Bar Plan: Do Extra Trading Hours Cover Staff and Settlement Fees?

Extra bar hours pay through the contribution from genuinely additional settled orders. Include payment fees and the full extra roster before concluding that a thin operating surplus makes the window worthwhile.

Small fees can reverse the low-volume case

Original assumptions, $ for twelve added four-hour evenings in one month. The window totals 48 trading hours. A settled order averages $22 and consumes $8 of drinks and supplies. Settlement fees are assumed at 3% of sales, or $0.66 per order. Additional staffing is committed at $1,320; existing rent and the base roster are excluded.

Contribution per order is $13.34. $1,320 / $13.34 is about 98.95, requiring 99 whole orders. At 98 orders the result is negative $12.68; at 99 it is positive $0.66. Ignoring fees would show a misleading $24 surplus at 96 orders.

An order may contain several drinks; neither guests nor pours are interchangeable with this unit. Compare actual paid orders by hour, test the proposed basket and account for orders moved from existing hours. Check measured service capacity separately rather than treating a busy hour as demand for every added hour.

Stock consumption is different from the first cash purchase

In a separate first-cycle cash illustration, $600 of opening stock, $330 of initial staffing and a refundable $500 equipment deposit are due before receipts. Those selected payments require $1,430. The deposit ties up cash without being an operating expense, and the stock may support later sessions.

Do not subtract that $1,430 again from the monthly result. Remaining staffing and replenishment need their own dates; settlement fees deducted from receipts should not be paid a second time. Use counted stock, recipes, supplier terms and the actual roster. The Bar Financial Model provides the broader cover, check, cost and investment forecast.