Bodega Business Plan: A Corner Store With a Deli Counter

A bodega sells a little of everything, and most of it at a thin margin: groceries and household goods keep about a quarter of their price, drinks and snacks a third. The deli counter is different: a sandwich or a coffee keeps more than half its price, which is why the counter is the heart of the store. The plan turns on rent, wages for a store open eighteen hours a day, refrigeration's power, and keeping shrink low on the shelves. In the example, a Bronx bodega starts with $142,500, ends its first year about $26,300 behind before the owner's pay while sales build, and makes about $2,400 a month at full speed. Below is each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the store in a paragraph: the block, the hours, the counter, the goals.
• Cost each category per $100: the goods, card fees and shrink.
• Plan sales by category: groceries, drinks and snacks, the deli, beer.
• The deli counter keeps the most of each dollar.
• Rent and long-hours wages are the fixed costs that decide the month.
• Count shrink: expired milk and broken jars are money.
• TaroStack keeps the shelves counted and the reorder list in days of cover. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Kingsbridge Corner Deli, a made-up bodega in the Bronx, New York, writes:

Kingsbridge Corner Deli is a 1,100-square-foot bodega open 6 a.m. to midnight, with groceries and household goods, cold drinks and snacks, a deli counter making sandwiches, breakfast and coffee all day, and beer. In its first year it aims to reach $57,000 of sales a month.

Part 2: what $100 of sales costs

The deli's goods are its ingredients: bread, cold cuts, eggs, coffee, cups. How a store's margins compare is in convenience store profit margin.

Part 3: hours, the counter and the licenses

Mornings are coffee and egg sandwiches for the block; afternoons, drinks and snacks for the school; nights, beer and groceries. Two clerks share the register and a counterman works the deli on each shift. The store holds a food license for the deli, a beer license and a tobacco license, each renewed on its own date.

Part 4: what each category earns

At full speed the business sells $57,000 a month and keeps $22,420, 39.3%; the deli counter brings $9,920 of it.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $20,000 every month: rent ($6,500), wages ($10,500), utilities ($1,800), insurance ($400), register and software ($200), and other costs ($600). Sales start at half of full speed:

The year's sales are $543,300, and the business ends it $26,307 behind, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $50,850 of sales a month, in the ninth month. The lowest cash point, −$33,560 in month 8, is covered by the $35,000 of working cash with about $1,400 to spare. Rent and wages are nearly all of the fixed costs; a store open eighteen hours a day pays for every one of them, which is why the deli counter, with the widest margin, carries the month.

Part 6: the startup budget

The $107,500 before working cash is earned back in about three and a half years at full speed. A bigger store's version is in convenience store business plan, and a deli on its own in deli business plan.

Get the template

Download the bodega business plan workbook. Four sheets: your categories, each per $100 of sales with its variable cost and hundreds a month at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales ramping up, profit, cash, the first profitable month, the lowest cash point and whether the working cash covers it; your fixed costs; and the startup budget. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The plan uses one shrink share. The store throws out milk, bread and deli meat at a different rate every week, orders from six distributors, and never quite knows what's in the back room.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps the shelves counted, the reorder list in days of cover, and what was thrown out by reason.

Receiving by supplier. Each delivery is received against its purchase order, so what was ordered, what came and what it cost are on record.

Counts and the reorder list. Shelves, coolers and the back room can be counted on a phone with no signal, and the reorder list shows what runs out first in days of cover.

Shrink with a reason. Milk, bread and deli meat past their date is recorded with its reason, expired, damaged or lost, and reported by item.

Receiving, counts and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much does it cost to start a bodega?

The example budgets $142,500, including $35,000 of working cash; the opening inventory is the biggest item.

Is a bodega profitable?

It can be: the example makes about $2,400 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, after a first year that ends behind.

What makes the most money in a bodega?

The deli counter: in the example, sandwiches and coffee keep $62 of every $100, against $28 on groceries.

How much does a bodega make?

In the example, about $2,400 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, on $57,000 of sales.