Mobile Pharmacy Break-Even Analysis: ~$72K Monthly Revenue

Fixed costs $53.6K/mo Base monthly burn

Contribution margin 87% After variable costs

Break-even revenue $61.4K/mo Monthly target

Break-even timing Month 26 First break-even

Break-even calculator

Use this calculator to test monthly revenue, variable expenses, and fixed costs against break-even for a mobile pharmacy.

Lean Base Full

Monthly revenue Revenue sets the margin left after direct costs, so it drives how much fixed cost the business can cover. $ Low sales High sales Variable expenses Use direct costs that rise with sales, like wholesale product cost, delivery, and payment fees. $ Low costs High costs

Money available to cover fixed costs $74,000 $110,000 revenue - $36,000 variable expenses

Margin ratio

67%

Covers fixed costs

$3,750 short

Fixed monthly costs Use the monthly cost base the business must cover before profit starts. $ Low overhead High overhead

Break-even chart Revenue Total costs

Which delivery pharmacy expenses are fixed, and which move with sales?

Cost classification

Break-even gets unreliable when fixed platform, compliance, and staffing coverage are modeled like per-order expenses. The clean view separates stable monthly commitments from costs that rise with prescriptions, orders, payments, and deliveries.

Expense	Cost	Break-Even Treatment	Common Mistake
Technology Platform Hosting & Licensing	Fixed	Include $5,000/month before any order volume.	Waiting to add it until customer growth starts.
Secure Data Storage & Backup	Fixed	Include $1,000/month across Month 1 to Month 60.	Treating secure storage as optional early overhead.
Legal & Regulatory Compliance	Fixed	Include $2,000/month as a planning assumption.	Moving compliance below the line from break-even.
Wholesale Cost of Medications	Variable	Apply the modeled percentage of revenue, starting at 8.0% in the first year.	Using a flat dollar amount per month.
Logistics and Delivery Fees	Variable	Apply the modeled percentage of revenue, starting at 5.0% in the first year.	Ignoring delivery density and order count changes.
Payment Processing Fees	Variable	Apply 1.5% of revenue in each forecast year.	Forgetting it scales with every paid order.
Licensed Pharmacist	Semi-fixed	Model $120,000 annual salary with FTE step-ups from 1.0 to 3.0.	Treating pharmacist coverage as purely variable.
Customer Support Specialist	Semi-variable	Model $45,000 annual salary and raise FTE as order load grows.	Keeping support flat while repeat orders rise.

How does break-even change across lean, base, and full mobile pharmacy routes?

Scenario table

Lean routes stay underwater, the base case sits near break-even, and the full case only works if higher staffing is matched to dense routes. Reimbursement pressure and slow refills can move the line fast.

Planning assumptions only; Year 1 mix is 65% prescription meds, 20% OTC health, 10% personal care, and 5% medical devices, and reimbursement or refill flow can move break-even.

Scenario	Monthly Revenue	Variable Costs	Fixed Costs	CM Ratio	Operating Profit	Break-Even Signal
Lean mobile pharmacy launch	$45k	$5.7k	$53.6k	87.3%	-$14.3k	Still below break-even; weak route density leaves payroll uncovered.
Base mobile pharmacy route mix	$72k	$9.1k	$65.3k	87.3%	-$2.4k	Near break-even; one slow refill cycle can tip it negative.
Full mobile pharmacy scale-up	$110k	$14.0k	$81.5k	87.3%	$14.5k	Creates a cushion, but only if routes stay dense and reimbursement holds.

What breaks the break-even plan for a mobile pharmacy?

Stress test

The plan is tight because contribution margin, the share left after variable costs, is only about 80.5% at base case. A 15% revenue drop, a 10% fixed-cost creep, or delivery inefficiency can turn a small cushion into a real gap.

Stress Case	Changed Assumption	Break-Even Revenue	Revenue Gap	Risk Signal
Current plan	No change.	$718k	$2k cushion	Near break-even, so a small miss matters.
Revenue shortfall	Revenue falls 15% to $612k.	$718k	$85k gap	Lower refill volume pushes EBITDA negative.
Fixed-cost pressure	Fixed costs rise 10% to $635k.	$789k	$55k gap	Payroll or compliance creep widens the hole.
Margin pressure	Variable costs rise 5 points to 24.5%.	$766k	$34k gap	Long routes and driver pay can squeeze margin.
Combined pressure	Revenue falls 15%, fixed costs rise 10%, and variable costs rise 5 points.	$841k	$173k gap	Slow refills plus delivery inefficiency can break the plan.

Can this mobile pharmacy carry its monthly run-rate before you lock in the app, vehicles, and hiring?

Founder checklist

Don’t commit to the fleet and full build until the first-year run-rate can cover about $53.6K a month and still survive the -$629K cash trough in Month 25. The model reaches break-even in Month 26, so the real test is demand, retention, and staffing before then.

1CAC Proof$100 CAC

Verify Year 1 CAC stays near $100 and repeat customers stay at 30% of new customers with a 12-month lifetime, or refill demand will get too expensive to scale.

2Fixed Load$53.6K/mo

The Year 1 fixed base is about $53.6K a month: $11.5K of overhead plus about $42.1K of wages, so check license, compliance, and insurance readiness before you lock it in.

3Basket Margin6.5% fees

The known variable stack is 8% on prescription meds, 5% on OTC, 5% logistics, and 1.5% processing, so make sure the full order basket still has room after product wholesale cost.

4Staff Ramp891 orders/mo

Keep pharmacist coverage in place before accepting refill volume, and hold extra hiring until orders are above 891 a month, because the Year 1 team already carries one pharmacist.

5Cash TroughMonth 25

Fund the plan through the Month 25 cash low, because minimum cash falls to -$629K before the model gets to break-even in Month 26.

6Launch Stack$380K

The launch stack totals $380K across app build, cloud setup, inventory, two vehicles, equipment, and security hardware, so stage those commitments only after ZIP-level demand is proven and cold-chain handling is clear where needed.