Bottle Shop Business Plan: Craft Beer, Wine and Tastings

A bottle shop sells what the grocery store doesn't carry: local and rare craft beer, wine chosen by someone who tastes it, cider, and cheese and snacks to go with them, with tastings that bring people in on a Thursday. Beer keeps about 30 cents of each dollar, wine more, and tastings the most. The plan turns on inventory, which ties up a lot of cash, on walk-in coolers for beer, and on permits, which depend on the state: in North Carolina, liquor is sold only in state ABC stores, so the shop sells beer, wine and cider under its state and local permits. The plan below works in departments per $100 of sales. In the example, an Asheville bottle shop starts with $157,900, ends its first year about $11,500 ahead before the owner's pay, and makes about $5,200 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 shop in a paragraph: the street, the selection, the goals.
• Plan sales by department per $100: beer, wine, cider and seltzer, snacks, tastings.
• Wine keeps more than beer; tastings keep the most.
• Opening inventory is the biggest startup cost.
• Cold beer needs a walk-in cooler.
• Permits depend on your state; some sell liquor only in state stores.
• TaroStack keeps every bottle counted, with dates on beer that should be drunk fresh. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Two Ravens Bottle Shop, a made-up bottle shop in Asheville, North Carolina, writes:

Two Ravens Bottle Shop is a 1,800-square-foot beer and wine shop in Asheville with 400 beers, many from Western North Carolina breweries, 300 wines, cider and seltzers, cheese and snacks, and Thursday tastings. In its first year it aims to reach $58,000 of sales a month.

Part 2: what an item costs

Distributors set most beer and wine prices, so the shop's choice is mostly what to carry. The department costs in Part 4 carry the beer that goes past its best date and the bottles that break. What a small store's margins look like by department is in grocery store profit margins by department.

Part 3: distributors, freshness and permits

Beer and wine come from distributors weekly, and some local breweries self-distribute. IPAs are best fresh, so beer is dated by its packaging date and the oldest goes to the front, or to a discount shelf. The shop holds the state's beer and wine permits for selling to take home and for tastings, plus the city's; how this compares with a liquor store is in liquor store business plan, and a wine-only shop in wine shop business plan.

Part 4: what each category earns

At full speed the business sells $58,000 a month and keeps $20,770, 35.8%; wine brings $7,600 of it.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $15,550 every month: rent ($4,200), wages ($8,500), utilities, mostly the coolers ($1,200), insurance ($500), register and software ($250), ads ($300), permit renewals ($100), and other costs ($500). Sales start at half of full speed:

The year's sales are $553,000, and the business ends it $11,452 ahead, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $43,420 of sales a month, in the sixth month. The lowest cash point, −$13,363 in month 5, is covered by the $25,000 of working cash with about $11,600 to spare. December and summer weekends sell the most; the plan spreads them as monthly averages, so buy holiday wine early and keep the walk-in full in July.

Part 6: the startup budget

The $132,900 before working cash is earned back in about two years at full speed. A general convenience store is in convenience store business plan.

Get the template

Download the bottle shop 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 cost per department. Four hundred beers, each with its own packaging date, and a few that sit too long: which IPA is past its best, and how much went to the discount shelf, is a guess without counts and dates.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps every bottle and can counted, with dates on the beer that should be drunk fresh.

Stock in its own units. Beer is received by the case and sold by the 4-pack or can, with the conversion between them.

Dates on fresh beer. Each delivery keeps its packaging date, the oldest goes first, and an alert comes before beer passes its best.

Reordering in days of cover. Each beer and wine shows how many days it will last at its rate of sale, so best sellers are reordered before they run out.

Stock in its own units, dates and reordering 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 bottle shop?

The example budgets $157,900, including $25,000 of working cash; the opening inventory is the biggest item.

Is a bottle shop profitable?

It can be: the example makes about $5,200 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, and ends its first year ahead.

What is the profit margin on craft beer?

In the example, a 4-pack keeps about 27% of its price; across the beer department, about $30 of each $100.

What permits does a bottle shop need?

It depends on the state: state permits for selling beer and wine to take home, and often for tastings, plus local ones; some states sell liquor only in state stores.