Writing a coffee roastery business plan that a lender will read
A roastery plan lives or dies on four numbers: kilos sold per week, price per kilo, cost per kilo and fixed costs. Here is how to set each one out, and what a bank or investor will test.
8 min read Updated 9 October 2026
A business plan for a roastery is short. A lender or investor reads the summary, checks the customer section, then goes straight to the numbers. If the numbers rest on a believable weekly volume and a cost per kilo you can defend, the rest is supporting detail.
The sections, and what each must answer
| Section | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Summary | What you sell, to whom, how much per week by the end of year one, and what you need. |
| Customers and channels | Who buys, through which channel (wholesale, online, subscription, events, private label) and why from you. |
| Product | Your range: how many coffees, which formats (beans, ground, retail bags, 1 kg wholesale), decaf. |
| Operations | Premises, roaster, capacity per week, packing, delivery, who does what. |
| Unit economics | Price per kg by channel, cost per kg (green, roast loss, packaging, labour), gross margin per kg. |
| Fixed costs | Rent, rates, utilities, insurance, software, finance repayments, salaries. |
| Break-even and forecast | Weekly kilos to break even; a 24-month monthly profit and cash forecast. |
| Funding | What you need, what for, and how it is repaid. |
| Risks | Green price swings, losing a big account, equipment failure, and what you will do. |
Get the four numbers right
1. Kilos per week
Build volume from named customers, not from market size. A cafe doing a few hundred cups a day may use roughly 10 kg to 25 kg a week depending on recipe and size; ask your prospects what they actually order. Add online and subscription volume as a separate, cautious line. A plan where 80% of volume depends on one cafe group is a risk you should state.
2. Price per kilo, by channel
Wholesale, retail bags and subscriptions carry very different prices per kilo. Set each from your costs and check it against what your prospects pay now. The wholesale pricing guide shows the method.
3. Cost per kilo
Cost of roasted coffee per kilo is not the green price. Roasting loses moisture and organic matter, so you need roughly 1.15 kg to 1.25 kg of green for each kilo of roasted coffee, depending on roast degree. Add packaging, labels, gas or electricity per batch and direct labour. See roast loss and shrinkage and gross margin per kg.
4. Fixed costs
List every monthly cost that does not change with volume. Lenders look for the ones founders forget: business rates, waste collection, insurance, equipment servicing, software subscriptions, accountancy, vehicle costs and your own salary.
A worked break-even example
The figures below are an illustration with assumed numbers, not market data. Replace every one with your own quotes.
| Line | Assumption |
|---|---|
| Average selling price (wholesale and retail mix) | £24.00 per kg |
| Cost per roasted kg (green after roast loss, packaging, energy, direct labour) | £14.00 per kg |
| Gross margin | £10.00 per kg |
| Fixed costs (rent, rates, insurance, finance, utilities standing charges, software, owner's drawings) | £4,500 per month |
| Break-even volume | 450 kg per month, about 104 kg per week |
Worked example
Monthly gross profit at different volumes, worked example at £10 margin per kg
- 200 kg a month£2,000
- 350 kg a month£3,500
- 450 kg a month (break-even against £4,500 fixed costs)£4,500
- 600 kg a month£6,000
- 800 kg a month£8,000
Illustration only. Gross profit = kilos sold x gross margin per kg. Break-even is where gross profit covers fixed costs.
The same arithmetic tells you what matters most. Raising margin by £1 per kg lowers break-even by about 41 kg a month in this example; cutting fixed costs by £500 lowers it by 50 kg. Run both levers before you sign a lease.
The cash forecast is not the profit forecast
Wholesale customers usually pay 14 to 30 days after invoice, while green coffee is often paid for up front or on short terms. A roastery can be profitable on paper and still run out of cash in a growth month. Forecast cash monthly for 24 months, with green purchases in the month you pay for them and wholesale receipts in the month you expect to be paid. The cash flow guide covers the usual traps.
What lenders and investors test
Before you send the plan
- Evidence of demand: letters of intent, trial orders or existing accounts
- A cost per kg that includes roast loss and packaging
- Fixed costs that include your own pay
- Break-even volume compared with realistic capacity and sales
- A cash buffer for at least three months of fixed costs
- Equipment quotes, including installation, gas, extraction and any afterburner
- Your own experience, or the experience of the person who will roast
Keep the plan as a working document. Update the cost per kg whenever green prices move and compare actual weekly kilos against the forecast each month. A plan you check monthly is worth more than a long one written once.
Where Roastnet helps
Questions roasters ask
- How long should a coffee roastery business plan be?
- Ten to fifteen pages plus a spreadsheet is enough for most lenders. The forecast and the evidence of demand matter more than length.
- What margin should a coffee roastery make?
- Gross margin per kg varies by channel: retail bags and subscriptions carry more per kg than wholesale. Work it out from your own cost per kg rather than a rule of thumb, then check whether the volume you expect covers fixed costs.
- Is there a coffee roastery business plan template?
- The table of sections in this guide works as a template. Pair it with a monthly spreadsheet: kilos by channel, price per kg, cost per kg, fixed costs and cash timing.
Official sources
Rules change. These sources were checked on 9 October 2026; always confirm the current position with the body that publishes them before you act.
Read next
How much does it cost to start a coffee roastery?
The roaster is the biggest line, but installation, extraction, stock and three months of running costs usually add as much again. A line-by-line budget, with a worked example you can copy.
How to price wholesale coffee from your real cost per kilo
Start from cost, not from the roaster down the road. A five-step method to build a wholesale price per kilo that survives a rise in green prices, with a worked example.
Cash flow in a roastery: green coffee, credit terms and growth
You pay for green coffee weeks or months before a cafe pays you for the roasted result. Here is where the cash goes, the forecast that shows it early, and the levers that bring it back.
Run the roastery from one place
Green stock, roast plans, wholesale orders and the green coffee market in one platform, with a free roast-logging app for your machine.