Add rent, CAM, property taxes and insurance, divide by 8% to 10% of sales (the healthy band for coffee shops) to get the monthly sales needed, then divide by days open, your average ticket and turns, planning at 75% full. The calculator above does it with your numbers.
How many seats does a coffee shop need to cover rent?
Enter the rent, your average ticket and how often each seat turns, and see how many seats, customers a day and daily sales that rent asks of a coffee shop.
How many seats you need57 to 71seats
To cover $6,200 a month in rent and charges at a healthy 8% to 10% share for a café or bakery, with seats 75% full across 2 turns per seat a day.
- Daily sales needed
- $2,385 to $2,981 26 days open a month
- Guests a day
- 86 to 107 At your average check
- Monthly sales needed
- $62,000 to $77,500 Rent and charges are 8% to 10% of this
How many seats at each share
827%outside
718%healthy
649%healthy
5710%healthy
5211%outside
Blue columns are the healthy 8% to 10% band for a café or bakery. A higher share needs fewer seats but leaves less for everything else.
The coffee shop check reads public records at an address: who lives and works nearby, the coffee shops already there and the traffic on its road. Check an address for a coffee shop.
How the math works
Seats needed = customers a day needed ÷ (turns × 75%)
- Healthy occupancy share for coffee shops
- Rent plus CAM, property taxes and insurance at 8% to 10% of sales, the same band DoorWorthy reports use for coffee shops. Every type's band:
Healthy occupancy share by business type Business type Healthy share of sales Café or bakery 8% to 10% Restaurant or bar 6% to 10% Salon or personal services 10% to 15% Retail store 8% to 12% Fitness or wellness 10% to 15% Another concept 8% to 12% - Seats 75% full
- Few places fill every seat on every turn, so the count assumes 75%.
- Not included
- Payroll, supplies, loan payments and build-out. This is a planning estimate for a lease conversation, not a sales or profit forecast.
DoorWorthy reports run this same calculation for a real address, next to the spending, competition and rules found there.