Your menu or price tag shows the sale. It does not show the nine costs that land between that sale and your actual profit. Most owners discover them only at tax time or during a cash crunch.
| Hidden cost | Typical size |
|---|---|
| Card / payment processing | 1.5-3.5% of sales, every transaction |
| Employer payroll tax | ~15-25% on top of wages (FICA + SUTA/FUTA + workers' comp) |
| NNN lease load | 20-40% on top of base rent |
| Inventory shrinkage | ~1-2% of inventory (theft, damage, spoilage) |
| Marketplace / delivery fees | 8-15% on platform sales, on top of card fees |
| Sales-tax admin burden | Time and software to collect, file, remit |
| Owner unpaid labor | The wage you skip paying yourself |
| Maintenance & repairs | Recurring, rarely budgeted |
| Marketing % | Often 3-10% of revenue to stay visible |
Why they matter together
Individually small, collectively decisive. Card fees plus employer tax plus NNN load can remove 25-40% of top-line before rent and COGS. A store priced for "gross margin only" is silently unprofitable.
Audit quarterly: Pull the last three months of statements and tally the nine lines above. The total surprise is usually the largest single number in your P&L you were not tracking.
Act on the audit
The Store Health Check folds these into your real net and cash runway, and the POS Fee Comparison shows whether your processor is the leak. Employer payroll tax is modeled separately so hires never surprise you.
Never spend collected sales tax: It is the easiest "hidden cost" to confuse with revenue — and the most expensive to get wrong.