Pool Hall Break-Even Analysis: About $64K in Monthly Revenue

Fixed costs $18.7K Monthly base load

Contribution margin 92% After variable costs

Break-even revenue $20.4K Monthly revenue need

Break-even timing Month 1 Launch month

Break-even calculator

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

Lean Base Full

Monthly revenue Revenue sets the margin available to cover fixed costs. $ Low sales High sales Variable expenses These are direct costs that rise with sales, like ingredients, card fees, and promotions. $ Tight costs Heavy spend

Money available to cover fixed costs $131,795 $142,467 revenue - $10,672 variable expenses

Margin ratio

93%

Covers fixed costs

Yes

Fixed monthly costs This is the monthly cost base that contribution margin must cover. $ Lean overhead Higher overhead

Break-even chart Revenue Total costs

Which pool hall expenses stay fixed, and which move with table hours, food orders, drink orders, and events?

Cost classification

Break-even works only if fixed rent, step staffing, and order-linked costs are separated. If payroll is treated as fully variable, Month 1 break-even can look cleaner than the cash needed to stay open.

Expense	Cost	Break-Even Treatment	Common Mistake
Venue Lease	Fixed	Use $15,000 per month in fixed overhead before any table hour, food order, drink order, or event ticket volume.	Spreading rent across visits and making break-even look better when traffic rises.
Business Insurance	Fixed	Use $1,000 per month as fixed overhead for the full Month 1 to Month 60 planning period.	Linking insurance to sales even though it does not move with daily traffic in the model.
Utilities	Semi-variable	Start with the $2,500 monthly base, then review usage as open hours, kitchen activity, lighting, and HVAC load rise.	Treating the full utility bill as fixed while longer hours and more guests push usage higher.
Staff Payroll	Semi-fixed	Model required coverage in steps: first-year staffing includes 1.0 general manager, 1.0 head bartender, 1.0 kitchen lead, 4.0 servers and bartenders, 2.0 table attendants, and 0.5 event coordinator FTE.	Treating all staffing as fully variable even though open hours require coverage before sales arrive.
Food Ingredients	Variable	Apply 4.5% of revenue in the first year, then use the model’s declining rates through the stabilized period.	Applying food ingredient rates to all sales instead of only the revenue base used in the model.
Beverage Ingredients	Variable	Apply 4.0% of revenue in the first year, tied to drink order activity and the model’s annual rate schedule.	Holding beverage inputs flat while drink orders rise from 25,000 in the first year.
Credit Card Processing	Variable	Use 2.5% of revenue in the first year because processing fees move directly with paid sales.	Putting processing fees in fixed overhead and understating the margin hit from higher card volume.
Marketing & Promotions	Variable	Use 4.0% of revenue in the first year, then follow the planned lower rates as the venue scales.	Cutting promotion spend from break-even math even though it is tied to filling tables, events, and orders.

How does break-even change across lean, base, and full pool hall formats?

Scenario table

Lower traffic pushes the hall toward a loss, while the base case clears fixed-cost coverage and the full case adds a wide cushion. Here’s the quick math on monthly run rates, with the $547k fixed-cost load annualized.

Planning cases only; these figures are scenario assumptions, not guarantees.

Scenario	Monthly Revenue	Variable Costs	Fixed Costs	CM Ratio	Operating Profit	Break-Even Signal
Lean weekday hall	$45k	$6.8k	$45.6k	85%	-$7.4k	Below fixed-cost coverage, so traffic must improve or staffing must fall.
Base operating hall	$100k	$15.0k	$45.6k	85%	$39.3k	Clears break-even on the run rate and starts funding overhead.
Full-demand hall	$142.5k	$21.4k	$45.6k	85%	$75.5k	Strong cushion over break-even if the full traffic mix holds.

What breaks the pool hall break-even plan if sales soften or costs creep up?

Stress test

The base plan clears break-even with a $355k monthly cushion, so it works on paper. The real risk is a sales dip or cost creep that cuts that cushion fast, especially if weekday traffic stays weak.

Stress Case	Changed Assumption	Break-Even Revenue	Revenue Gap	Risk Signal
Current plan	No change to the base case.	$644k	$355k cushion	Healthy, but only if volume holds.
Revenue shortfall	Monthly revenue falls 20% to about $799k.	$644k	$155k cushion	Still clears break-even, but the cushion shrinks fast.
Fixed-cost pressure	Fixed costs rise 10% to about $602k a month.	$708k	$291k cushion	Rent, payroll, or utilities can eat the cushion.
Margin pressure	Variable expenses rise to 20%, cutting margin to 80%.	$684k	$315k cushion	Small fee creep matters because the margin is thin.
Combined pressure	Revenue drops 20%, fixed costs rise 10%, and variable load hits 20%.	$753k	$47k cushion	A second hit leaves very little room for errors.

Can this pool hall clear break-even before you lock the lease and buy the tables?

Founder checklist

Don't sign the lease until the hall can carry the model's $644K monthly break-even target and still protect the $670K cash floor in Month 6. The first test is whether table hours, food, drinks, and events can hit plan without forcing full payroll too early.

1Break-even load$644K/mo

Verify the lease and opening team still make sense against the modeled monthly break-even target, because fixed rent and payroll can sink the site before sales build.

2Table demand25,000 hrs

Confirm Year 1 table-hour demand can reach plan, since the tables are the core revenue engine and weak traffic will leave the hall underused.

3Direct margin92% CM

Check that food, drink, card fees, and promo spend stay near model levels, because each dollar of sales needs to leave enough cash before fixed costs.

4Open team9.5 FTE

Match staffing to open hours, not hope, and verify the Year 1 team of managers, bartenders, kitchen, attendants, and events staff can cover peak periods.

5Cash floor$670K

Fund the $445K launch capex and still hold the Month 6 cash floor, because the model's minimum cash point is where runway gets tightest.

6Event pull800 tickets

Test leagues, tournaments, and weekend traffic before locking the full payroll budget, and track table hours, food orders, drink orders, and event tickets weekly.