ATM Business Plan: Free Fill-In Template With Worked Numbers

An ATM business plan is a short document that answers four questions: where your machines will sit, how many withdrawals each site will do, what you keep per withdrawal after the venue's share and fees, and how long until the machines pay for themselves. Below is a fill-in template with every section, plus a worked plan for three machines that pays back its equipment in about 14 months at the example inputs.

Part of our complete guide: best cash flow businesses.

Most people who start an ATM route never write anything down. They buy one machine, find a bar that says yes, and figure out the rest from the first statement. That can work for machine one. It stops working when you want a second and third site, a bank loan, or a partner's money, because then someone (often you) needs to see the math before the cash leaves your account. This guide gives you the plan in the order a lender or a skeptical spouse will read it.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice; figures are examples.

What goes in an ATM business plan?

An ATM business plan needs seven sections: summary, company setup, locations, revenue model, startup budget, monthly operating costs, and a 12 to 24 month projection with a payback date. The U.S. Small Business Administration's guide to writing a business plan lists the same backbone for a traditional plan (executive summary, company description, organization and management, service line, marketing and sales, financial projections) and asks for monthly or quarterly projections in year one. An ATM route is simple enough that each section can be a few lines. What matters is that the numbers in section 4 are tied to real sites in section 3.

Two numbers drive the whole thing, and both are public. Bankrate's 2025 Checking Account and ATM Fee Study put the average ATM surcharge at $3.22, with a total out-of-network cost to the cardholder of $4.86 once their own bank's fee is added. And a new entry-level machine is not expensive: NextATM lists the Hyosung Halo II at $2,519, with a standard topper at $90 and extra cassettes from $305. Other dealers list the same model around $3,050, so price your own quote. Everything else in the plan is your estimate, and the template below labels it that way.

The fill-in ATM business plan template

Copy this into a document and replace each bracket. Keep it to two pages. If a section runs long, you are probably describing hopes instead of numbers.

The example column is the worked plan in the next sections. The surcharge and machine price come from the sources above. The venue share, transaction counts, fees and mileage are example inputs; your processor quote and your sites replace them.

How do you estimate withdrawals for each location?

Estimate withdrawals per site from the venue's own cash behavior, not from foot traffic. A bar where 400 people walk through on a Saturday might do 40 withdrawals that night if it takes cards at the bar, or 120 if the cover is cash only. Ask the owner three things: do customers ask where the nearest ATM is, how often do you lose a sale to "cash only", and did a previous machine here have a statement you could show me. A prior operator's statement is the best number you will ever get.

When you have no statement, write a low, middle and high count for each site and plan on the low one. Our guide on how to find businesses that need an ATM covers the signals that a venue has a real cash gap, and the ATM placement guide covers the walk-in itself.

For the worked plan we use three sites, each a different type, because a route that leans on one kind of venue rises and falls with it:

• Site A, neighborhood bar: 180 withdrawals a month (example input)
• Site B, coin laundromat: 120 a month (example input)
• Site C, smoke shop: 90 a month (example input)

Total: 390 withdrawals a month across the route.

How much does one ATM make after the venue's share and fees?

At a $3.00 surcharge with 25% going to the venue, you keep $2.25 per withdrawal before monthly costs. We priced at $3.00 rather than the $3.22 average because small venues often push back on anything that looks steep next to the gas station machine; our surcharge pricing guide walks through when to go higher. Some processors also pay a small interchange amount per transaction. It has been shrinking for independent operators (an ATMIA white paper describes a steady decline in their transaction revenue over the last decade), so the plan treats it as zero and counts anything you get as a cushion.

Monthly costs in the example: $70 per machine for wireless, processing and a repair reserve, plus $50 a month in mileage for the route. That is $210 plus $50, or $260 a month.

That is about $7,410 a year from three machines. It is real money, and it is not a salary. Write it in the plan exactly like that, so nobody reading it (including you, six months from now) mistakes it for more.

How much money do you need to start an ATM business?

For three new machines, plan on roughly $8,800 for equipment and setup plus about $9,000 in vault cash, or close to $17,800 in total at the example inputs. The vault cash is not spent. It sits in the machines and comes back to you as withdrawals settle into your bank account, usually within a day or two. But you need it on day one, and it is the line most first plans leave out.

Size vault cash from volume. If Site A does 180 withdrawals a month and the average withdrawal is around $60 (an example figure; your processor reports the real one), that machine dispenses about $10,800 a month, or roughly $2,500 a week. A $3,000 load covers a week with a little room. If you would rather not front the cash, a third-party vault cash provider can fund it for a fee; the self-load vs third-party vault cash comparison shows where that trade makes sense. For the full cost list beyond these lines, see the cost to start an ATM business.

When does an ATM route pay for itself?

At $617.50 a month, the $8,827 in equipment and setup is paid back in about 14.3 months ($8,827 divided by $617.50). Vault cash is left out of payback because you get it back when you pull or sell the machines.

You can run the payback period on your own numbers in the revenue calculator instead of borrowing ours. It asks for property type and headcount, which is where nearly all of the difference comes from.

The useful version of this number is per site, because it tells you which prospects to say no to. Each machine carries $70 a month in costs plus about $16.67 of the mileage, so $86.67. At $2.25 kept per withdrawal, a site needs about 39 withdrawals a month just to cover its running costs. To also repay its share of startup costs (about $2,942 per machine) over 24 months, it needs another $122.58 a month, for a total of $209.25, which is about 93 withdrawals a month.

The decision rule for your plan: at these inputs, a site you expect to do fewer than about 95 withdrawals a month is a maybe, and one under 40 is a no. Rerun the rule with your own surcharge and venue split; it takes a calculator and two minutes.

What if the numbers come in lower than planned?

Put a sensitivity table in the plan so the downside is written before it happens. Here is the three-machine route at different surcharges and volumes, holding the $260 monthly cost and 25% venue share fixed.

The arithmetic: 390 x $1.875 = $731.25, minus $260 = $471.25. 390 x $2.625 = $1,023.75, minus $260 = $763.75. 273 x $2.25 = $614.25, minus $260 = $354.25. In the lost-site row, 300 x $2.25 = $675, minus $260 = $415, and the $260 still includes the idle machine's $70 while it sits in your garage waiting for a new home. The lost-site row is the one to stare at. Losing a venue is the most common setback on a small route, which is why the agreement terms in our placement agreement guide belong in the plan's appendix.

What do lenders and partners look for in an ATM business plan?

Lenders look for signed locations, a processor agreement, and a projection that still covers the loan payment at lower volume. A plan with three letters of intent from venue owners reads very differently from a plan that says "bars in the area." If you are borrowing, add a line under the projection showing the monthly payment and the net after it at 70% volume. If the 70% row goes negative, borrow less or sign a stronger site first.

Partners who put in money care about one more thing: who does the work. Write down who loads cash, who answers the "machine is down" text at 11 p.m., and what happens to the machines if the partnership ends. That paragraph prevents more arguments than any spreadsheet.

If you already run vending machines, much of this carries over. Our vending machine business plan template uses the same structure with product cost in place of the venue split, and many operators run both from one route.

How do you fill the locations section fast?

The locations section is where most plans stall, because it needs real names. Start with a list of 50 to 100 cash-heavy businesses in two or three ZIP codes, mark which ones already have a machine, and visit the rest in an order that makes sense on a map. One yes turns the plan from a draft into a business, and a second yes is usually easier because you can point at the first machine.

If you want the list without the evening of searching, VendBuddy pulls business and property listings by ZIP code, with contact details where available, and credit packs start at 25 credits for $19 with no subscription.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a business plan to start an ATM business with one machine?

Not a formal one, but you need the numbers. For a single machine, a one-page sheet with the site, expected withdrawals, surcharge, venue share and monthly costs is enough to tell you whether the machine pays back in a reasonable time. A full plan matters once you borrow money, take on a partner, or go past two or three sites.

Can I get an SBA loan for an ATM business?

Lenders, including SBA-backed ones, look at your credit, your cash in the deal, and whether the projection covers the payment. A plan with signed placement agreements and a downside case at lower volume is far easier to fund than one with prospects only. Small first routes are often funded from savings or equipment financing instead. This is general information, not financial advice.

Most people working on prospecting start by pulling the list rather than driving the map. The VendBuddy location finder ranks the businesses around your ZIP by type and headcount, and the first five contact reveals are free.

How many ATMs do you need to make $1,000 a month?

At the example inputs in this guide ($3.00 surcharge, 25% to the venue, about $87 a month in costs per machine), you keep $2.25 per withdrawal. Netting $1,000 a month takes roughly 600 withdrawals a month spread over four machines (about 640 if it takes five, since each machine adds its own costs), which means several decent sites rather than one great one. Your own surcharge, split and costs change the count.

What is a good number of transactions per month for an ATM location?

It depends on your costs and split, so work it out per site. At a $3.00 surcharge and 25% venue share, about 39 withdrawals a month covers a machine's running costs and about 93 a month also repays its startup cost within two years. Sites that clear 150 or more a month are the ones that carry a small route.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change, so check the official source. Revenue and income figures are examples, not promises. See our terms.