Convenience Store input evidence register

These notes explain the opening budget, annual forecast and calculator assumptions. Linked sources provide the support described in each note; they do not necessarily confirm the selected amounts. Check scenario assumptions against local quotes and operating records.

• Model assumption

  Applies to: Total opening budget · Lower opening budget · Upper opening budget

  Authored opening uses total 260000 USD. Lower 180000 scope assumes a serviceable fitted store and reused cooling: fit-out/fixtures 30000, refrigeration/install 25000, POS/security 8000, deposits/setup 12000, stock 35000, pre-opening 10000, cash reserve 45000 and contingency 15000. Higher 380000 scope assumes more building services and new cooling: 85000, 70000, 18000, 25000, 55000, 18000, 80000 and 29000 respectively. These are distinct scope allowances, not percentiles or coordinated quotations. No fuel, kitchen, property purchase or goodwill.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · U.S. Census Bureau
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Fit-out, shelving, counter and signage

  Selected 50000 USD for conventional retail fit-out, gondola shelving, checkout counter and signage in approximately 1400 sq ft. Layout must retain access and visibility. This is a planning allowance, not a quoted build-out cost; structural, accessibility and lease obligations require installed bids.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Refrigeration, electrical connection and commissioning

  Selected 45000 USD for glass-door refrigerated displays, back-room cold storage, electrical connections, delivery and commissioning. No kitchen or dispensed beverages are included. Equipment counts and condition, electrical load, installation access and service coverage require a coordinated quotation; this allowance is not a vendor package price.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: POS, cameras, alarm and cash controls

  Selected 12000 USD for POS setup, cameras, alarm, cash controls and installation. Worksite guidance informs the need to assess safeguards but does not prescribe this budget or certify a site as safe.

  Occupational Safety and Health Administration · U.S. Small Business Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Deposits, permits and professional setup

  Selected 16000 USD combines refundable occupancy/utility deposits with registration, permits and professional setup. This is cash committed at opening, not all depreciable capital. Actual local fees, deposits and retail-food requirements replace the allowance.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Opening merchandise at landed cost

  Selected opening merchandise 45000 USD at landed acquisition cost, for packaged drinks, snacks, limited groceries and household essentials. It remains inventory until sold or written off. It is not added again to the forecast's sold-goods expense, and case packs, lead times and expiry require an actual supplier order.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · U.S. Census Bureau
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Pre-opening labor, training and launch

  Selected 12000 USD for paid pre-opening receiving/training, owner setup work and launch activity before trading. It is an opening use, separate from the fully paid ongoing roster from month one; it is not a source-quoted wage total.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Operating and stock-payment cash reserve

  Selected 60000 USD cash reserve is separate from initial stock and contingency. Shared-ramp arithmetic reaches a cumulative base operating deficit of about 25462 USD in month six. A separate additional 30000 USD prepaid-stock diagnostic leaves about 4538 USD; ten-percent lower orders cause a first-year deficit of about 43876 USD and a 13876 USD shortfall after that stock stress. The adverse case stays loss-making at mature volume. These are authored diagnostics, not promised runway or a complete cash-flow statement.

  U.S. Small Business Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Installation and opening contingency

  Selected 20000 USD opening/installation contingency for unknown setup work. It is not the operating reserve and cannot fund the same expense twice. Commit it against actual scope changes and rerun funding if consumed.

  U.S. Small Business Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Revenue (Year 1)

  Authored first-year net sales: 13 USD per completed order times 230 mature daily orders times seven trading days times 4.33 weeks/month times the sum of twelve ramp shares (10.6), rounded once to 960645 whole USD. Orders include first and repeat purchases once each; prices are after discounts and expected customer refunds and exclude sales tax. The simplified basket can be expressed as 3.5 sold units averaging 3.714285714 USD net; these are assumptions, not seller values or measured local demand.

  U.S. Census Bureau
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Revenue (Years 2–5)

  Years two through five hold mature demand and prices constant in 2026 dollars: 13 USD net basket times 230 completed orders/day times seven days/week times 4.33 weeks/month times twelve months equals 1087522.8 USD, rounded to 1087523. No inflation, expansion or future growth is assumed. The completed-order input is separate from the seller's new-buyer cohort fields.

  U.S. Census Bureau
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Merchandise, stock losses, processing and bags (Years 1–5)

  Round each year's whole-dollar sales times 0.676 once. Authored sales-dollar mix: packaged drinks 35% at 42% goods margin; snacks/candy 35% at 40%; groceries 20% at 25%; household essentials 10% at 35%. Weighted goods margin is 37.2%, so landed sold-goods share is 62.8%. Add stock shrink/expiry 1.5%, effective processing 3.1% and bags 0.2%, leaving 32.4% contribution. Processing bridge assumes 80% card use, selected effective checkout tax uplift 5% and Square Free 2.6% plus 0.15 USD: approximately 3.107% of merchandise sales. Actual taxability, plan, tender mix and invoices replace assumptions. Refunded sales are already removed from revenue; salable returns reverse goods cost. The row is broader than pure merchandise cost. NACS foodservice/channel margins are not this store's margin.

  National Association of Convenience Stores · Square
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Paid owner, lead, associates, employer costs and relief (Years 1–5)

  Authored annual payroll 224000 USD: owner 40 paid hours/week at 28 USD equivalent (58240), lead 40 hours at 22 USD (45760), and three associates each 28 hours at 18 USD (78624 combined), over 52 paid weeks. Wage base 182624 plus selected 14% employer costs 25567.36 equals 208191.36; relief budget 15808.64 brings total to 224000 and funds about 14.815 associate-equivalent hours/week at 20.52 USD loaded. Owner supplies 35 floor and five buying/admin hours; lead plus associates supply 124 more floor hours, totaling 159 before relief. Paid coverage runs 6:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m. around 98 public weekly hours. Coverage budget: 98 public register hours, 21 extra evening-worker hours, 10.5 opening/closing duty hours, 14 receiving/stock/cleaning hours, 10.5 break-cover hours and five flexible hours. Both workers remain through closing in the selected evening arrangement. The private calculation record contains an illustrative named rota; funded relief adds Monday/Tuesday task and break cover and floating absence capacity. Pay and task times are selected, not local quotes. FICA is only part of employer costs; local compliance and entity-specific owner tax treatment need review. Full staffing is held from launch.

  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Internal Revenue Service · Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Occupancy, refrigeration utilities, systems and recurring upkeep (Years 1–5)

  Selected annual fixed overhead 100000 USD: all-in occupancy 42000 (1400 sq ft times 30 USD/sq ft/year), refrigeration utilities/connectivity 16800, insurance 6000, POS/software 4800, marketing 7200, bookkeeping/professional support 4800 and security/cleaning/routine maintenance 18400. These are authored allowances, not local rent or utility quotes. Check lease inclusions before adding NNN charges. Major replacement, depreciation, debt and income tax are separate.

  U.S. Small Business Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Average net merchandise sales per completed order (base scenario) · Average net merchandise sales per completed order (lower sensitivity) · Average net merchandise sales per completed order (upper sensitivity)

  Selected average completed net merchandise order is 13 USD, with 10–16 USD input-domain bounds. Base illustrative basket is 3.5 units averaging 3.714285714 USD net. Net selling value excludes sales tax and is after discounts and expected refunds, before fees. Bounds are authored sensitivities, not observed percentiles. Product mix can change both basket and goods margin; a basket-only sensitivity holds contribution constant.

  U.S. Census Bureau
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Completed merchandise orders per trading day, including repeats (base scenario) · Completed merchandise orders per trading day, including repeats (lower sensitivity) · Completed merchandise orders per trading day, including repeats (upper sensitivity)

  Selected 230 completed orders/day includes first and repeat purchases once, with 170–260 sensitivity bounds. Illustrative total-visit bridge is 300 daily store visits and 76.6667% completion, including returning visitors; this is not a new-customer cohort input. Base is about 16.43 orders per public hour. At an assumed 2.5 checkout minutes/order, one active lane handles 24 orders/hour before interruptions; an assumed double-average peak needs a second lane. These times and traffic are authored, not measured capacity. Roster supplies 159 floor hours/week before relief including paid opening/closing. Upper-domain throughput requires measured peaks and task coverage before use.

  U.S. Census Bureau · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Trading days per week (base scenario) · Trading days per week (lower sensitivity) · Trading days per week (upper sensitivity)

  Selected seven 14-hour trading days, 7 a.m.–9 p.m., with six-day sensitivity and no overnight opening. Shared sales convention is 4.33 weeks/month or 51.96 weeks/year; payroll is 52 paid weeks. Baseline paid roster is held in calculator sensitivities. A real six-day schedule needs a new cost/traffic analysis rather than assuming automatic payroll savings.

  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Monthly fixed operating costs

  Selected monthly fixed cost 27000 USD equals (224000 annual paid owner/staff/employer/relief cost plus 100000 annual recurring overhead)/12. All owner work is paid once before operating surplus. Baseline costs are held from launch and within the tested activity domain; added staffing or reduced hours changes the cost regime and requires a separate calculation.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Internal Revenue Service
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Contribution margin

  Authored contribution fraction 0.324 equals 1 minus 0.628 landed sold goods, 0.015 shrink/expiry, 0.031 processing and 0.002 bags. Product goods margin is 0.372 and differs from contribution and EBITDA. Sales-dollar category shares and selected invoice margins are assumptions; channel foodservice economics cannot establish them.

  National Association of Convenience Stores · Square
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Opening sales as a share of mature volume · Monthly increase toward mature volume · Forecast horizon (months)

  Authored launch path starts at 65% of mature completed orders and adds five percentage points per month, capped at full volume, over a displayed 24 months. It reaches full volume in month eight and first nonnegative monthly operating result in month seven under the selected inputs. This is a planning path, not a measured cohort or promised timing. The first twelve months produce the annual year-one forecast; later years retain mature activity.

  U.S. Small Business Administration