Line items first, dollar figures second
This calculator supplies the structure, not the numbers. Buildout cost per square foot, equipment packages, liquor licensing and lease terms vary enormously by city, by building and by concept, so a published average would only anchor your plan to someone else's project. Enter your own contractor bids, quoted lease terms and licensing fees.
Compared with a cafe, a restaurant carries a separate and often large line for hood, ductwork, gas piping and electrical capacity. What it costs depends heavily on whether the space was previously a food business and whether a new exhaust route is needed. Check whether your contractor bid already includes it so you do not enter it twice. Smallwares and opening inventory are also paid in full before you serve a single cover.
US leases normally mean a refundable security deposit plus CAM or triple-net charges billed monthly on top of base rent - put those in the monthly operating cost line. There is no US equivalent of the key-money payment to a previous tenant found in some Asian markets, so the second line here is ordinary lease signing cost. Working capital is monthly operating cost times the months you want covered, and cost per seat lets you compare candidate spaces of different sizes.
Written as of September 2026. Treat this as a planning worksheet and confirm health, fire and liquor requirements with your local authorities and your accountant.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the contractor. If exhaust, gas and electrical upgrades are inside the bid, put everything in the cost per sq ft line and leave the separate line at 0. If they are quoted separately, enter that quote as its own line.
The same total spread over fewer seats means each seat has to earn more to pay the investment back. When comparing candidate spaces, seats you can actually turn tell you more about payback than square footage alone.