Sushi Restaurant Business Plan Template for a Sushi Bar with Take-Out and Delivery: Word Plan + Excel Projections + Fish Yield & Costing Calculator + Startup Checklist

The sections lenders and investors expect: executive summary, concept and value proposition, market analysis, competitive analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management and staffing, financial plan, legal requirements and permits, and conclusions with an action plan. This kit gives you those 10 sections already written in Word for a neighborhood sushi restaurant, plus the Excel financial projections that back them up, a calculator for the fish, the sushi rice and the cost per piece, and an 80-task startup checklist.

Built for a neighborhood sushi restaurant in a mid-sized US city: about 1,800 sq ft in a second-generation restaurant space, a sushi bar in view with 10 stools and a refrigerated sushi case, 30 seats at tables, W-2 servers with tips on top of pay, take-out and marketplace delivery, a small hot kitchen for tempura, gyoza and miso, beer, sake and wine only, open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner, and an owner who is the general manager, with a head sushi chef hired to run the bar. Covers count each take-out or delivery order as 1.6 covers. Nothing to strip out from a restaurant template. If your concept is different, the Excel workbook takes any numbers you type, but the written plan describes this restaurant (see the questions about omakase, poke and franchises).

It depends on the space, the hood and the build-out, which move the number more than anything else. The kit's example comes in at $255,100 in startup costs, and $385,156 in total cash once working capital is added. Line by line it covers architect, MEP and hood drawings and permit fees, a build-out with the sushi bar counter, signage and facade ($75,000 in the example), electrical, plumbing, grease interceptor, HVAC and gas lines, a Type I hood with UL 300 fire suppression and makeup air ($18,000), a 6 ft refrigerated sushi case, two gas rice cookers and rice warmers, a −4 °F freezer with a temperature logger ($3,500), the fryer, range and griddle, a walk-in cooler, reach-in fish refrigerators and a sake cooler, dish and sink equipment, smallwares from Japanese knives to a calibrated pH meter, furniture and sushi bar seating for 40, POS and online ordering, LLC, legal and the food safety plan, branding and launch, and opening inventory, plus a deposit, two months of rent before opening and a contingency. Replace each line with your own quotes: they are example prices, not a price list.

Not for the restaurant in this plan. The kit's example needs $385,156 in cash at opening, $130,000 of it your own money and the rest an SBA 7(a) loan, and the startup costs alone, before any working capital, come to $255,100. The Type I hood ($18,000 in the example) is most of $20,000 on its own. The plan describes smaller formats, such as a take-out and delivery shop with few seats or none (the checklist puts it at 450 to 650 sq ft), but it does not budget them: if that is your concept, type your own numbers into the Excel workbook.

It can be, with a modest margin. In the kit's example the restaurant sells $1,158,625 in year 1 (115 covers a day at $32.50 for 310 days), with 30.8% of sales in cost of goods and 33.2% in labor, and it leaves a net profit of 8.5% of sales in year 1, rising to about 11% by year 3, with a break-even of 93 covers a day. The owner is on payroll as general manager at $4,500 a month, below what a manager would earn, so think of an owner's draw on top of that from net profit; the head sushi chef is a hire. The pessimistic scenario (fewer covers, a lower check and fewer days) ends year 1 with a pre-tax loss ($29,140 in the example), and the plan says so. Replace the example with your own numbers before you decide.

It is a rule of thumb you will read for restaurants: one common version gives about 30% of sales to cost of goods, 30% to labor and 30% to other operating costs, leaving about 10%. The kit does not start from a rule; it builds the numbers: in the example, cost of goods is 30.8% of sales, labor 33.2% (servers on payroll, tips on top), prime cost 64.0%, rent 4.7%, EBITDA 15.8% and net profit 8.5% in year 1. On food the plan uses a 32% food cost, the real usage of the whole menu, against about 24% in the calculator's theoretical costing: the gap is the real shrink, waste and portions beyond the calculator's defaults, plus staff meals and comps.

It depends on what you pay per pound, how much of the fish you can use and how much fish and rice goes on each piece. With the calculator's starting values (kit estimates, editable), a usable pound costs about $11.28 from a whole farmed salmon, $23.92 from a salmon fillet bought clean and $25.48 from a yellowfin tuna saku block, and breaking down the whole salmon pays off only while your cleaning cost stays below about $12.65 per usable lb (the default assumes 25 minutes per fish: time your own). A pound of raw rice makes about 2.41 lb of sushi rice, or about 51 nigiri. The Costing sheet then puts the food cost at about 23% for a salmon nigiri, 12% for a California roll, 39% for a spicy tuna roll (the piece to watch) and 25% for a 24-piece party platter, and about 24% for the weighted menu. Consulting blogs put sushi food cost at 30% to 40%. Weigh ten slices and ten rice balls from each person at the bar: fish and rice that weigh too much are food cost that never shows up in the costing.

Usually, yes. Under the FDA Food Code 2022 (3-402.11; each state adopts its own edition), fish served raw or undercooked is frozen first: at −4 °F (−20 °C) or below for 7 days, or at −31 °F until solid and held 15 hours, or at −31 °F until solid and then held at −4 °F or below for 24 hours. The tuna species the Code lists (yellowfin, bigeye, bluefin and albacore among them) are exempt, and so is farmed fish fed pellet feed, such as salmon, with a written statement from the supplier or the farm; bivalves and roe removed from the skein and rinsed are exempt too. Freezing records are kept 90 days (3-402.12). The kit's procedure is to buy fish already treated or exempt, with the paperwork on file (it also keeps the tuna invoice that names the species), and to hold that stock in a −4 °F freezer with a temperature logger. Tuna, yellowtail and mackerel can also build up histamine if they warm up: receive them at 40 °F or below or send them back. And the consumer advisory for raw fish (3-603.11), a disclosure on every raw dish plus a reminder, goes on the menu, the website and your marketplace listings.

Not legally. "Sushi-grade" and "sashimi-grade" have no legal definition in the United States, so the kit does not promise it and the plan tells you not to put it on your menu. What exists are the parasite destruction rules of the Food Code: on the menu and the website, the plan suggests "fish handled for raw service (frozen per Food Code 3-402.11 or exempt, with records)".

Cooked sushi rice is a time/temperature control for safety (TCS) food, and the Food Code gives you two routes. The default in the kit is time as a public health control (TPHC, 3-501.19): up to 4 hours out of temperature control, with the time stamped on every batch and a written procedure available to the inspector, and at 4 hours the rice is discarded, not chilled or reheated. The other route is a variance with a HACCP plan for acidified rice (3-502.11(C)): the annex of the Code gives a pH below 4.2 as an example critical limit, but each county sets its own, with a calibrated pH meter and a log for every batch. The kit sets no legal pH: the checklist has you settle TPHC or a variance with your health department, in writing, before you open.

For the hot kitchen, almost certainly: the tempura fryer, the range and the griddle go under a Type I hood with UL 300 fire suppression and makeup air ($18,000 in the example), cleaned twice a year (NFPA 96), with the fire marshal's sign-off. Ask the mechanical inspector whether the gas rice cookers go under the hood too, and plan for a grease interceptor. The exhaust duct to the roof also decides whether a space works: if the building will not allow it, the hot kitchen does not fit, which is why the checklist puts the zoning check and the hood and duct route before you sign the lease.

Published plans run from about 15% to 30% of the order on DoorDash and on Uber Eats, and Grubhub has its own tiers; promotions and packaging come on top, and tiers change, so check them before you sign. The example sends 15% of sales through marketplaces at a 25% commission and keeps that share as a ceiling, with the marketplace menu about 15% higher for about the same basket. The Costing sheet shows the margin of every item dine-in, on take-out and pickup, and on a marketplace: with its starting values, the same 24-piece party platter leaves $31.60 dine-in and $24.83 through a marketplace, about a fifth less. Rolls and cold platters travel well, but tempura and gyoza arrive soft, so the plan keeps them off the marketplace menu or puts them in vented containers. Pickup at the restaurant pays no commission.

The nine major US allergens are fish, crustacean shellfish, milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy and sesame, the ninth since 2023 under the FASTER Act, and sushi carries most of them: fish and shrimp or crab on the menu itself, soy and wheat in soy sauce (tamari only if the label says so), sesame in seeds and oil, egg in spicy mayo, tamago and tempura batter, milk in cream cheese, and wheat in tempura and panko. Imitation crab often contains wheat starch and egg white, so go by the label. Mollusks and mustard are not major allergens in the United States, though they are in the UK. The plan tells you not to promise "gluten-free" (21 CFR 101.91): soy sauce and tempura contain wheat and the fryer is shared. The checklist has you build an allergen matrix by dish before opening.

Yes, if you want to sell them. The beer and wine license comes from a state agency plus local approval, and sake usually goes under the wine license, so ask your state's alcohol beverage control agency. The checklist has you apply as soon as you sign the lease and puts a beer and wine license contingency in the lease itself. The kit does not promise a license, and the plan never counts on it. Liquor liability goes in your insurance, with general liability, product liability for raw fish, property and workers' comp ($8,000 a year in the example). It's a beer, sake and wine restaurant in the example, not a full bar: for that, start from the Bar Business Plan Kit.

Indeed puts the average sushi chef pay at $20.72 an hour in June 2026, within a range of $14.48 to $29.64, and a head sushi chef is paid above that. In the example the head sushi chef (itamae) is a hire at $5,199 a month, about $30 an hour, who buys, breaks down and cuts the fish and runs the bar; a sushi chef earns about $21 an hour and a part-time sushi chef about $20 for dinners and weekends. In all, 10 people counting you, 8.60 full-time equivalents and $384,226 in year 1 with employer payroll taxes, 33.2% of sales. The plan's advice: hire the head sushi chef before the build-out and train a second person who can cut, because if the only person who can run the bar is out, the bar does not open.

Four sheets: Fish Yield, Sushi Rice, Costing and Instructions, in US units (lb, oz and fl oz). Fish Yield takes the price per pound, the yield and the trim you reuse for a whole farmed salmon, a salmon fillet, a yellowfin tuna saku block and a fish of your own, and gives you the cost per usable lb, per nigiri slice, per sashimi cut and per roll, and whether breaking down the whole fish pays off with your labor. Sushi Rice gives you the sushi rice per pound of raw rice, its cost with the sushi vinegar and the nori, the nigiri per pound of raw rice and the raw rice to cook each day for your covers. Costing prices 14 products, from nigiri, sashimi and rolls to platters, gyoza, edamame and mochi, from the fish, rice and ingredient prices and the menu prices you type (the defaults are kit estimates for October 2026: replace them with your distributor's prices and your own menu), and shows the food cost, the suggested menu price and the margin dine-in, on take-out and on a marketplace, plus the weighted food cost of the week.

Not as it stands. The plan is written for a neighborhood sushi restaurant with a sushi bar, tables, take-out and delivery, and it describes the other models so you can choose before you sign: an omakase counter of about 10 seats, with two seatings, a fixed price and reservations, is a different business with different fish; a poke and hand roll bar is counter service with no sushi chef at the bar; a take-out and delivery shop is small and lives on marketplaces; and conveyor-belt (kaiten) or all-you-can-eat formats need many more seats at a set price. The Excel workbook takes any numbers you type, but the written plan describes this restaurant.

No. A franchise follows its franchisor's system and fees: the plan tells you to ask for the Franchise Disclosure Document, read Item 7 (the estimated initial investment) and Item 19 (financial performance figures, if it gives them), and compare both accounts before you sign. Grocery store sushi and franchise kiosks are another business again. A food truck has a different license, a commissary and no dining room, while this plan is written for a fixed location with a hood: for a mobile business, the Food Truck Business Plan Kit fits better. This kit is for the independent owner who builds a sushi restaurant of their own. For a full-service restaurant with a full bar, the Restaurant Business Plan Kit is the general plan, with the same lender-ready format.

They do different jobs. This plan is for deciding, financing and opening the restaurant: the written plan, the numbers and an 80-task startup checklist. The Restaurant Checklists Kit Pro is the set of daily, weekly and monthly routines for running a restaurant once it is open: opening, closing, cleaning and food safety checks. Many owners use both: the plan before opening, the checklists after.

Yes. It follows the format lenders usually ask for: a written plan, a 3-year P&L, break-even, three scenarios, a 12-month cash flow, sources and uses of funds, and a loan schedule with the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) you can check against your lender's target. It's a lender-ready format, not a guarantee of approval, and a planning tool, not financial, tax or legal advice: review the final numbers with your accountant before you apply for a loan.

Yes. The green cells are the ones you type: covers per day, average check, operating days, the split between food and beverage, cost of goods percentages, delivery share and commission, rent, wages and every startup cost line. The linked formulas recalculate the rest. To change a calculated cell, use Review, Unprotect Sheet (there is no password). The workbook, the calculator and the checklist each include an Instructions tab.

Yes, with UK notes. Tax rates and wages are editable cells: enter 20% VAT, Canadian GST/HST plus any PST, or 10% Australian GST, the tax you reclaim on purchases, and your own minimum wage and employer costs. UK and Australian prices include tax, so in the Excel model type your average check without it (the calculator has a cell for menu prices that include tax). The plan and the checklist are in US units, with sq m and °C beside the floor area and the freezing temperatures (the checklist adds °C to most temperatures), and the calculator is in US units only (lb, oz and fl oz). The plan's UK note covers registering with your council at least 28 days before you open, the Food Hygiene Rating, freezing fish for raw service with no exemption for tuna, 20% VAT on dine-in and hot food while cold take-away sushi is usually zero-rated, the 14 UK allergens and the premises and personal licences for alcohol. In Canada and Australia, check your provincial or state rules with your local authority. Every English edition also includes the US · UK · Canada · Australia Equivalents Guide, a bonus with the local terms, taxes, food safety and staff rules side by side.

The price is $39 USD, a one-time payment. At checkout, Stripe can show the amount in your local currency (for example GBP, EUR, CAD or AUD) and converts it for you. The Excel cells have no currency symbol, so you type amounts in your own currency; the example in the Word plan is in US dollars.

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