk and response
The shop’s first year produces less operating cash than scheduled debt service. Management would monitor weekly transactions, labor coverage and bank cash against the ramp. If demand follows the lower case, the current capital structure runs out of cash in month 5. The appropriate response is to secure a supported funding or operating change before that point, not to presume a new loan will arrive.
How to read the financial exhibits
- Revenue uses transactions × ticket, with a gradual opening ramp. The ticket is net of sales tax.
- Owner compensation is an operating expense. Additional owner distributions are zero.
- Profit deducts modeled depreciation and interest. Loan principal reduces cash and debt, not profit.
- Card receivables and stock are on the balance sheet. Their changes affect cash flow.
- Income taxes, seasonal variation, later expansion and a sale value are excluded. Year 1 operating results exclude the separate preopening expense, which is recorded in opening retained earnings.
What prevents this from being an application-ready plan
The case lacks a selected lease, verified fit-out pricing, a local demand study, owner credentials, tax treatment and lender terms. Those are substantive gaps. The modeled first-year cash coverage of 0.47x is a warning to investigate, not a lending recommendation.
The complete model balances monthly sources and uses, debt, profit and cash. That arithmetic consistency validates the calculation, not the commercial assumptions. A lender may request a different presentation or additional documents. SBA application process.
Supporting documents for this example
A site layout and utility assessment; the lease and permitted-use position; a fully scoped equipment and installation quote; local menu and customer research; a roster and the owner’s actual experience; the food-business permissions required at the selected site.
Use these records to support the funding summary, sources-and-uses schedule, assumptions note and outstanding-document register. The plan should identify each appendix and its date. Do not describe a record as obtained until it exists and has been checked.
Open the full document checklist. The proposed personal planning package explains the planned deliverables and current availability.
Observed industry evidence
What the SBA records show
The evidence appendix can cite 997 FY2025 disbursed-status records in the broader category, with a median approved amount of $340,000. That documents historical lending activity. It does not validate this example’s sales forecast, site or requested amount.
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.
Read the linked financial statements
These statements use the same base-case monthly calculation as the budget and operating guides. Amounts are USD, rounded for display. They are fictional forecasts, not a client business’s trading results. Owner compensation is included; income taxes, later replacement capital spending and distributions are excluded.
| Metric | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $366,053 | $504,900 | $504,900 | $504,900 | $504,900 |
| Variable operating costs | $125,345 | $172,890 | $172,890 | $172,890 | $172,890 |
| Paid roster and fixed overhead | $227,750 | $227,750 | $227,750 | $227,750 | $227,750 |
| EBITDA, after owner compensation | $12,957 | $104,260 | $104,260 | $104,260 | $104,260 |
| Depreciation | $15,160 | $15,160 | $15,160 | $15,160 | $15,160 |
| Interest expense | $14,586 | $13,622 | $12,558 | $11,382 | $10,083 |
| Profit before income tax | −$16,789 | $75,477 | $76,542 | $77,717 | $79,016 |
| Metric | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening cash | $45,000 | $32,297 | $112,770 | $193,242 | $273,715 |
| EBITDA | $12,957 | $104,260 | $104,260 | $104,260 | $104,260 |
| Increase in inventory and receivables | $1,872 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Interest paid | $14,586 | $13,622 | $12,558 | $11,382 | $10,083 |
| Operating cash after interest | −$3,501 | $90,637 | $91,702 | $92,877 | $94,176 |
| Loan principal repaid | $9,201 | $10,165 | $11,229 | $12,405 | $13,704 |
| Net change in cash | −$12,703 | $80,472 | $80,472 | $80,472 | $80,472 |
| Closing cash | $32,297 | $112,770 | $193,242 | $273,715 | $354,187 |
| Metric | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $32,297 | $112,770 | $193,242 | $273,715 | $354,187 |
| Inventory | $3,067 | $3,067 | $3,067 | $3,067 | $3,067 |
| Card receivables | $2,805 | $2,805 | $2,805 | $2,805 | $2,805 |
| Refundable premises deposit | $7,000 | $7,000 | $7,000 | $7,000 | $7,000 |
| Net fixed assets | $136,440 | $121,280 | $106,120 | $90,960 | $75,800 |
| Total assets | $181,610 | $246,922 | $312,235 | $377,547 | $442,860 |
| Loan balance | $140,799 | $130,634 | $119,405 | $107,000 | $93,296 |
| Contributed owner equity | $77,600 | $77,600 | $77,600 | $77,600 | $77,600 |
| Retained earnings | −$36,789 | $38,688 | $115,230 | $192,947 | $271,964 |
| Total liabilities and equity | $181,610 | $246,922 | $312,235 | $377,547 | $442,860 |
Interest is included in operating cash here; principal is a financing outflow. Inventory and receivables changes bridge earnings to cash. Preopening expenses were recorded at opening, which is why retained earnings do not begin at zero. The initial funding schedule remains on the startup-cost page.
First-year monthly cash flow
| Month | Operating cash after interest | Principal repaid | Cash change | Closing cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | −$6,421 | $732 | −$7,154 | $37,846 |
| 2 | −$6,683 | $738 | −$7,421 | $30,425 |
| 3 | −$5,293 | $745 | −$6,038 | $24,387 |
| 4 | −$3,904 | $751 | −$4,655 | $19,733 |
| 5 | −$2,514 | $757 | −$3,271 | $16,461 |
| 6 | −$1,125 | $763 | −$1,888 | $14,574 |
| 7 | $265 | $770 | −$504 | $14,069 |
| 8 | $1,655 | $776 | $879 | $14,948 |
| 9 | $3,045 | $783 | $2,262 | $17,210 |
| 10 | $4,435 | $789 | $3,646 | $20,856 |
| 11 | $5,825 | $796 | $5,029 | $25,885 |
| 12 | $7,215 | $802 | $6,412 | $32,297 |
Download the forecast statements and monthly cash figures (CSV). The download contains this educational case only; it is not the planned personalized Excel workbook.
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.