Free Utilities

Startup Costs Calculator

Use Opening Expenses to keep track of the expenses you’ll rack up before starting.

Break-Even Analysis

Use this sample break-even analysis to find out how much you have to earn to pay the bills.

Buying Budget Spreadsheet

Use this Buying Budget to keep track of the expenses you’ll rack up before starting. Enter your expected sales, and the spreadsheet calculates a buying budget for you. Apportion this budget among your primary vendors, and the sheet automatically calculates how much you have leftover for infrequent purchases, buying singles at the counter, expense overruns, or other spending.

Training Guide

This is my store’s actual training guide that crew members use to teach new employees. Use it as a guide to develop your own process. While the guide allows for 4 days of training with a trainer before the new employee is alone on a shift, I was prepared to extend it for at least one more day of supervision. It’s not necessarily the amount of content that the employee needs to learn; you can teach most of the content in a single day. I find that employees need additional practice with the skills before they feel fully comfortable.

Local Market Comparison Template

I’ve added a guide to help you compare the stores in your area. For your comparison, replace “Store 1” and “Store 2” et al with actual store names. The first column should be your store; other columns should be stores in your area–ideally in order of increasing distance from your store. I’ve added some suggested notes that you can make regarding each category, but feel free to make notes as extensive as necessary to form a complete picture of your market. For my personal use, I bold-faced the best entry in each category.

Loyalty Plan Template

Use this spreadsheet to help you plan your rewards for your customers. You can track points through your POS under each customer’s ID or you can use a third-party app that specializes in it. I recommend the former. Enter the products you’d like to add to the list, their cost, and their price at your store, and the spreadsheet tells you how much it costs relative to that customer’s spending. This sheet assumes customers earn 10 points per dollar spent. I do not recommend giving out points at the rate of 1 per dollar because it allows customers to easily track how much they’ve spent, which is problematic.

With 10 points per dollar, you can also modify the amount slightly for special events. For example, you might allow customers who spend a certain amount in the last year to earn 11 or even 12 points per dollar.

Scheduling Tool

This is the scheduling sheet I use. As you can see, openers and closers are color-coded so that I can quickly make sure I have all essential shifts covered. The sheet allows me to track my labor expenses so that I can keep it under budget. If you use a payroll service like Square, you might have access to a schedule that does more for you, but it might cost more. Spreadsheets are free, and I find this sheet does everything I need and would continue to do so no matter how large the store grows.