Restaurant Startup Costs: What Does Opening Cost?
You add up the build, the kitchen and the furniture and you get a number. That number is correct, and it is not the amount you need. Because in month one the room is half empty while the rent, the team and your own groceries carry on in full — and that gap, which nobody budgets for, is where most first-timers come unstuck. This tool counts those opening months in, sets your funding beside them until both columns balance, and turns your break-even into the one figure you can actually check yourself: how many covers you need every single day, and whether that many will even fit in your room.
This is a reasoned plan to take to your bank, not a lending promise and not accounting advice. Figures such as VAT rates, employer contributions and licence costs differ by country and by municipality — always have your plan checked by your accountant or financial adviser before you sign anything.
How do you build your financing plan?
- 1
Describe the place you are opening
Type of business, seats, floor area, the covers you expect once you are up to speed and what a guest spends on average. Don't know the investment figures yet? One click fills in indicative amounts that match your size and concept.
- 2
Put your funding beside it
Own money, a bank loan, a loan from family, a grant, a brewery credit or leasing. The tool totals both columns and shows the shortfall straight away — including the opening losses no invoice ever warns you about.
- 3
Read the answer and print it
Your total capital requirement, your shortfall or surplus, your break-even in covers per day, and the three tests your bank runs itself: own contribution, debt coverage and the most your earnings can carry. Print the plan and take it to the meeting.
For opening, taking over or expanding
The money you spend is not the money you need
Almost every first-timer budgets the build and forgets the run-up. This tool walks your first twelve months one at a time, adds the deepest point of your cash position to your investment and puts a reserve on top. That is the figure you take to the bank — not the total of your quotes.
Break-even in covers, not in euros
"You need £39,000 a month" means nothing to anyone. "You need 51 covers a day" does — that is a room you can picture. And the tool puts that figure beside what your room can physically hold: if your break-even doesn't fit, the plan is wrong however you finance it.
The tests your bank actually runs
A lender looks at three things: how much of your own money you bring, how many times your repayment is covered by what the business keeps, and whether the plan balances. All three are here, along with the maximum credit your figures carry — solved backwards from the coverage ratio, not from a rule of thumb.
Frequently asked questions
Is this financing plan free?
Yes, completely free and with no account or installation. You enter your figures and print your plan straight from your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
How much money do I need to open a restaurant?
For an independent place of around forty seats the investment quickly runs from €150,000 to €350,000, depending on whether you are fitting out a shell or taking over a going concern. But that does not answer your question: on top of it you need the money to bridge the months when the room is not full yet. Reckon on six to nine months of run-up. This tool works that amount out exactly instead of slapping a percentage on it.
How much of my own money does a bank want to see?
In practice 20 to 30% of your total capital requirement, and for a first venture without industry experience closer to 30 than 20. Watch what sits in that denominator: banks count your opening losses and working capital in, not just your investment. That is exactly why a plan that looks like 25% own money on paper comes out at 18% across the desk.
What is a debt service coverage ratio (DSCR)?
The DSCR is how many times your annual repayment is covered by what the business keeps after you have paid yourself. Below 1 you cannot repay at all; lenders normally want to see at least 1.20 to 1.30. This tool also runs the sum backwards and tells you the most you can borrow on your figures before that line is crossed.
Why does the tool treat my own pay as a cost?
Because you have to live on it. A plan that only works if the owner draws nothing for a year is not a plan, it is a postponement. Your drawings therefore sit separately in the model: they weigh on your cash position and your break-even, but not on your operating result — which is exactly how your bank reads it.
Are the default VAT rate and food cost right for me?
The VAT rate is preset to the hospitality rate in your country and the food cost to what is usual for the type of business you picked. Both sit in the "fine-tuning" panel and both can be overwritten — your menu and your suppliers are not an average. VAT rates also change regularly, so check today's rate with your accountant.
What if my break-even doesn't fit in my dining room?
Then the tool says so, instead of showing a bigger number. If you need more covers a day than your seats times your turns, no amount of financing fixes it: average spend has to go up, fixed costs have to come down, or the room has to get bigger. That is an unwelcome answer, and one you would rather have now than in month eight.
Does this replace a business plan?
It replaces its financial chapter — the part your bank opens first and the only part you can calculate. Your concept, market, location and team you write yourself; there is a fill-in template for that elsewhere on this site. What comes out here goes into that plan.
Is my data stored anywhere?
Everything stays in your own browser (localStorage); nothing is uploaded or shared. Your plan is still there when you reopen the tool.