Before you sign a lease or change your prices, you should know one number: how many guests you need per day so you are not in the red at the end of the month. Enter your fixed costs, the average spend per guest and your food cost. The calculator shows the break-even point per month and per opening day.
What break-even means
The break-even point is where your income covers all costs exactly. Below it you make a loss, above it a profit. In hospitality it is best expressed in guests, because you count those every day.
Each guest brings their average spend excluding VAT. Food cost and other variable costs such as card fees or packaging come off that. What remains is the contribution margin per guest. Your monthly fixed costs divided by this contribution margin give the guests you need per month.
Which fixed costs belong in it?
Everything that comes up every month, no matter how many guests arrive: rent and service charges, staff including employer contributions, energy, insurance, accounting, loan and leasing instalments, software and POS system, cleaning and maintenance.
Do not forget your own salary. As a sole trader your pay is not on the payroll, but you have to live on it and pay social insurance. Enter it as a separate line, otherwise the venue looks more profitable than it is.
Average spend and drinks share
The average spend is the revenue per guest including VAT. You find it in your POS system or estimate it from your menu: what does a typical guest order in food and drinks? For a new opening, better calculate cautiously.
Because food and drinks are taxed differently, the calculator asks for the share of drinks in revenue. In Austria, food is taxed at 10 % and drinks at 20 %, in Germany at 7 % and 19 %. The mix gives the net revenue per guest.
What the number tells you
Compare the guests per day with your seats. If a café with 30 seats needs 180 guests a day, every seat has to be filled six times. That is ambitious. Then a higher average spend, a lower food cost or lower fixed costs help more than hoping for full days.
The scenario table shows what is left with more or fewer guests. Also run the numbers for a weak month, such as January or a rainy spell for your beer garden or terrace. For a business plan or a loan application, the calculator does not replace planning with your tax advisor, but it gives you an honest sense of the order of magnitude in minutes.