How Much Does It Cost to Open a Coffee Shop?

How much does it cost to open a coffee shop?

What a coffee shop costs depends first on how you get one. Buying a running shop is usually the cheapest way in: the median coffee shop sold on BizBuySell from 2021 to 2025 went for $150,000 (BizBuySell). Building your own runs from about $222,000 for a café in an empty storefront to more than $2 million for a new drive-thru, and opening a franchise runs $242,200 to $2,283,500, based on three coffee franchisors' 2026 disclosure filings. The build-your-own range is our math: each filing's total minus its franchise and development fees. BIGGBY Coffee puts a café in a leased "whitebox" space at $242,200–$610,000 and its modular drive-thru at $457,750–$826,000 (BIGGBY FDD, April 2026, Wisconsin DFI file 641503). Scooter's Coffee puts its drive-thru kiosk at $1,163,650–$1,345,750, not including land (Scooter's Coffee FDD, July 2026, file 642104), and 7 Brew puts a drive-thru at $940,500–$2,283,500 (7 Brew FDD, 2026, file 641703).

The spread comes from real estate work, not coffee equipment. Site and building costs run from about $105,000 for an in-line build-out to well over $700,000 for a freestanding drive-thru. The espresso bar itself, meaning machine, grinders and brewer, is roughly $17,000–$35,000 at published list prices.

• Demand isn't the question; your costs are. 66% of Americans had coffee in the past day, and 47% had specialty coffee, according to the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA, 2026 National Coffee Data Trends).
• Franchise filings are an upper bound for an independent shop. They include franchise fees ($20,000 at BIGGBY, $40,000 plus a $20,000 opening support fee at Scooter's) and brand-specified finishes. They're also the most detailed public record of what a coffee build costs, because franchisors must file and update them every year.
• Buying a running shop costs far less. The median coffee shop sold on BizBuySell from 2021 to 2025 went for $150,000, rising to $176,500 in 2025, on median revenue of $375,000 (BizBuySell).
• Rent and labor are where your city shows up. Asking rent for 1,000 sq ft ranges from about $1,110 a month in Twin Falls, Idaho, to $3,500 in New York and San Francisco, and counter-worker wages differ by about $10 an hour across the 46 metros we checked.

How we sourced this page: every number links to the filing, price list or government dataset it came from, with its date and geography. Where we couldn't find a citable figure, we say so. In all, we drew on 50 documents, listed at the bottom of the page.

How much does each coffee shop format cost?

In-line cafés in existing storefronts are the cheapest format in every filing; new drive-thru buildings cost two to five times as much. All figures are national: franchisors publish one estimate for the whole country.

Sources: Item 7 of the BIGGBY Coffee (file 641503), Scooter's Coffee (file 642104) and 7 Brew (file 641703) franchise disclosure documents, all public on the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions registry. The 7 Brew total includes a $125,000 development fee tied to a 10-store commitment, which a single-shop owner wouldn't pay.

How to read the table if you're opening an independent shop:

• Take out the franchise costs. Initial franchise fees are $20,000 (BIGGBY), $40,000 plus a $20,000 opening support fee (Scooter's), and $125,000 for 7 Brew's multi-store development fee.
• Your build-out depends on the space. BIGGBY describes a whitebox as "typically an empty space," such as a strip-center unit. A former café with plumbing and drains already in place may cost less to convert, but only a contractor walk-through tells you how much.
• Drive-thru formats are real estate projects. Most of their cost is site work and the building, not coffee.

What national data shows

Government data, commodity prices and sales of existing shops give a view of the business that doesn't depend on any franchisor. The typical coffee shop that changed hands on BizBuySell from 2021 to 2025 brought in $375,000 a year and sold for $150,000, so buying an existing shop can cost far less than any new build in the filings. All figures are national.

The shrinking earnings share is the number to watch. BizBuySell attributes it to inflation outpacing what coffee shops can charge, and the 47% two-year rise in ground coffee prices points the same way. Build a cost-of-goods line into your forecast that you can update as bean and milk prices move.

How much does coffee shop equipment cost?

The core espresso bar costs about $17,000 to $35,000 at published list prices, depending on the machine you choose. That's a fraction of the equipment lines in the franchise filings, because those also cover refrigeration, ice makers, ovens, sinks, furniture and shelving.

Here are two specific configurations, priced from U.S. distributors' public listings (national prices, September 2026):

Water filtration, freight and tax are extra, and so is installation unless the seller includes it (Prima lists free installation and water testing with the Appia). Scooter's filing shows what else a full equipment line covers: "merchandising systems, espresso machine, countertops, storage, coffee brewers, coffee grinders, smoothie machines, oven, refrigerators, ice makers, sinks, furniture and shelving" (Scooter's Coffee FDD, July 2026).

The other opening costs for BIGGBY's lowest-cost format give a sense of the smaller lines (national, BIGGBY FDD, April 2026):

How much does it cost to run a coffee shop in my city?

Rent and wages are the two costs that change most by city. Asking rent for 1,000 sq ft of retail space runs from about $1,110 a month in Twin Falls, Idaho, to $3,525 in San Francisco, and the median counter worker earns $11.04 an hour in the Montgomery, Ala., area versus $21.09 in the San Francisco area.

We've grouped the examples by metro size using the USDA's definitions: major metros of 1 million or more people, medium metros of 250,000 to 1 million, and small metros under 250,000 (USDA Economic Research Service, 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes).

Every figure in these tables is local to the metro named.

Major metros (1 million or more people)

Medium-size cities (metros of 250,000 to 1 million people)

Small cities (metros under 250,000 people)

What the size comparison shows:

• Twin Falls, Idaho, has the cheapest rent of all 46 metros, about $1,110 a month for 1,000 sq ft, under a third of New York or San Francisco. Akron ($1,140) and Syracuse ($1,170) are the cheapest medium metros. Counter wages are lowest in the Montgomery ($11.04) and El Paso ($11.07) areas; Alabama and Texas use the $7.25 federal minimum.
• A small resort or college town can cost as much as a big metro. St. George, Utah, at about $2,290 for 1,000 sq ft, and Bend, at about $2,200, match or top Denver ($2,208). Bend's median counter wage ($17.05) is slightly above the New York metro's ($17.03).
• Supervisor pay can surprise you. Bellingham's median for food service supervisors, $28.14 an hour, is higher than every major metro we list except Seattle ($29.62).
• Your sewer class can depend on your business type. Boise bills coffee shops $11.25 per unit of sewer, more than twice the $4.59 rate for laundromats, because of wastewater strength (City of Boise, Oct. 2025). Ask your utility which class you'll be in.

Where these numbers come from:

• Rent: shopping-center asking rent by metro, Q2 2026 preliminary (Cushman & Wakefield U.S. Retail MarketBeat, Q2 2026). Asking rent isn't signed rent, and taxes, insurance and common-area charges are often extra. Monthly figures are our math: rate × 1,000 sq ft ÷ 12.
• Wages: metro-area medians for "fast food and counter workers," the federal category that includes baristas, and "first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers" (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025).
• Metro medians include the suburbs. A city's own minimum wage can sit above its metro median. Seattle's minimum wage is $21.30 an hour in 2026 (City of Seattle), well above the metro's $18.82 median for counter workers. Check your city's minimum before you budget labor.

City minimum wages in 2026. In Chicago, Denver, Seattle and Washington, DC, the city's minimum wage is above the metro median for counter workers, so budget from the minimum, not the median:

Medium and small cities: medium-metro rents come from the same Cushman & Wakefield report. It doesn't cover metros under 250,000, so small-city rents come from local sources: Compass Commercial for Bend, ACTIV8 Real Estate (using CoStar data) for Coeur d'Alene, Pacific Continental Realty for Bellingham as reported by PNW Daily, a CoStar report posted by a local appraiser for Rapid City, Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer for Charlottesville, NAI Excel for St. George, Colliers' Eastern & Southern Idaho report for Idaho Falls, Pocatello and Twin Falls (county-level figures), and Sterling Commercial Real Estate's annual Missoula review as reported by KPAX. Spokane isn't in Cushman's report either, so its rent also comes from ACTIV8. Wages come from the same BLS dataset, which covers every U.S. metro.

How much cash do you need to get through the first months?

More than the build. The filings add three months of working capital on top: $10,000–$40,000 at BIGGBY, $25,000–$75,000 at 7 Brew and $29,000–$119,000 at Scooter's. None says how long a new shop takes to cover its costs, and we didn't find a current, citable source that does.

Labor is the monthly cost you control most directly, and local pay rates move it a lot. Here's one position, staffed 12 hours a day for 30 days (360 hours), at local pay rates, before payroll taxes (our math):

Most shops need two or more people on the floor at peak, so multiply accordingly. Rates come from BLS, May 2025 and the City of Seattle.

The amount you need to raise is your build cost plus the deepest point your cash reaches before sales cover rent, payroll and supplies. A monthly cash flow forecast shows you that point. In LivePlan you can set your opening hours, staffing and rent, ramp sales up month by month, and see how much cushion you need before you sign a lease.

What coffee shop costs catch first-time owners off guard?

Most surprises come from the building and the city, not the coffee.

1. The espresso machine is a small share of the equipment bill. The core bar is $17,000–$35,000 at list price, but equipment lines in the filings run $41,500–$250,000 because refrigeration, ice, ovens, sinks and furniture add up (see the equipment section).
2. A drive-thru is a site-development project. 7 Brew budgets $200,000–$800,000 for site development alone, on top of the building (7 Brew FDD, 2026). Scooter's kiosk figures don't include land at all.
3. Permit costs vary tenfold. 7 Brew budgets $2,500–$25,000 for business and operating permits; BIGGBY budgets $2,100–$11,500 for building permits in a storefront build-out (7 Brew and BIGGBY FDDs, 2026).
4. Your city's minimum wage may be above the metro median. Seattle's 2026 minimum is $21.30 an hour (City of Seattle), about $2.50 above the metro's median counter wage.
5. Health permit fees can rise with your sales. Austin charges fixed food establishments $309 to $927 a year depending on risk category and annual sales, plus $312 for new-construction plan review (Austin Public Health, Oct. 2025).
6. Opening marketing is a real line. BIGGBY budgets $9,500 for grand opening advertising, and 7 Brew budgets $20,000–$75,000 for start-up marketing.

What licenses and permits does a coffee shop need?

A coffee shop is a food service business, so the core permit comes from your health department, and it usually requires plan review before you build. Annual fees in the cities we checked run from a few hundred dollars to about $1,450, and plan review can cost more than the permit itself (all local figures):

Around the health permit, plan for:

• Building, plumbing and electrical permits for the build-out. BIGGBY budgets $2,100–$11,500 in a storefront (BIGGBY FDD, April 2026).
• Zoning and site approvals, especially for a drive-thru, where stacking lanes and traffic can require separate review.
• Sign permits, a local business license, and your state entity and sales tax registrations.

Requirements vary by city; your health department and permit office can give you the list for your address.

What couldn't we pin down?

These are the numbers we looked for and couldn't cite.

• Build-out per square foot for an independent café. It depends on the space's plumbing, drains and electrical service. The filings give whole-store ranges, not per-foot rates. Get a contractor to walk the actual space.
• How long a new shop takes to break even. No current, citable source. Your forecast, with your rent and staffing, is the honest answer.
• Used equipment prices. Resale listings vary too much to summarize, and warranty and service history matter more than price.
• Health permit fees in 6 of our 14 major metros. We've sourced eight cities' fees in the permits section. Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, San Antonio and Washington, DC, are next on our list.
• Profitability by format. We haven't yet pulled the franchisors' financial performance sections (Item 19) for coffee. For independent shops, BizBuySell's sales data gives one cross-format benchmark: owner earnings of about 21% of revenue (see the national data table).

How do I find these numbers for my own city?

Free public sources cover most of it.

1. Morning foot traffic: the Census Bureau's OnTheMap shows how many people work near a given block, which matters more for a commuter coffee shop than who lives there.
2. Competition: Census Business Builder counts "snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars" (industry code 722515, the category that includes coffee shops) in your county or ZIP code.
3. Rent: start with your metro's retail report on Cushman & Wakefield's MarketBeat page, then compare with listings on the blocks you're considering.
4. Wages: look up "fast food and counter workers" for your metro in BLS wage data, then check your city's minimum wage.
5. Permits: your health department's food establishment fee schedule and plan review checklist.
6. Equipment: price your exact machine and grinders from two distributors, and ask for installed, not list, prices.

How do you open a coffee shop, step by step?

1. Choose your path and format first. Decide whether to buy a running shop, build your own or open a franchise (see the comparison above), then whether it's a café in an existing storefront, a drive-thru or a kiosk. Each is a different business with a different budget. The format table above shows the gap is hundreds of thousands of dollars.
2. Pick the location with data. Check daytime workers nearby with OnTheMap and existing coffee shops with Census Business Builder. Then visit at 7 a.m. on a weekday.
3. Walk the space with a contractor before you sign. Plumbing, drains, electrical capacity and, for a drive-thru, site work decide your build-out cost. Negotiate the lease with those numbers in hand.
4. Spec your equipment and get installed quotes. Decide on the machine, grinders, brewer, water filtration, refrigeration and ice before the build-out drawings are final, since they set your plumbing and power needs.
5. Build your forecast. Estimate daily transactions and average ticket, then add rent, staffing by hour and cost of goods. The free coffee shop sample business plan is a starting point, and a LivePlan forecast turns your assumptions into monthly cash flow so you can see your low point before you commit.
6. Form your company and file for permits. Submit plans to the health department and pull building permits for the build-out.
7. Hire and train before opening day. Budget payroll for training time, not just the first shift.
8. Open, then compare actuals with your forecast monthly. Ticket counts, average ticket and labor hours tell you early whether the plan is holding.

Ready to put real numbers behind step 5? Start your coffee shop plan in LivePlan.