Opening Checklist for a Small Cafe or Restaurant: Money, Prices, Permits, the Register and the First Month

The lease is signed. The menu is half done. You have a list in your head with 60 things on it, and you wake up at 3 am to add one more.

Is the permit ready? What should a drink cost? Who counts the cash at night? What happens if the first week is slow?

Opening week is a lot. This checklist puts the jobs in order, with the ones that cost money first. It is for a small cafe, a quick-service restaurant, a bubble tea shop, a taqueria, a banh mi counter or any small food spot. You do not need a POS, a website or a social media page to use it. Paper and a phone are enough.

Keep the free Restaurant break-even calculator open in another tab. You will use it in step 1. It runs in your browser, with no sign-up.

The short answer

Know your break-even number before you open. Set every price from what the item costs you. Ask your city which permits you need, and get them in writing. Set up the register with a cash float. Do a cash-up every night, even on day one. Write down each staff job and how tips are shared. Run a soft opening. Then check your numbers once a week for the first month.

Key Takeaways

• Your break-even is the number of customers a day that pays for rent, staff and food. Know it before you open.
• Price each item from its cost. A dish that costs $3.80 to make needs about $12.75 on the menu for a 30% food cost.
• Permit rules change from city to city. Ask your city, and do not trust a blog for the rules, this one included.
• A 5-minute cash-up every night shows a problem the next morning, while you still remember the day.
• A soft opening is a practice day. Test the menu, the register and the close before strangers arrive.

Step 1: Know your money and your break-even number

Before you buy one more thing, write down two lists.

List 1: money you spend once. Rent deposit, repairs, equipment, the first food order, signs, permits, and cups or boxes. Add a cash cushion for slow weeks.

List 2: money you pay every month, even with no customers. Rent, insurance, loan payments, phone, internet and base utilities. These are your fixed costs. Food and hourly staff are not fixed. They change with how busy you are.

Now find your break-even number. That is how many customers a day you need before the shop starts making money.

Here is the calculator's own worked example. It opens with these numbers:

• Monthly fixed costs: $12,000
• Days open a month: 26 (closed one day a week)
• Daily labor: $450
• Average check: $28
• Food and drink cost: 30% of the check

The sum, step by step:

1. Fixed costs for one day: $12,000 ÷ 26 = $461.54.
2. Add one day of labor: $461.54 + $450 = $911.54. That is what one day must cover.
3. What each customer leaves you after food cost: $28 − 30% of $28 = $28 − $8.40 = $19.60.
4. Customers a day: $911.54 ÷ $19.60 = 46.5. Round up to 47 customers a day.

Most owners divide the day's costs by the check: $911.54 ÷ $28 = 33. That answer is too low, because you still pay for the food each customer eats. The real number in this example is 47.

Type your own numbers into the break-even calculator. If you want the full method, with the mistakes to avoid, read the restaurant break-even point formula.

Write your number on a card behind the counter. You will check it every night from step 5 on.

Step 2: Set prices from what each item costs you

A price copied from the shop down the street is a guess. Their rent, their supplier and their portion size are not yours.

Price each item from its plate cost. Plate cost is what the ingredients for one portion cost you, plus the cup, lid or box if it goes with the item. Food cost percentage is the plate cost as a share of the menu price.

The free Food cost and menu price calculator opens with this example:

• Plate cost: $3.80
• Target food cost: 30%
• Today's price: $11.50

The sum:

1. Menu price = plate cost ÷ target. $3.80 ÷ 0.30 = $12.67.
2. Round up to a price you can print: $12.75. Rounding down would miss your target.
3. At today's price of $11.50, the food cost is $3.80 ÷ $11.50 = 33%. That is above the 30% target.

Do this for your 5 best sellers first. Then do the rest of the menu.

Three rules that keep prices honest:

• Weigh one portion. Use the same scoop, cup and ladle every time. A bigger scoop changes your cost every day.
• Count the small things. Cups, lids, straws, napkins, sauce cups, the boba and the syrup. For a drink shop, these can be a big part of the cost.
• Check again when a supplier raises prices. Put a date on your price sheet, so you know when you last checked.

For a coffee menu, how much a latte costs to make goes line by line through one cup.

Step 3: Licences and permits: check your city

We will not tell you which permits you need. The rules are different in each country, state, province and city, and they change. A wrong guess here can close your shop. So ask the people who make the rules, and get the answer in writing.

Start with your government's own page:

• United States: the U.S. Small Business Administration says most small businesses need licenses and permits from federal and state agencies, and that state and local rules depend on what you do and where you are. See the SBA page on licenses and permits (read 8 November 2026). Then call your city or county.
• Canada: BizPaL is a permit and licence search run by the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments together (read 8 November 2026).
• United Kingdom: Food business registration on GOV.UK explains how to register a food business with your local authority (read 8 November 2026).
• Anywhere else: search for your city's official website and its business licence or food business page. Use only pages from the government.

Questions to ask your city, one by one. Write the answer and the name of the person next to each one:

1. Do I need to register my business, and with whom?
2. Do I need a food or health permit? Who inspects the kitchen, and when?
3. Do I or my staff need food safety training or a certificate?
4. Do I need a fire or building check before I open?
5. Do I need a permit for my outside sign or tables on the sidewalk?
6. Do I need to register to collect sales tax?
7. What do I need to show on the wall, and where?

Ask an insurance agent about insurance too. Ask early. Some inspections take weeks to book.

Step 4: Equipment and the register

You do not need an expensive system on day one. You need a way to take money, keep it safe and know the day's total.

The counter, at minimum:

• A cash drawer or a locked cash box.
• A card reader that works on your phone or a small terminal. Ask your bank or the card company for the fees in writing.
• A printed price list at eye level.
• A notebook or a sheet for the day's sales, if your register does not give a daily report.

The float. A float is the small cash you put in the drawer each morning, so you can give change. Pick one amount, for example $150 in small notes and coins, and start every day with the same amount. Then the cash-up in step 5 is simple.

Kitchen and drinks. Test each machine with a full practice service before opening day. Keep the repair person's phone number on the wall.

A short opening and closing list. Write 8 to 10 jobs for the morning and 8 to 10 for the night. Lights, machines, float in, fridge temperatures, cash-up, float out, locks. Tape it by the door. New staff follow it on their first day.

Step 5: Start a daily cash-up habit on day one

A cash-up is a 5-minute check at close. You count the drawer, take out the float, and compare what is left with the day's cash sales. It tells you if money is missing while you still remember the day.

Here is the sum with example numbers (yours will differ):

• Cash counted in the drawer at close: $612
• Starting float: $150
• Cash sales on the register or sheet: $455

$612 − $150 − $455 = $7 over. A result of zero is perfect. A small amount over or short happens. The same short amount, many nights in a row, is a problem to look at.

Then write one row: date, cash sales, card sales, total, over or short. Next to it, write how many customers came. Compare it with your break-even number from step 1.

The free Daily cash-up spreadsheet has this already set up. It is one Excel file with a break-even tab, a daily cash-up tab and a tip split tab. No email address and no sign-up. For the full close routine, read how to do a daily cash-up at a small shop.

Call this the 5-minute close. Do it every night, even when you are tired. Most of all, do it when you are tired.

Step 6: Staff and tips basics

Even a shop with 2 people needs a few things written down.

Write each job. Who opens. Who closes. Who counts the cash. Who orders from suppliers. Who cleans the machines. One name next to each job.

Write the hours and the pay. Give each person their hours in writing, a week ahead if you can. Keep a record of the hours each person works. You will need it for pay and for tips.

Check the rules with your labor office. Minimum wage, breaks, overtime and tip rules depend on where you are. Ask your local labor office or your accountant before you hire. Do not copy another shop's rules.

Decide how tips are shared before the first tip. Write the rule down and show it to every staff member. One simple way is to split the tip jar by hours worked.

An example with example numbers:

• Tip jar: $120
• Staff member A worked 6 hours. Staff member B worked 4 hours. Total: 10 hours.
• $120 ÷ 10 hours = $12 an hour.
• A gets 6 × $12 = $72. B gets 4 × $12 = $48.

The tip split tab in the free cash-up spreadsheet does this sum for you. Before you use any split, check that it follows your local tip rules.

Step 7: Run a soft opening

A soft opening is a practice day with real people who know you are still practicing. Invite family, friends, the shop owners next door and their staff. Open for 2 or 3 hours, not all day.

Call it the practice close. The goal is not sales. The goal is to find what breaks.

On the soft opening day:

• Use a short menu. Your best 6 to 10 items. Add the rest later.
• Take real payments, cash and card, so you test the register and the card reader.
• Time the orders. How long from "next, please" to food in hand? Write it down.
• Run the full close, with the cash-up, the cleaning list and the locks.
• Keep a fix list. A notebook by the register. Anyone can write a problem in it.

The next morning, read the fix list. Fix the 3 biggest problems before the real opening. If you can, run a second soft opening.

Step 8: Opening week

Opening week is about doing the same things well every day. Keep it simple.

Every morning:

• Put the same float in the drawer.
• Check the fridge and freezer temperatures, and write them down.
• Check you have enough cups, lids and boxes for the day.

Every night:

• Do the 5-minute close.
• Write the number of customers next to your break-even number.
• Write 1 thing that went well and 1 thing to fix.

Getting people through the door is its own plan. For a step-by-step plan, read how to get customers for a new small shop. For a coffee shop, read how to market a new coffee shop. For reviews, how to get your first Google reviews covers it step by step, within Google's rules.

Step 9: The first month

After week 1, check your numbers once a week. Pick one day and one time, for example Monday at 10 am.

Each week, look at 4 things:

1. Customers a day against break-even. Which days are above your number? Which are below?
2. Over and short in the cash-up. Is one person or one day always short?
3. Food cost on your 5 best sellers. Did a supplier raise a price? Did portions grow?
4. Your slowest hours. Do you need full staff then? Could you open later on one day?

At the end of the month:

• Add up the month's sales and costs. Did you pass break-even?
• Remove 1 or 2 menu items that nobody orders. They waste stock and space.
• Check each price you set in step 2 against your new supplier bills.

Change one thing at a time. If you change three things in one week, you will not know which one worked.

Your opening checklist

The whole opening checklist for a small cafe or restaurant, in order:

How KANJIN helps, free

We make KANJIN (kanjin.app), so treat this section as ours. You can do everything above with paper, a pen and the free spreadsheet.

As of November 2026, the free back office has no time limit and needs no credit card. It includes:

• A stamp card on the customer's phone number. No app for customers, and no paper card to lose. Tap Counter, then Counter poster to print the code customers scan.
• Sales & costs. Type each day's sales and supplier costs, and see the week's profit. Tap Money, then Sales & costs.
• Break-even. Set your daily target once, and each day's sales show whether you made it. Tap Money, then Break-even.
• Shift notes, so the morning person knows what the night person saw. Tap Counter, then Shift notes.
• Google review requests by email, free, to customers who said yes to emails. Every one is asked the same way, and nobody gets a reward for a review, because Google's review rules forbid it. Tap Grow, then Google review requests.
• "Email your regulars", to the regulars who said yes to emails. Tap Grow, then Email your regulars.

Your customers and your numbers are kept on our servers, so a lost phone or tablet does not lose them.

Frequently asked questions

What should be on an opening checklist for a small cafe or restaurant? Your break-even number, prices set from cost, every permit your city asks for, the register and a cash float, written opening and closing jobs, a staff and tips rule, a soft opening, and a nightly cash-up. The table above puts them in order.

How do I know how many customers I need a day? Add one day of fixed costs to one day of labor. Divide by what each customer leaves you after food cost. Round up. With the break-even calculator's own example numbers, that is 47 customers a day.

Which licences and permits do I need to open a cafe? It depends on your country, state or province, and city. Ask your city or county directly, and use only government pages. In the United States, start with the SBA. In Canada, start with BizPaL. In the United Kingdom, start with GOV.UK.

How long should a soft opening be? Short. 2 or 3 hours, with a short menu, for people who know you are practicing. Run the full close at the end, including the cash-up. Fix the 3 biggest problems before the real opening.

Your next step

Open the break-even calculator and type in your rent, labor, average check and food cost. Write the number on a card. Then download the Daily cash-up spreadsheet and do your first 5-minute close on day one.

When you want the stamp card on your customers' phone numbers, your free stamp card and Google review requests are ready in a few minutes. No credit card, no time limit.