Coffee Shop Budget Template

Build out the remaining months by copying the current month's structure and adjusting for what you know about your seasonal patterns. Fall and winter typically see higher hot-drink volume; summer may shift revenue toward cold brew and iced drinks. If you have a wholesale account or office coffee service, enter those revenue projections separately so you can track how much of your total revenue comes from each channel. The Annual Summary and Dashboard sheets update automatically as you fill in each month.

A cafe budget needs to reflect how a coffee shop's costs actually behave. Beverage cost — beans plus dairy and alternative milks — is your most important variable cost line and should typically sit between 25% and 35% of drink revenue. Dairy is easy to overlook but adds up fast, especially as oat milk and other alternatives, which cost 2–3x more than dairy, become a larger share of orders. Labor is typically the largest single expense, often running 35–45% of total revenue for smaller cafes, and needs to be tracked against sales volume, not just dollar amount — overstaffing a slow Tuesday morning is where the margin goes. Rent should ideally sit under 15% of revenue, which makes location economics a critical variable when you're projecting.