A sandwich shop lives on the lunch hour. A turkey club costs about $3.76 to make and sells for $12, and the meats and cheeses are most of that. Soups and salads use the same prep, chips and drinks add to the ticket, and catering platters for offices bring big orders before the doors open. The plan turns on wages for the morning prep and the lunch line, rent where office workers walk, and the slicer and walk-in that keep meats fresh. In the example, a Bozeman sandwich shop starts with $154,400, ends its first year about $23,800 behind before the owner's pay while sales build, and makes about $2,700 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 lunch crowd, what's missing nearby, the goals.
- Cost each sandwich: bread, meats, cheese, vegetables, the wrap and the card fee.
- Plan sales by category per $100: sandwiches, soups and salads, chips and drinks, catering and breakfast.
- Wages and rent are the fixed costs that decide the month.
- Sliced meats keep days, not weeks; order to what sells.
- Budget working cash for the slow first months, and check it against the lowest cash point.
- TaroStack makes each sandwich a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of what's in it. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Lunch Counter on Main, a made-up sandwich shop in Bozeman, Montana, writes:
Lunch Counter on Main is a 1,400-square-foot sandwich shop downtown, with hot and cold sandwiches on bread from a local bakery, two soups a day, salads, breakfast sandwiches and catering platters for offices. In its first year it aims to reach $34,000 of sales a month.
Part 2: what a sandwich costs
| Sandwich | Bread | Meats | Cheese, vegetables and spreads | Wrap | Card fee | Cost | Price | Cost share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey club | $0.45 | $2.15 | $0.70 | $0.10 | $0.36 | $3.76 | $12.00 | 31.3% |
| Italian sub | $0.55 | $2.10 | $0.85 | $0.10 | $0.39 | $3.99 | $13.00 | 30.7% |
Four ounces of turkey and the bacon are $2.15 of the club. The bread comes from a bakery down the street. A deli version, with meats sold by the pound, is in deli business plan.
Part 3: customers and staffing
Breakfast from 7, lunch from 11 to 2, closed at 3. Three people prep from 6; four work the line at lunch. Office platters are ordered the day before and delivered at 11:30.
Part 4: what each category earns
| Category | Sales | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | Hundreds a month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandwiches | $100.00 | $33.00 | $67.00 | 67% | 180 |
| Soups and salads | $100.00 | $30.00 | $70.00 | 70% | 50 |
| Chips and drinks | $100.00 | $40.00 | $60.00 | 60% | 40 |
| Catering platters | $100.00 | $30.00 | $70.00 | 70% | 40 |
| Breakfast | $100.00 | $32.00 | $68.00 | 68% | 30 |
At full speed the business sells $34,000 a month and keeps $22,800, 67.1%; sandwiches bring $12,060 of it.
Part 5: the first year, month by month
Fixed costs are $20,100 every month: rent ($4,200), wages ($13,500), utilities ($1,000), insurance ($300), register and software ($200), ads ($400), and other costs ($500). Sales start at half of full speed:
| Month | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $17,000 | −$8,700 | −$8,700 |
| 2 | $19,000 | −$7,357 | −$16,057 |
| 3 | $21,200 | −$5,884 | −$21,941 |
| 4 | $23,000 | −$4,676 | −$26,617 |
| 5 | $25,200 | −$3,203 | −$29,820 |
| 6 | $27,200 | −$1,860 | −$31,680 |
| 7 | $29,000 | −$651 | −$32,331 |
| 8 | $30,400 | $286 | −$32,045 |
| 9 | $31,600 | $1,093 | −$30,952 |
| 10 | $32,600 | $1,763 | −$29,189 |
| 11 | $34,000 | $2,700 | −$26,489 |
| 12 | $34,000 | $2,700 | −$23,789 |
The year's sales are $324,200, and the business ends it $23,789 behind, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $29,970 of sales a month, in the eighth month. The lowest cash point, −$32,331 in month 7, is covered by the $35,000 of working cash with about $2,700 to spare. Wages are two-thirds of the fixed costs; the catering platters, prepped before lunch, are the sales that use the morning crew best.
Part 6: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Build-out and signs | $55,000 |
| Refrigeration, slicer and prep tables | $28,000 |
| Furniture | $8,000 |
| Lease deposit and first month | $8,400 |
| Oven and panini press | $6,000 |
| Signs and branding | $4,000 |
| Opening inventory | $4,000 |
| Smallwares | $2,500 |
| Register | $2,000 |
| Licenses and permits | $1,500 |
| Working cash | $35,000 |
| Total to start | $154,400 |
The $119,400 before working cash is earned back in about three and a half years at full speed. Catering on its own is in catering business plan, and a coffee-first shop in coffee shop business plan.
Get the template
Download the sandwich 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 a sandwich. The line uses a different one every week: turkey prices move, a heavy hand at lunch adds an ounce, and sliced meats past their date are thrown out.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack makes each sandwich a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of meats, cheese and bread.
Sandwichs as recipes. Each sandwich 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. Sliced meat past its date is recorded as waste with a reason, reported by item.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What a sandwich costs this month | Worked out once | True cost from the recipe |
| What to order before the weekend | A guess | The reorder list |
| What was thrown out | Not recorded | Waste by reason and 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.