Juice Business Plan: A Cold-Pressed Juice Bar's First Year

A cold-pressed juice costs a lot to make for a drink: a 12-ounce bottle takes about two pounds of produce, and produce is most of its cost. The counter keeps a good margin on it; bottles for grocers keep a thin one, because they go through a co-packer for high-pressure processing. The plan turns on rent near foot traffic, wages for the pressing crew, produce waste, and the juice rules: juice sold straight to customers is exempt from FDA's juice HACCP rule, juice sold to grocers isn't. In the example, a San Diego juice bar starts with $134,500, ends its first year about $286 ahead before the owner's pay, and makes about $4,600 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 business in a paragraph: the street, the juices, who buys, the goals.
• Cost each bottle: produce by the pound, the bottle and label, the card fee.
• Plan sales by product: counter bottles, shots, cleanses and grocer bottles.
• Selling to grocers brings the juice HACCP rule; a co-packer with HPP handles it.
• Unpasteurized bottles sold at the counter carry the juice warning.
• Budget working cash for the slow first months.
• TaroStack makes each juice a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of what's in it. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Sunset Cliffs Juice Co., a made-up cold-pressed juice bar in San Diego, California, writes:

Sunset Cliffs Juice Co. is an 800-square-foot cold-pressed juice bar near the beach, pressing green and citrus juices and wellness shots every morning, selling three-day cleanses for local delivery, and supplying grocers with high-pressure processed bottles made by a co-packer. In its first year it aims to reach $38,000 of sales a month.

Part 2: what a bottle costs

The cleanse's packing includes the bottles, the insulated bag, ice and the delivery. The grocer bottle is the co-packer's price, produce, bottle and processing together. How the counter bottles are labeled is in juice warning label.

Part 3: customers and the juice rules

Mornings are the counter: commuters, surfers, the gym crowd. Cleanses go out on Sunday evenings. The grocer bottles are a different business: FDA's juice HACCP rule exempts a shop that sells only to its own customers, and a business that also sells to grocers loses that exemption, so the grocer bottles are made by a co-packer that presses and high-pressure processes them under its own plan. How that rule works is in juice HACCP plan, and the co-packer in juice co-packer.

Part 4: what each product earns

At full speed the business sells $38,070 a month and keeps $22,310, 58.6%; counter bottles bring $15,180 of it.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $17,700 every month: rent ($5,000), wages ($10,000), utilities ($900), insurance ($300), register and software ($200), ads ($600), cleaning and waste hauling ($300), and other costs ($400). Sales start at half of full speed:

The year's sales are $362,949, and the business ends it $286 ahead, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $30,200 of sales a month, in the sixth month. The lowest cash point, −$19,339 in month 5, is covered by the $30,000 of working cash with about $10,700 to spare. Produce thrown out at close is the cost that grows quietly; pressing to the morning's orders and using pulp in the cleanse snacks keeps it down.

Part 6: the startup budget

The $104,500 before working cash is earned back in about two years at full speed. Starting smaller is in how to start a juice business, and the margins on each product in juice profit margin.

Get the template

Download the juice business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products, each with its price, variable cost and units 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 produce cost. The bar buys kale, apples and ginger at a different price every week, presses to orders that change daily, and throws out what didn't sell by close.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack makes each bottle a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of kale, apples and ginger.

Bottles as recipes. Each bottle is a recipe by weight, so its cost moves when the supplier's price does.

Counts with no signal. The cooler and dry storage can be counted on a phone with no signal, and the reorder list shows what runs out first in days of cover.

Waste with a reason. Juice and produce thrown out at close is recorded as waste with a reason, reported by item.

Recipes, 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 juice bar?

The example budgets $134,500, including $30,000 of working cash; the build-out is the biggest item.

Is a juice bar profitable?

It can be: the example makes about $4,600 a month at full speed before the owner's pay, and ends its first year ahead.

How much does a bottle of cold-pressed juice cost to make?

In the example, about $3.10 for 12 ounces: $2.40 of produce, the bottle and label, and the card fee.

Do I need a HACCP plan to sell juice?

Not for juice sold only to your own customers; selling to grocers brings FDA's juice HACCP rule, which is why the example uses a co-packer for those bottles.