Add rent, CAM, property taxes and insurance, divide by 8% to 10% of sales (the healthy band for ice cream 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 an ice cream 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 an ice cream 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 ice cream shop check reads public records at an address: who lives and works nearby, the ice cream shops already there and the traffic on its road. Check an address for an ice cream shop.
How the math works
Seats needed = customers a day needed ÷ (turns × 75%)
- Healthy occupancy share for ice cream shops
- Rent plus CAM, property taxes and insurance at 8% to 10% of sales, the same band DoorWorthy reports use for ice cream 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.