Coffee Shop Break-Even Calculator
Fixed costs ÷ contribution margin → how many cups per day your café needs to break even.
Rent, insurance, salaried labor, utilities, subscriptions: costs that don't change with volume
Average revenue per transaction (blend of espresso drinks, drip, pastries if included)
Cost of goods per drink: coffee, milk, cups, lids, napkins: costs that scale with volume
Get Your Result
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How to Use This Calculator
Enter Your Monthly Fixed Costs
Add up rent, insurance, utilities, salaried labor, subscriptions, and equipment payments: anything you pay regardless of how many drinks you sell. The default ($8,000) is a low-end estimate for a small counter-service café in a mid-size US market.
Set Your Average Drink Price
Use a realistic blended average across your menu, not your most expensive drink. If you sell mostly $5–6 espresso drinks with some $3 drip, a $5.50 average is reasonable. Pastries can shift this if they're a significant revenue source.
Estimate Variable Cost Per Drink
This is the cost of goods for each drink sold: coffee (~$0.40–0.60), milk ($0.25–0.40), cup and lid ($0.20–0.30), and packaging. The default ($1.20) reflects a ~22% pour cost on a $5.50 average: a reasonable specialty café target.
What the Numbers Tell You
Break-even math is simple: divide fixed overhead by the margin on each drink. If you need 400 drinks a day to break even in a 40-seat café open 10 hours, that’s 40 drinks per hour, technically possible but requires near-constant throughput. Most cafés don’t operate that way. The “average drink price” input should reflect your realistic ticket mix, not your most expensive item.
The SCA benchmark for a healthy specialty café is 18–22% pour cost and 30–35% labor as a percentage of revenue. If your contribution margin implies a pour cost above 30%, there’s a structural problem: either prices are too low or variable costs are too high. Use this number for feasibility conversations, not as a substitute for a full pro forma.
Glossary
- Fixed Costs:
- Costs that don't change with sales volume: rent, insurance, base staffing floor, utilities, equipment payments.
- Variable Costs:
- Costs that scale with each drink sold: COGS (coffee, milk, cups), some labor.
- Contribution Margin:
- Revenue per drink minus variable cost per drink: what each sale contributes toward covering fixed costs and profit.
- Break-Even:
- The sales volume at which total revenue equals total costs; zero net profit. Below it you lose money; above it you make money.
- Pour Cost:
- Variable COGS as a percentage of revenue. SCA benchmark for specialty cafés: 18–22%. Above 30% is a structural warning sign.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a contribution margin?
Contribution margin is the revenue left over after you subtract the variable cost of producing each drink: what each sale actually contributes toward covering your fixed overhead. If a drink sells for $5.50 and costs $1.20 in variable COGS, your contribution margin is $4.30. Divide your monthly fixed costs by that number and you get how many drinks you need to sell to break even.
What counts as a fixed cost in a coffee shop?
Fixed costs don't change with sales volume: rent, base insurance, minimum staff you need to open (even on slow days), utilities (mostly fixed regardless of volume), equipment lease payments, and subscription software. A barista you call in only when it's busy is a variable cost; a salaried manager is fixed. The line blurs: that's why this calculator is a directional estimate, not a business plan.
What counts as variable cost per drink?
Coffee itself (roughly $0.40–0.60 per drink from a quality roaster), milk ($0.25–0.40 depending on dairy vs. alt-milk), cup, lid, and sleeve ($0.20–0.30), napkins, and syrup if applicable. Most operators land in the $1.00–1.50 range before any labor. Hourly labor is a variable cost that often gets miscategorized as fixed: if you send someone home when it's slow, that's variable.
What does the SCA say about pour cost benchmarks?
The SCA benchmark for a healthy specialty café is 18–22% pour cost (variable COGS as a percentage of revenue) and 30–35% labor as a percentage of revenue. The default inputs in this calculator imply approximately 22% pour cost ($1.20 ÷ $5.50). If your inputs result in a contribution margin that implies pour cost above 30%, that's a flag to review either your pricing or your COGS.
Why does the calculator assume a 30-day month?
Thirty days is the standard assumption for contribution margin / break-even accounting in the food service industry. Real months are 28–31 days, which adds a small error. The calculator also doesn't model seasonality: most cafés have a 20–40% swing between best and worst months. The break-even number is the floor for your average month, not your worst one.
Can I use this calculator for a kiosk or drive-through?
Yes. The formula works for any format: adjust your inputs to match. A kiosk typically has lower fixed costs (no build-out lease, smaller footprint) but may also have lower average ticket size. A drive-through can have higher fixed costs (land, equipment, permit costs) but often serves higher volume. The contribution margin approach is format-agnostic.
How does this differ from a full business plan?
This calculator gives you one number: the minimum volume needed to cover fixed costs at your current pricing and cost structure. A business plan models revenue growth over time, capital structure, seasonality, loan repayment, owner draw, taxes, and cash flow. Use this calculator for early-stage feasibility: if the break-even number is achievable given your location and capacity, the concept might pencil out. Then build a real pro forma with a hospitality accountant.