What the space really costs, and how full you need to be

Lease cost across the whole term, site comparison, break-even occupancy for seats and chairs, and menu engineering. Everything is worked out in your browser.

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Commercial lease cost

What the space really costs over the term — and how much cash you need before you open the door.

The costs on top of rent

Before you open

The deposit is deliberately kept out of the cost total — you should get it back, so it's cash tied up rather than money spent. It still has to come from somewhere on day one, which is why it appears in cash needed before you open.
How this is calculated

Rent is built month by month, escalating at the start of each year (year one is not escalated), with rent-free months charged at zero. Service charge, rates, insurance and utilities accrue across the term. Fit-out, legal and agent fees are one-offs.

Not modelled: rent reviews to market, dilapidations at the end of the term, break clauses and any personal guarantee. Ask about all four before signing — dilapidations in particular can be a five-figure surprise years later.

Location comparison

Weigh the sites against each other on what matters, with the rent difference in plain money.

Score 0–10 on each factor. The tool compares them against the annual occupancy cost so you can see what the better site is costing you a year — then decide whether the difference is worth it. That judgement is yours; the arithmetic just makes the price of the preference visible.

Seats, chairs and covers

For anything sold by the seat, the chair, the table or the slot — restaurants, salons, studios, food trucks.

"Realistically how full" is where optimism does the most damage. A restaurant that is packed on Friday and empty on Tuesday is not 90% full — average across every open hour of the week, then take a few points off. The break-even figure below tells you how much room that leaves.
How this is calculated

capacity a day = seats × turns · served = capacity × days open × how full · contribution = sales − cost of goods · profit = contribution − fixed costs.

Break-even occupancy is the percentage of full capacity whose contribution exactly covers the fixed costs. Staff wages usually sit in fixed costs unless you flex them by service — if you do, move them into cost of goods.

Premises and covers are where the money is won or lost

For any business with a physical location, two numbers dominate everything else: what the space costs across the whole term, and how full you actually are. Both are routinely understated at the point where the decision is made — the rent is quoted without the service charge and rates, and the occupancy is estimated from the busy nights.

Rents, sales figures and menu costs stay in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account to create.

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