Thinking about starting an axe throwing business? This calculator cuts through the guesswork, giving you everything from startup costs to monthly profits. Customize your hours of operation, prices, and explore ‘what if’ scenarios to see how quickly you can hit the bullseye in building a high-profit business.
Axe Throwing Business Calculator
Business Information
Facility Setup
Revenue
Operations
Monthly Costs
How to use this calculator
1. Business Information
Enter your business name in the designated field. While “Abe’s Axe to Grind” serves as the default name, you can customize this to match your brand identity.
2. Facility Setup & Initial Investment
Your startup costs include several key components:
Leasehold Improvements: This is meant to cover essential renovations and build-out costs and includes safety features. You’ll want to include the costs of seating, tables, and decor in this field.
Default investment: $200,000
Lane Configuration
- Default cost is set at $7,500 per lane for a standard setup. But depending a variety of factors like LED lighting, TV screens, and other materials the cost-per lane can vary significantly.
- Standard layout: 8 lanes
According to Axecitement.com, standard space requirements are 6 feet in width and 24 feet depth per lane. Keep these space requirements in mind when evaluating a lease space.
Lane build-outs typically include the following: Target boards and backings, safety barriers, scoring systems, and other maintenance tools.
Mobile axe throwing venue.
Equipment Investment: Axes: $150 per axe by default
3. Revenue Stream Calculations
Peak Hours (Friday-Sunday):
Peak Revenue = (Hourly Rate × Number of Lanes × Peak Utilization × Peak Hours × 4.3 weeks) × Average Group Size
Off-Peak Hours: This allows you to project revenue based on times of the week when there is less demand.
Off-Peak Revenue = (Hourly Rate × Number of Lanes × Off-Peak Utilization × Off-Peak Hours × 4.3 weeks) × Average Group Size
Corporate Events: You can use this fields to account for birthday parties, bachelor parties, or other events too.
Corporate Revenue = Event Price × Number of Monthly Events
4. Operating Expenses
Monthly operational costs include the following. You can add or remove additional expenses in this tool for more accurate estimates.
Default Costs
- Rent: $5,000 default monthly rate
- Insurance: $500 default monthly rate
- Note: Industry average ranges from $5,000-$7,500 annually (Source: Axcitement Insurance Guide)
- Utilities: $800 default monthly rate
- Staff wages: $5,000 default monthly rate
- Marketing: $2,000 default monthly allocation
- Maintenance: $100 per lane monthly default
The calculator results
The first results section of the tool shows your total investment to open the doors. The calculator adds up everything you need to spend upfront: renovating your space, setting up the throwing lanes, buying all your equipment, getting your permits, and funding your first marketing push. This total gives you a clear picture of how much capital you need to launch.
The second section focuses on how your business will perform once it’s running. It breaks down your expected income streams (busy weekend hours, slower weekday times, and corporate events), showing you which parts of your business will be the biggest money makers.
See how different time periods impact your businesses revenue in this tool.
You’ll also find expected monthly profits after all expenses, and importantly, how long it will take to earn back your initial investment. The calculator also looks ahead five years, giving you both conservative and optimistic scenarios for how your business might grow. This helps you understand not just if your business can survive, but how well it could thrive under the right conditions.
About this tool:
I want to give major credit to folks at Axcitement for publishing extremely helpful estimates around the cost of starting an axe throwing venue. I implemented many of their projections and built them into the default settings of this tool.
One of the aspects that’s so appealing about starting an axe throwing business is the potential for extremely high profit margins that can be realized after your startup / buildout costs are covered. Of course there’s always the option to add alcohol sales or food and increase revenues even further.
But keep in mind, if you build an axe throwing venue doesn’t mean customers will show up on their own. You’ve got to get really good at marketing and promoting your business.
When I started digging into how successful axe-throwing venues get people through the door, I stumbled across a gem of a case study: Forged Axe Throwing, a Canadian success story in Whistler, British Columbia, who’ve built a business generating $60,000 in revenue each month.
One of the Forge Axe Throwing secrets to success is that no marketing approach is off-limits to test in their market. Here are a few things that have drummed up axe throwing customers in their market.
Throw a Grand-Opening Party
When Forged Axe Throwing opened its doors, the founders James and Brett didn’t rely on wishful thinking to draw a crowd. They made noise—literally and figuratively. They slapped up a giant banner across from a brewery, knowing beer and sharp objects could just be a match made in heaven.
A collection of throwing axes.
They also hit the pavement by handing out 500 flyers to nearby businesses and tossed another $50 into Facebook and Instagram ads to plant the seed. Finally, they called in favors and got their friends hyped. Result? A standing-room-only grand opening. That’s how you kick things off with a bang and generate excitement for a new business.
Old-School Marketing
Here’s a fun surprise: one of Forged’s top-performing marketing moves was as old-school as it gets. They stuck brochures in tourist racks, and these glossy little paper flyers became one of their top three drivers of new business. And get this—they also found success running print ads in the local newspaper. Who knew! Sometimes you’ve got to try different things and see what works in your market.
Check out the number of satisfied Google reviews and still growing!
Expand Beyond the Venue
Once the bricks-and-mortar business was humming, James and Brett invested in a mobile axe throwing trailer for events. It’s basically a rolling billboard that also makes money. From corporate parties to festivals this mobile venue added another stream of revenue and marketing exposure to the mix.
Forged Axe Throwing’s success didn’t come from one flashy ad campaign or a lucky break. It came from grinding away at every angle: flyers, blog posts, Facebook ads, and even brochures. The lesson here? If you’re aiming for $60,000 a month in revenue, you’ve got to create a marketing machine that never stops moving. Because no one’s going to throw axes at your business if they don’t know it exists first.
Related tools:
Hole-in-One Challenge Revenue and Prize Calculator: Much like an axe-throwing venue, a Hole-in-One Challenge requires building awareness, generating excitement, and a marketing machine to get regular paying customers. Both ideas lean heavily on the experience factor: offering something fun, memorable, and a little outside the box.
About the Author: Brett Lindenberg
