A fish market sells the most perishable food there is, so its margin depends on shrink: fish that doesn't sell in a day or two is cooked into chowder or thrown out. Fresh fish and shellfish keep about two-fifths of their price after loss; prepared foods like chowder and fish cakes keep three-fifths, and turn yesterday's fish into today's sales. The plan turns on rent, wages, ice and refrigeration, and buying to what sells. In the example, a Rhode Island fish market starts with $113,500, ends its first year about $15,200 behind before the owner's pay while sales build, and makes about $1,800 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 market in a paragraph: the boats or dealers, the counter, the goals.
- Cost each category per $100: goods, card fees and shrink.
- Plan sales by category: fresh fish, shellfish, prepared foods, frozen.
- Shrink is the biggest risk: buy to what sells.
- Prepared foods turn yesterday's fish into today's sales.
- Keep shellstock tags 90 days, and label where fish came from.
- TaroStack keeps the cases counted and what was thrown out by reason. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Narragansett Fish Market, a made-up fish market in Wakefield, Rhode Island, writes:
Narragansett Fish Market is a 1,200-square-foot fish market near the Point Judith docks, selling fresh fish and shellfish bought from boats and licensed dealers, chowder, stuffed quahogs and fish cakes made in its kitchen, and frozen and pantry goods. In its first year it aims to reach $35,000 of sales a month.
Part 2: what $100 of sales costs
| Category | Goods | Card fees | Shrink | Cost | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh fish | $52.00 | $2.50 | $5.50 | $60.00 | 40.0% |
| Shellfish | $55.00 | $2.50 | $4.50 | $62.00 | 38.0% |
| Prepared foods | $33.00 | $2.50 | $4.50 | $40.00 | 60.0% |
| Frozen and pantry | $61.00 | $2.50 | $1.50 | $65.00 | 35.0% |
Fresh fish's shrink is what's thrown out or marked down; prepared foods' goods include fish that would otherwise have been shrink. Where fish came from, and whether it's wild or farmed, goes on its sign, in country of origin labeling requirements.
Part 3: buying, the counter and the rules
Fish is bought every morning from two boats and a licensed dealer, and the counter is set by eight. Shellfish comes with its shellstock tags, which the market keeps for 90 days after the last of the container is sold, the way the FDA Food Code asks. What didn't sell by the second day goes into the kitchen's chowder and fish cakes. A processor's plan for fish is in seafood haccp plan.
Part 4: what each category earns
| Category | Sales | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | Hundreds a month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh fish | $100.00 | $60.00 | $40.00 | 40% | 170 |
| Shellfish | $100.00 | $62.00 | $38.00 | 38% | 80 |
| Prepared foods | $100.00 | $40.00 | $60.00 | 60% | 60 |
| Frozen and pantry | $100.00 | $65.00 | $35.00 | 35% | 40 |
At full speed the business sells $35,000 a month and keeps $14,840, 42.4%; fresh fish bring $6,800 of it.
Part 5: the first year, month by month
Fixed costs are $13,050 every month: wages ($6,500), rent ($4,500), utilities, ice machine and cases ($1,200), insurance ($300), register and software ($150), and other costs ($400). Sales start at half of full speed:
| Month | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $17,500 | −$5,630 | −$5,630 |
| 2 | $19,600 | −$4,730 | −$10,360 |
| 3 | $21,700 | −$3,855 | −$14,215 |
| 4 | $23,800 | −$2,953 | −$17,168 |
| 5 | $25,900 | −$2,078 | −$19,246 |
| 6 | $28,000 | −$1,178 | −$20,424 |
| 7 | $29,800 | −$416 | −$20,840 |
| 8 | $31,100 | $128 | −$20,712 |
| 9 | $32,500 | $737 | −$19,975 |
| 10 | $33,600 | $1,206 | −$18,769 |
| 11 | $35,000 | $1,790 | −$16,979 |
| 12 | $35,000 | $1,790 | −$15,189 |
The year's sales are $333,500, and the business ends it $15,189 behind, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $30,780 of sales a month, in the eighth month. The lowest cash point, −$20,840 in month 7, is covered by the $22,000 of working cash with about $1,200 to spare. Shrink is the number to watch: every point it rises on fresh fish takes $170 off the month. Summer brings tourists and twice the sales; the plan treats every month alike.
Part 6: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Display cases and ice machine | $22,000 |
| Build-out | $20,000 |
| Walk-in cooler | $15,000 |
| Kitchen for prepared foods | $15,000 |
| Lease deposit and first month | $9,000 |
| Opening inventory | $6,000 |
| Signs | $2,000 |
| Register | $1,500 |
| Licenses | $1,000 |
| Working cash | $22,000 |
| Total to start | $113,500 |
The $91,500 before working cash is earned back in about four and a half years at full speed. A smoked fish business is in smoked salmon business plan, and a meat counter's version in butcher shop business plan.
Get the template
Download the fish market 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. Some mornings the boats bring more than the counter sells, some days a cooler warms, and nobody remembers which tag went with which bag of littlenecks.
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. Fish thrown out or marked down at the end of a day is recorded with its reason, expired, damaged or lost, and reported by item.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What to order this week | A walk around the shelves | The reorder list |
| What a delivery cost | Invoices in a drawer | Receiving by supplier |
| What was thrown out | Not recorded | Shrink by reason and 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.