{
  "slug": "cafe-daily-breakeven-cups",
  "title": "Coffee Shop Daily Breakeven Calculator",
  "heading": "Coffee Shop Daily Breakeven Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/cafe-daily-breakeven-cups",
  "summary": "How many cups per day it takes to cover rent, payroll, and overhead.",
  "description": "New cafe owners often price drinks and estimate 'cups needed to survive' separately, when they should be the same calculation. This tool takes your daily fixed cost (rent, insurance, base payroll, subscriptions) and your average contribution margin per drink (price minus ingredient cost), and returns the number of drinks you need to sell each day just to break even, plus what daily sales volume looks like at a target profit level. It's a simplified single-product breakeven model using your average ticket, which is accurate enough for planning purposes even though a real cafe sells a mix of espresso drinks, drip coffee, and food, because average contribution margin captures that mix reasonably well if you calculate it from your actual sales data rather than guessing.",
  "formula": "Breakeven cups = daily fixed cost ÷ contribution margin per cup. Cups for target profit = (fixed cost + target profit) ÷ contribution margin.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=cafe-daily-breakeven-cups",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "dailyFixedCost",
      "label": "Daily fixed cost (rent, payroll, overhead ÷ days open)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 850,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "avgTicket",
      "label": "Average ticket price",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 6.25,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "avgCogsPct",
      "label": "Average COGS as % of ticket",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 28,
      "unit": "%",
      "min": 0,
      "max": 90
    },
    {
      "id": "targetDailyProfit",
      "label": "Target daily profit",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 300,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "breakevenCups",
      "label": "Cups needed to break even",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "cupsForTarget",
      "label": "Cups needed for target profit",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "contributionMargin",
      "label": "Contribution margin per drink",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "breakevenRevenue",
      "label": "Breakeven daily revenue",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Daily fixed cost (rent, payroll, overhead ÷ days open): 850 $",
      "Average ticket price: 6.25 $",
      "Average COGS as % of ticket: 28 %",
      "Target daily profit: 300 $"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Cups needed to break even: 189",
      "Cups needed for target profit: 256",
      "Contribution margin per drink: $4.50",
      "Breakeven daily revenue: $1,180.56"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter daily fixed cost (rent, payroll, overhead ÷ days open) ($).",
      "Enter average ticket price ($).",
      "Enter average cogs as % of ticket (%).",
      "Enter target daily profit ($).",
      "Read your cups needed to break even on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "dailyFixedCost": 500,
        "avgTicket": 3.75,
        "avgCogsPct": 17,
        "targetDailyProfit": 175
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "dailyFixedCost": 850,
        "avgTicket": 6.25,
        "avgCogsPct": 28,
        "targetDailyProfit": 300
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "dailyFixedCost": 1350,
        "avgTicket": 10,
        "avgCogsPct": 45,
        "targetDailyProfit": 475
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What counts as daily fixed cost?",
      "a": "Take your monthly rent, insurance, loan payments, base salaried payroll, software subscriptions, and any other cost that doesn't change with sales volume, add them up, and divide by the number of days you're open per month. Don't include hourly barista wages tied to shifts that flex with volume — that's better treated as part of your COGS/variable cost if it scales with sales."
    },
    {
      "q": "Is 28% COGS realistic for a coffee shop?",
      "a": "Coffee-forward shops with minimal food often run 25-32% COGS. Adding a real food program (pastries, sandwiches) usually pushes blended COGS to 32-38% because food margins are thinner than espresso drink margins, so if you sell significant food, adjust this input upward or the breakeven cup count will be too optimistic."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why does this use cups instead of dollars?",
      "a": "Owners and staff think in terms of 'how many drinks did we do today' more naturally than a revenue target, and cups-needed is a number the whole team can see progress against on a slow Tuesday versus a busy Saturday. Convert it to revenue too since ticket size drift changes what a 'cup' is worth over time."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/espresso-shot-cost",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/milk-steaming-waste-cost"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Coffee Shop Daily Breakeven Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/cafe-daily-breakeven-cups)"
}