Own a Coffee Shop? Your Crew Costs More Than Everything in the Cup

You own a drive-thru coffee shop and the line is out the door, so where does a $6 drink actually go? The surprise in the books of Dutch Bros: the crew costs more than everything in the cup. This video follows one $100 through the shops Dutch Bros runs itself in 2025: the cup, the crew, the lease, the cost of opening, and what the company keeps at the end. What this video covers Where each $100 goes at a company-run shop: about $26 for the cup (coffee, milk, syrup, food, packaging), about $27 for the crew, about $17 for the lease and upkeep, about $2 to open, about $29 left. Why a drive-thru coffee shop is really selling a window: about 85% of business through the drive-thru, a small building on a lot of at least 25,000 square feet, and 2025 growth that came mostly from more orders, not higher prices. Shop vs company: about $29 of each $100 at the shop, about $7 of each $100 at the company after head office, loans and tax. Where the cash goes: about $295 million of operating cash, $241 million on property and equipment. How to read the numbers All figures come from Dutch Bros Inc.'s Form 10-K for 2025 (filed Feb 13, 2026). They describe this chain's company-run shops and the company itself, not a single-site owner or a franchisee. The per-$100 splits, about $600 thousand a year and about $40 thousand a week per shop, the 7.2% net income share, and "about 43 cents on a $6 drink" are our arithmetic from the filing. The $6 drink is a round number we chose, not a price from the filing. Capital spending includes existing shops and facilities, not only new shops. Analysis of a public filing, not investment advice. Primary source Dutch Bros Inc., Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... #CoffeeShop #SmallBusiness #BusinessModel #DutchBros