Capital Requirement Estimator
Pick your city and format — see what you'll spend upfront, what you'll pay each month, and how much cash to keep aside before opening day.
Typical Chennai casual-dining opening: ₹83,81,003 total funding (CAPEX ₹68.36 L + pre-opening buffer). Monthly OPEX ~ ₹5,15,001.
Lean saves on interiors; premium adds designer finishes, lighting, and HVAC
Total footprint — kitchen, dining, storage & circulation
Fixed OPEX to hold before stabilisation
State-specific FL-3 / bar licence — can add ₹2–15L depending on city.
₹83,81,003
Casual Dining in Chennai · 60 seats · ≈1,400 sqft · mid fit-out
CAPEX (₹ lakhs)
| Line item | Value | |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen equipment | ||
| Interiors & furniture | ||
| Property deposit | ||
| Licences & approvals | ||
| POS & tech | ||
| Branding & pre-launch marketing | ||
| Pre-opening inventory | ||
| Working capital (30–45 days) | ||
| Financed portion | % | |
| Subtotal CAPEX | ₹68.36 L |
Monthly OPEX (₹/month)
| Line item | Amount (₹/mo) | |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | ||
| Salaries & wages | ||
| Utilities | ||
| EMI / loan repayment | ||
| Insurance | ||
| Aggregator ads & platform spend | ||
| Other fixed | ||
| Monthly fixed total | ₹5,15,001 |
- Driver-based estimate for Chennai (T1) · Casual Dining · 60 seats · 1,400 sqft.
- Notable signal: Stable South Indian breakfast demand; rains disrupt Oct-Dec.
- Rent + labour + interior depreciation are the big three.
- Variable cost at steady state (food + packaging + commission): ~34%.
- Liquor licence excluded — toggle on if your format includes a bar.
Opening costs in Chennai — what drives the spread
Chennai is a T1 city with population around 11.5 million and an estimated per-capita out-of-home food spend of ₹2,900 per month. Prime QSR rents land between ₹90 and ₹280 per sqft, which is the single biggest driver of the capex range.
City-specific signal: Stable South Indian breakfast demand; rains disrupt Oct-Dec.
For a casual-dining restaurant in Chennai, here's what the typical opening looks like — equipment ₹12.8 L, interiors ₹19.6 L, deposit ₹21.76 L, licences ₹1.97 L, and working capital ₹7.73 L. Monthly fixed OPEX: ₹5,15,001.
Use the calculator below for QSR / cloud kitchen / fine dining variants. Then check the Chennai cuisine heatmap for what to open, the licence checklist for the tamil nadu state-specific list, and the 90-day playbook for what survivors run.
Related reading
- pre launchCost to open a café in Mumbai and Bengaluru (2026)A café costs less than a full-service restaurant but the capex spread is still wide — ₹28L in a Bengaluru suburb vs ₹55L on Mumbai's Linking Road for the same concept. Here is the line-by-line breakdown for both cities in 2026.
- pre launchCost to open a restaurant in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, KochiTier-2 city restaurant capex runs 40-60% below Mumbai for the same format — but the savings are mostly rent and deposit, not equipment. Here is the 2026 line-by-line for Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Kochi.
- pre launchHow much does it cost to open a cloud kitchen in India in 2026?Cloud kitchen capex is quoted as '₹10-15 lakh' in pitch decks. The real number for a single-brand, aggregator-first kitchen in a tier-1 city is ₹12-22 lakh all-in — if you don't forget packaging inventory, aggregator onboarding, and 45 days of working capital.
- pre launchFire NOC for restaurants: cost and timeline by stateFire NOC is the licence that blocks everything else — no Trade Licence, no aggregator listing, no opening without it. Cost and timeline vary sharply by state and premises size. Here is the 2026 breakdown and the filing sequence that avoids a 60-day delay.
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