Calculator
Will a Café Pass pay off?
Enter a pass price, how often guests are likely to use it and what each redemption costs you, and see what the pass contributes compared with selling the same drinks normally.
Result per pass
Fill in the pass and select Calculate. Results appear only when every value is valid.
How to read the result
- Upfront net proceeds (P − F) is the money you receive when the pass is sold. It is not profit: the drinks still have to be served, and their cost arises as guests redeem.
- Pass contribution (P − r × c − F + A) is what the pass leaves after serving the expected redemptions, including the contribution of extra items guests buy on those visits.
- Displaced normal contribution (d × (s − c)) is what you would have earned anyway from the drinks the guest would otherwise have paid for in full.
- Incremental contribution is the pass contribution minus the displaced contribution: the difference the pass makes against that baseline. It can be negative.
- Full use repeats the calculation as if every included drink is redeemed (r = N). The share of redemptions replacing a normal purchase stays at d ÷ r; extra purchases A stay unchanged by assumption.
No forecast. The calculator does not predict visits. Expected redemptions and displacement are your assumptions; compare them with what you observe once guests use a pass.
Worked example
A pass with illustrative numbers: €40 net for up to 20 drinks. A typical guest redeems 12. Each drink costs €0.80 to serve and normally sells for €3.00 net. Six of the twelve drinks would otherwise have been bought at full price.
| Expected use | Full use | |
|---|---|---|
| Redemptions | 12 of 20 | 20 of 20 |
| Replacing a full-price purchase | 6 | 10 (same half of redemptions) |
| Pass contribution | €40 − 12 × €0.80 = €30.40 | €40 − 20 × €0.80 = €24.00 |
| Displaced normal contribution | 6 × €2.20 = €13.20 | 10 × €2.20 = €22.00 |
| Incremental contribution | €17.20 | €2.00 |
If all 12 expected redemptions replaced a full-price purchase (d = 12), the incremental contribution would fall to €4.00. That is why the displacement assumption matters as much as the price.
Questions
Why net prices?
VAT is passed on to the tax office, so it is not part of what a pass contributes. Enter the pass price and the regular price without VAT so both sides compare like with like.
How do I estimate displaced redemptions?
Ask how many of these drinks the guest would have bought anyway. A daily regular who switches to a pass replaces most purchases; a guest who visits more often because of the pass replaces fewer. Try a cautious and an optimistic value and compare.
What if the regular price is below the cost?
The calculator shows a warning: the normal sale itself has a negative contribution, so the displaced figure is negative too. Check the drink's price first, for example with the coffee cost calculator.
Does a pass renew automatically?
This calculator looks at one pass for one validity period. A JustBack pass is paid once for a fixed period; the calculation does not assume a renewal.