An in-store food corner: cost, return, and what the building needs
A food corner is an oven, ambient display modules and a freezer, fitted into 2.7 to 3.2 linear metres of your store. Everything bakes from frozen, three times a day, with no baker and no production of your own. At 400 customers a day we estimate roughly 24,400 lei in sales and 9,000 lei operating profit a month, on an investment of about €8,000 paid back in under five months. Every figure below is an estimate we rerun on your actual store.
The numbers, at three store sizes
Store footfall decides everything: how many pieces get baked, which oven goes in, what it costs and how fast it pays back. The figures are for steady state, roughly from month six. The first three months run at about 60% of them.
- 250 customers a day
- 77 pieces baked daily · ~15,300 lei sales · ~5,100 lei profit · ~€6,200 investment · ~6 months payback
- 400 customers a day
- 124 pieces · ~24,400 lei sales · ~9,100 lei profit · ~€8,000 investment · ~4.6 months payback
- 700 customers a day
- 217 pieces · ~42,800 lei sales · ~17,800 lei profit · ~€10,700 investment · ~3.1 months payback
What sells, and in what proportion
Of the impulse pieces, savoury runs at about 42%, sweet at 38% and table rolls at 20%. The cheese pie alone carries over half the savoury category. The butter croissant is the product against which a customer judges the whole counter.
Warm bread sits outside that split, and it is the differentiator. Margin on it is thin, and on plain white bread of 300–500 g the mark-up is capped by law at 20% (OUG 67/2023, extended to 31.12.2026). It gets listed regardless: it is why someone walks in at seven, and the rest of the shelf sells because they are already inside.
Roughly four fifths of impulse volume moves at under 3.50 lei, below the point where a shopper stops to think. Four staples take about 60% of the case, and the remaining 40% goes to two or three pieces that sell on how they look.
What the building needs
The space is less than most people expect. The power is more. The oven is the only serious consumer and needs its own circuit, three-phase on the larger models.
- Selling front
- 2.7 m in a small store, up to 3.2 m in a large one
- Freezer
- 0.7–1.3 m, can sit in the back room rather than on the front
- Installed power
- 6.4 kW on the small configuration, 14–19 kW with a large oven
- Dedicated circuit
- For the oven only. Everything else runs off ordinary sockets.
- Storage temperature
- −18 °C, until baking
The receipts the figures above miss
The corner does not only sell bakery, it brings people into the store. We assume conservatively that only one corner receipt in six is a visit that would not otherwise have happened — the rest are customers who were coming anyway. In a 400-customer store that is roughly 1,400 lei a month extra, off the rest of the shelf rather than the corner.
That sum is not included in the profit above and does not shorten the payback.
Questions we actually get
Do I need a baker?
No. The product arrives frozen and already proofed. It comes out of the freezer and goes into the oven on a set programme. One day of training is enough, and the bake schedule runs by the clock rather than by eye.
How many bakes a day?
Usually three: at opening, at midday and in the afternoon. We impose no ceiling — the limit is what the oven can physically do. If there is demand and the case is empty, you bake again.
Is the display heated?
No. Presentation is at ambient temperature with self-service, as the discounters run it. The customer picks with tongs, which raises the average quantity per receipt and removes the barrier of having to ask an assistant.
Is the coffee machine part of the investment?
No. It comes on loan from the roaster, so you do not pay for it. Coffee carries the best margin in the corner and, in smaller stores, on its own covers the corner's energy and labour.
What VAT applies?
11% on bread and savoury items, 21% on sweet pastry above 10 g added sugar per 100 g, and 21% on takeaway coffee, which is a good rather than a restaurant service. The menu we generate already prices each line at its own rate.
Who finances the equipment?
Not us. We sell frozen product, not credit. Equipment is bought outright or through financial leasing, with your own leasing company.