How to write a café business plan (with a free template)

A café business plan is a written answer to one question: will enough people buy enough from you, at a high enough margin, to cover your costs and pay you? Every section either helps answer that or helps someone else (a bank, a landlord, a business partner) trust your answer.

If you have not yet worked through the bigger picture of opening, start with how to start a café in Australia, then come back here to write it down.

#Who the plan is for

Decide this first, because it changes the emphasis.

For you. The plan is a thinking tool. It makes you find out what rent really costs in the area, how many people walk past at 7:30am, what the café down the road charges, and what you need to sell each day. Many would-be owners find their idea does not work on paper. That is a cheap way to find out.

For a lender. If you are borrowing, the plan is part of your application. business.gov.au notes that lenders usually want to see a business plan before approving a loan, along with cash flow statements, financial forecasts, lease agreements and your personal financial information.

For a landlord. Landlords of good sites often have several interested tenants. A clear plan shows you understand the business and can pay rent for the whole term.

For partners or investors. Anyone putting money in should see the same numbers you do, including the risks.

#What goes in each section

Most café business plans follow the same shape. Here is what each section contains and why it is there.

Executive summary. One page: what the café is, where, who it serves, how much you need, and the headline numbers (startup cost, expected annual sales, break-even). Write it last. business.gov.au suggests the summary should cover your business, your market, your goals and what sets you apart.

The concept. What kind of café, the service style (takeaway, eat-in, table service), opening hours, the feel of the place, and why this concept suits this location. Keep it concrete. "A specialty coffee bar for commuters, open 6:30am to 2pm weekdays, takeaway-first, with a short pastry and toastie menu" is more useful than "a warm community hub".

Market and customers. Who your customers are, how many of them there are nearby, and when they will come. Use your own research: foot traffic counts at different times, nearby workplaces, schools, residential density, and what people already buy. This section is the evidence behind your sales forecast.

Competition. Every café within a ten-minute walk, with their prices, hours, strengths, queues and gaps. Be fair. A plan that dismisses competitors reads as naive. A plan that explains how you will win specific customers from them reads as credible.

Location and lease. The site, its size, its foot traffic and visibility, the key lease terms (rent, outgoings, term and options, rent reviews, incentives, make good), and any approvals the site needs to operate as a café.

Menu and pricing. Your opening menu, prices, and the target cost of each item. Show that you have costed the main items and that your overall cost of sales is realistic. The café menu pricing guide explains how.

Operations. Suppliers (especially your coffee roaster), equipment, opening hours, the daily workflow, food safety arrangements (who your food safety supervisor is), and the systems you will use for POS, accounting and rostering.

Team. Who runs the café, their experience, the roster you need to cover your hours, and the wage cost. If you lack hospitality experience, say how you will cover the gap (for example, an experienced manager or head barista). The staff wage calculator turns a draft roster into a weekly cost, including weekend rates and super.

Marketing. How people will hear about you before opening, how you will get first visits in opening week, and how you will turn them into regulars. Include a small budget. Our first 100 regulars guide is a ready-made starting point for this section.

Financials. Startup budget, sales forecast, profit and loss, cash flow and break-even. The next two sections cover these in detail.

Risks. What could go wrong and what you will do about it: slower sales than forecast, a key staff member leaving, a road closure, the equipment failing, a competitor opening nearby. Lenders take you more seriously when you have thought about this.

#The financial section, explained

This is where most plans are weakest, and it is what a bank reads most closely. All figures below are before GST, because GST you collect on sales is not your money.

Startup budget

List every cost of getting to opening day: fit-out, equipment, furniture, smallwares, lease bond or bank guarantee, legal and accounting fees, approvals and registrations, opening stock, pre-opening wages and training, marketing, and insurance. Then add a contingency and a working capital reserve. Show how it will be funded: your own money, loans, and any other source. Our guide to café startup costs has realistic Australian ranges for each line.

Sales forecast

Build it from the bottom up, never from a target. The formula is simple:

Customers per day × average spend × trading days = sales

For example: 150 customers a day × $10 average spend (before GST) × 6 days a week × 52 weeks = $468,000 a year.

Each input needs a reason:

• Customers per day comes from your foot traffic counts and what similar cafés nearby appear to do. Break it down by time of day if you can: the morning rush, mid-morning, lunch, the afternoon.
• Average spend comes from your menu and a realistic mix: how many people buy only a coffee, and how many add food.
• Trading days should allow for public holidays and any closures.

Then add a ramp-up. A new café rarely hits its long-term numbers in week one. A cautious plan might assume, say, half of the target customers in the first month, building to the full number over six months. There is no standard curve, so explain your assumption.

Profit and loss

The profit and loss (P&L) shows whether the café makes money over a year once it is established. Using the $468,000 example, with costs set within the ATO's 2023–24 benchmark ranges for coffee shops turning over $250,000 to $600,000:

Two cautions. The ATO's labour figures leave out super and the owner's own unpaid hours, so if you will work in the café, that $60,840 is effectively your wage plus any return on the money you put in. And if you plan to pay a manager to run the café instead of working in it yourself, that wage comes out of the profit line.

Cash flow forecast

Profit and cash are different, and cafés usually fail from running out of cash. A monthly cash flow for at least the first year shows when money actually comes in and goes out. Include:

• Opening costs paid before you take a dollar.
• Ramp-up months where sales are below break-even.
• GST. Set aside the GST you collect on sales. It goes to the ATO with your business activity statement (BAS).
• Super. Since 1 July 2026, under Payday Super, you pay super with every pay run rather than quarterly.
• Loan repayments, including the principal, which does not appear in the P&L.
• Supplier terms. New businesses often pay suppliers on delivery or weekly until they have a trading history.
• Seasonal swings, such as a quiet period when nearby offices or schools are closed.

Break-even

Break-even is the level of sales where you neither make nor lose money. In the example above, if wages, rent and overheads are treated as fixed, they add up to $234,000 a year. Each dollar of sales leaves 63 cents after cost of sales (100% minus 37%). So:

• Break-even sales = $234,000 ÷ 0.63 = $371,429 a year, or about $7,143 a week.
• At $10 average spend over six days, that is about 119 customers a day.

That single number, 119 customers a day, is the one to test against your foot traffic count and your competitors' queues. If it looks unlikely, the plan needs changing before you sign anything.

#What a bank or landlord looks for

Banks want to see that you understand the business and can repay the loan even if things go slower than planned. In practice that usually means:

• Realistic forecasts with assumptions you can explain, not a hockey-stick curve.
• Your own money in the deal. Lenders are more comfortable when you share the risk.
• Relevant experience, yours or your team's.
• Security. A secured loan is backed by collateral such as property. Lenders often ask for a personal guarantee, especially from directors of a new company. Moneysmart's advice to anyone giving a guarantee is to find out exactly what it covers and to get independent legal and financial advice first, because the guarantor can be liable for the whole debt.
• Supporting documents: your lease or letter of offer, quotes for the fit-out and equipment, your personal financial position, and your credit history.

Landlords of a good site are choosing a tenant for years. They commonly ask about your experience, your concept and how it fits the centre or street, your financial position and your fit-out plans, and they may ask for a bank guarantee and personal guarantees. A clear plan with sensible numbers helps you get the site, and can help in negotiating incentives such as a rent-free fit-out period.

If you are applying for finance, consider asking your accountant to review the financial section before you submit it.

#Common mistakes

Forecasting from the rent backwards. "Rent is $1,200 a week so we need to sell $10,000" is not a forecast. Start from customers and average spend, then see whether the rent fits.

Forgetting the owner's wage. If the plan only works when you work 60 unpaid hours a week, write that down and decide whether you can sustain it.

Leaving out GST, super or card fees. Sales figures should exclude GST. Wages should include super. And since card surcharges were banned from 1 October 2026, card fees are a cost you absorb in your prices.

No ramp-up. Assuming full sales from week one is the most common way a plan underestimates the cash you need.

No contingency. Fit-outs run over. Equipment arrives late. A plan with no buffer is a plan that assumes nothing will go wrong.

Copying someone else's numbers. Industry averages and benchmarks are useful for checking your figures, not for replacing them. Your rent, your street and your menu are yours.

Writing it once and never looking at it again. business.gov.au recommends updating your plan as the business changes and keeping previous versions. Once you open, compare your actual numbers with the plan every month.

#A fill-in café business plan template

Copy the outline below into a document and answer each question in your own words. Keep answers short and specific, and use real numbers wherever you can.

If you would rather use an official template, business.gov.au offers a free online business plan tool and a more detailed Word template, which it recommends if you are seeking finance. You can fill in theirs and use the prompts below to make sure the café-specific details are covered.

1. Executive summary (write this last)

• What is the café, and where is it?
• Who is it for, and why will they choose you?
• How much money do you need, and where will it come from?
• What are your expected annual sales, break-even point and opening date?

2. The concept

• What type of café is it: takeaway-focused, eat-in, table service, or a mix?
• What are your opening days and hours, and why those?
• What will customers see, hear and feel when they walk in?
• What will you deliberately not do?

3. Market and customers

• Who are your main customer groups (for example commuters, office workers, parents, students, weekend visitors)?
• How many people pass the site at different times of day? When and how did you count them?
• What workplaces, schools, transport stops or other visit generators are nearby?
• What will a typical customer buy, and how often?

4. Competition

• Which cafés are within a ten-minute walk? List their prices, hours and specialties.
• Where are their queues longest, and what do they do well?
• What gap are you filling, and why will people switch to you?

5. Location and lease

• Address, size and frontage. Why this site?
• Rent, outgoings, term, options and rent review method.
• Bond or bank guarantee, incentives, and make-good obligations.
• Does the site already have approval to operate as a café? If not, what approvals are needed and how long will they take?
• Does the site have the power, plumbing, grease trap and exhaust you need?

6. Menu and pricing

• Your opening menu with prices.
• The cost to make each main item, and its cost as a percentage of the price.
• Your target overall cost of sales, and how it compares with the ATO benchmark.
• Who is your coffee roaster, and what does the coffee cost per kilo?

7. Operations

• Key suppliers and their terms (coffee, milk, bakery, produce, packaging).
• Main equipment, and whether it is bought, leased or supplied by your roaster.
• Who is your certified food safety supervisor? How will you train food handlers and keep food safety records?
• What POS, accounting and rostering systems will you use?

8. Team

• Who runs the café day to day, and what experience do they have?
• What roles do you need, and how many hours a week for each?
• Which award covers your staff, and what is your weekly wage cost including super?
• How will you recruit and train before opening?

9. Marketing

• How will people hear about you before you open?
• What is your plan for the soft opening and opening week?
• How will you turn first-time customers into regulars?
• What is your marketing budget for the first six months?

10. Financials

• Startup budget: every cost to opening day, plus contingency and working capital.
• Funding: your contribution, loans and other sources.
• Sales forecast: customers per day × average spend × trading days, with a ramp-up.
• Profit and loss for the first full year.
• Monthly cash flow for the first 12 months.
• Break-even: sales and customers per day needed to cover your costs.

11. Risks

• What happens if sales are 25% below forecast for six months?
• What happens if a key staff member leaves, or you are sick for two weeks?
• What would you do if a competitor opened nearby?
• At what point would you change course, and what would you change?