Business plan · the one-page version
A four-chair barbershop at 214 Garnet Street, opening Monday, March 1, 2027. It costs $112,000 to open. We're putting in $32,000 and asking to borrow $80,000.
Brass Chair has cut hair on Coleman Street since 2019: four chairs, six barbers on rotation, open six days a week. In the twelve months to October 2026 it did 13,800 haircuts and took $517,500. After paying me a $52,000 salary it made $68,400.
The second shop is the same shop, twelve minutes' drive east: same prices, same booking app, walk-ins welcome. It opens with three barbers and fills the fourth chair in year three.
| Average haircut | $36.00 |
| Barber's pay and payroll tax, 55% | − $19.80 |
| Products sold alongside, after their cost | + $0.75 |
| Card fees, 2.8% of $37.50 | − $1.05 |
| Left to run the shop | $15.90 |
Rent, running costs, marketing and the manager's extra pay come to $87,600 in year one. Loan payments add $15,564. That's $103,164, which takes about 6,490 haircuts at $15.90 each: 22 a day over 300 opening days.
| Fit-out: plumbing for four basins, electrics, floor, front counter | $46,000 |
| Four chairs and stations | $16,200 |
| Lease deposit and first month's rent (3 × $3,400) | $10,200 |
| Tools, towels and opening stock | $5,300 |
| Sign and awning | $4,800 |
| Opening marketing | $3,000 |
| Licenses, permits and legal | $2,500 |
| Reserve for a slow start | $24,000 |
| Total | $112,000 |
Years run from opening day. Prices are held at $36 for all three years.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbers working | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Haircuts a day | 21 | 33 | 40 |
| Haircuts a year | 6,300 | 9,900 | 12,000 |
| Sales, $ | |||
| Haircuts at $36 | 226,800 | 356,400 | 432,000 |
| Products, $1.50 a haircut | 9,450 | 14,850 | 18,000 |
| Total sales | 236,250 | 371,250 | 450,000 |
| Costs, $ | |||
| Barbers' pay, 55% of haircut sales | 124,740 | 196,020 | 237,600 |
| Rent | 40,800 | 42,000 | 43,200 |
| Utilities, supplies, insurance, software | 25,800 | 27,000 | 28,800 |
| Product cost and card fees | 11,340 | 17,820 | 21,600 |
| Marketing | 9,000 | 4,800 | 4,800 |
| Manager's extra pay | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| Total costs | 223,680 | 299,640 | 348,000 |
| What's left, $ | |||
| Profit before loan payments | 12,570 | 71,610 | 102,000 |
| Loan payments, $1,297 a month | 15,564 | 15,564 | 15,564 |
| After loan payments | − 2,994 | 56,046 | 86,436 |
Year one plans for 21 haircuts a day, just under the 22 it takes to break even. The $2,994 gap comes out of the reserve. Shop one did 19 a day in its own first year, with no regulars to start from.
With 20% fewer haircuts than planned in every year, year one loses $7,464 and ends $23,028 short after loan payments. The $24,000 reserve covers that. Year two still clears $24,564 after the loan.
Two of our six barbers have agreed in writing to move. The third finishes her license in January. A chair empty for the whole first year costs $33,390 toward rent and the loan.
Five years at $3,400 a month, rising $100 a month each year, with an option on five more. Rent is 17% of year-one sales and under 10% by year three.
Tess Okonkwo, five years with us, manages Garnet Street for an extra $12,000 a year. I split my week between the shops for the first six months.
An $80,000 loan over seven years at the 9.25% on your small-business rate sheet: $1,297 a month, $108,948 repaid in all. It's secured on the equipment and my personal guarantee. Shop one stands behind it too: with its $68,400, the two shops make $80,970 before loan payments in year one, 5.2 times the payments.
The full plan runs to 31 pages: cash flow month by month, the builder's quote, the draft lease, and two years of shop one's accounts. Say the word and I'll send it.