Internet Cafe Rates

Knowing how much to charge is key to your success as an internet cafe owner. Charge too much and you will turn away business; charge too little and you won't make enough money to stay in business. Finding the sweet spot between these two problem areas is not hard, though. You just have to do a little homework.

The first thing you need to know is how much you need to earn. After writing the financial section of your business plan, you will have a fairly detailed monthly operating budget that includes overhead costs like rent and electricity, plus one time costs like new computers or software that you either have to save for, or pay off over time (plus the interest). If you have a business loan, that too will be part of the sum you need to make every month to cover your bills.



But that's only part of the story. You have to pay taxes, too. It is a very, very good idea to bring your business plan (especially the financial section) to a good CPA and pay for an hour's meeting to go over how much you should set aside for taxes, areas where you could get tax deductions (or larger tax deductions), and any other financial housekeeping that is required. A good CPA will be able to give you invaluable insights on your operating budget and how to handle your taxes. They can also walk you through how much you are going to have to earn to hit the break even mark.

I've gotten a little ahead of myself here, but we're right at figuring out how much you have to earn. It is basically this formula:

debt + operating expenses + taxes = required income / days in the month

You can skip the days of the month and just look at things on a monthly basis, but most business owners find it helpful to have a figure they need to hit every day. It sets a concrete goal that gives them the focus they need.

Now that you know how much you need to make, setting your prices just got a lot easier. Your prices must cover your required income. They must also be competitive. If the prices you have to charge are too high, you either need to increase volume (get more customers, or get your existing customers to spend more), or you have to expand your services. I advise that you try to get ore customers or get more money out of existig customers first. Offering more services is a good thing, but if you do too much of this you will get bogged down in maintaining all those extra services, and your business will be harder to manage.

Just so you have basic figures to work with, here are some ballpark prices for internet cafe services:

Basic Computer Usage	$15 per hour with a 1/2 hour minimum
Graphics station with Adobe Creative Suite	$12 per 30 minutes
Gaming Computer	$20 per hour with a 1/2 hour minimum
B&W Prints	50 cents per page
Color Prints	$1.25 per page
Scans	$3 per scan
CD/DVD Burning	$5 per disc