Finances

I know numbers are boring, so just a quick run down: our gross sales for October and November were about $18,000 per month. Assuming an average mark-up of 30% on our food (in reality it varies between -20% and +100%, depending on the item), and neglecting “shrinkage” (spoilage and theft), that means net monthly sales are about $4,500. Our fixed costs are rent ($1700), a full time employee ($1300), and utilities and insurance (about $600). There are some other costs, like sales tax and medicare payroll tax, but this is just a rough outline. This leaves us with a “surplus” of $900, which needs to cover any mistakes, spoiled fruit, fridge repairs, capital expenses, truck-related expenses (gas, repairs, insurance), and, ideally, a salary for me and Andrew. Not quite enough.

Our goal for the next three months is to increase our average daily sales from $600 to at least $800 and see what we can do about cutting some of our costs, perhaps our employee or our truck or something else. If, for instance, our daily sales were $800 and we had no employee, our “surplus” would be $3700 — enough to live on and re-invest in the store, in the form of capital improvements and an operating cushion of cash.

On the shelf: lots of ready-to-eat and frozen Indian food, fuyu persimmons, blueberries ($2), kettle chips, little peaches, fragrant pears from China (ask to try one for free), lots of other types of pear.

Oh yeah, we may open a little late on January 1st, and Medici Bread and Metropolis Coffee will be back on our shelves on January 2nd.