Commissary Kitchen Cost Calculator
Monthly commissary rental from prep needs and schedule.
About this calculator
This calculator projects what renting commissary kitchen time will actually cost you each month, built from your real prep schedule rather than a generic quote. It multiplies your prep hours per day by prep days per week to get weekly hours, then scales that to a full month using a 4.33-week multiplier (52 weeks split evenly across 12 months), and multiplies monthly hours by the kitchen's hourly rate to get rental cost. Any off-peak discount some commissaries offer for early-morning or late-night bookings is applied as a straight percentage reduction to that rental figure before the flat monthly storage fee (dry goods, walk-in cooler, freezer space) is added on top to produce total monthly cost.
A separate, informational estimate of prep labor cost is also shown — it multiplies monthly hours by your staff count and a flat assumed $15/hour average wage, since actual prep wages vary widely by market and role and this figure is not folded into the rental total. Cost per operating day divides total monthly cost by the number of days you actually run, and annual cost simply multiplies the monthly figure by 12, useful for comparing a shared-kitchen lease against the larger upfront cost of building or leasing a dedicated commercial kitchen. The biggest limitation is that commissary hourly rates and off-peak discounts vary enormously by city and facility, so treat the default $25/hour as a starting point to replace with your actual quote, and remember the labor estimate is a rough planning number, not a payroll calculation.
Inputs
Results
Total monthly cost
$2,365.00
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter prep hours per day and prep days per week you use the commissary.
- Set the hourly rental rate and monthly storage fee.
- Enter the number of prep staff and any off-peak discount percentage.
- The calculator shows total monthly cost, monthly rental and storage breakdown, monthly prep hours, estimated prep labor cost, cost per operating day, and annual commissary expense.
- Compare annual commissary cost to owning a dedicated kitchen to evaluate when a lease becomes more economical.
How the result changes with Prep hours per day
| Prep hours per day | Total monthly cost |
|---|---|
| 2 | $1,282.50 |
| 3 | $1,823.75 |
| 6 | $3,447.50 |
| 10 | $5,612.50 |
What each input means
- Prep hours per day
- Hours you need in the commissary kitchen each prep day.
- Prep days per week
- Number of days per week you use the kitchen for prep.
- Kitchen hourly rate ($)
- Commissary hourly rental rate. Typical range: $15-$35/hr.
- Monthly storage fee ($)
- Monthly fee for dry storage and walk-in refrigerator/freezer space.
- Prep staff count
- Number of staff doing prep work (affects labor cost estimate).
- Off-peak discount (%)
- Discount for booking off-peak hours (early morning, late night).
What each result means
- Total monthly cost
- Combined rental and storage cost per month.
- Monthly rental
- Kitchen rental cost after any discounts.
- Monthly storage
- Dry and cold storage fees.
- Monthly prep hours
- Total hours in the commissary per month.
- Prep labor cost (est.)
- Estimated labor cost at $15/hr per prep worker.
- Cost per operating day
- Commissary cost allocated per day you operate.
- Annual commissary cost
- Projected 12-month commissary expense.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersPrep hours per day = 4, Prep days per week = 5, Kitchen hourly rate ($) = 25, Monthly storage fee ($) = 200 = 6 input(s) provided
- Calculate Total monthly costTotal monthly cost = adjustedRental + monthlyStorage2365 = $2,365
- Calculate Monthly rentalMonthly rental = rentalCost * discountMultiplier2165 = $2,165
- Calculate Monthly storage200 = $200
Engine last updated . Checked against 3 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the calculator multiply weekly hours by 4.33 instead of 4?
There are 52 weeks in a year, and 52 divided by 12 months works out to about 4.33 weeks per month on average, not an even 4. Using 4 would understate monthly prep hours (and therefore rental cost) by roughly 8%, since some months genuinely contain more than four full weeks of your prep schedule.
Does the estimated prep labor cost get added into my total monthly cost?
No. Prep labor cost is calculated separately (monthly prep hours times staff count times a flat $15/hour assumption) and shown only for reference — it never flows into total monthly cost, monthly rental, or annual cost. That's because actual prep wages vary widely by market and role, so folding a guessed wage into your core rental total would make the headline number less trustworthy.
Does the off-peak discount reduce my storage fee too?
No, the off-peak discount percentage is applied only to the kitchen rental cost (hours times hourly rate), producing the adjusted rental figure. The monthly storage fee you enter is added afterward at its full flat amount, since storage space is typically billed separately from booked kitchen time regardless of when you use the kitchen.
What does cost per operating day actually represent?
It divides your total monthly cost (adjusted rental plus storage) by the number of days you operate in a typical month, calculated as your prep days per week times 4.33. This gives you a per-day overhead figure you can compare directly against a single day's expected food truck revenue to see how much commissary cost each operating day needs to cover.
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