Should We Open a Second Location? (rebuilt Sept 8, 2026)

The contractor's quote says $106,000. But rent starts at lease signing, the manager starts before the doors open, and the new room ramps at 45% of mature revenue — not 100%. Run month by month, the sample's cash actually reaches $145,140 down, in month 5, before the doors have been open sixty days. That trough — not the quote — is the check your business has to be able to write. Miss it by one slow ramp and location two eats location one.

How it works

• The Engine — 24 editable months: build-out, fixed costs from signing, an honest ramp → the cumulative cash line that tells the story, with stress columns at ramp −15%
• The Trough & The Verdict — the deepest point and its month against cash plus committed financing (signed, not smiled): cushion, GO / GO-BARELY / NO-GO, breakeven month, payback month, and the stress verdict that separates planning from luck
• Before You Sign — the two-week absence test, why your veteran stays at location one, the don't-split-the-owner rule, and the alternatives that grow revenue with no trough at all

Built for

Restaurants and cafes · salons, gyms and studios · retail · trades adding a second yard · any owner whose first location works and whose landlord-to-be is waiting.

What you get

One .xlsx file, four tabs, instant download. Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice. No macros, no subscription. Not financial advice — it's the month-by-month arithmetic the lease commits you to.