Each type of business has its risks. For example, opening a new establishment means the business will not pay off in the expected time frame. To avoid this, an entrepreneur who plans to open a cafe or restaurant prescribes a business plan with cost figures, a development strategy, and payback plans. The article will discuss how to draw up a business plan for opening a cafe.
The purpose of creating a business plan
The task of a business plan is to describe the idea and concept of the institution. A properly drawn-up business plan will help calculate the payback period of the institution and take into account all costs.
You need to calculate the planned profit, draw up a marketing strategy, evaluate competitors, and write an equipment list to open an institution. Finally, all this will be combined in a structured business plan.
How to write a cafe business plan
For the document to include only important information and help develop a strategy, the general structure of the cafe business plan is used, where each item helps to see the full picture of the establishment and realistically assess the prospects for paying back the establishment.
Summary
Briefly describe each section of the business plan: calculations, advertising plans, analytics, and development strategy. A cafe business plan summary is usually placed at the beginning of the document but written after all sections are ready. The purpose of the resume is to interest a partner, investor, or credit committee.
It is important to write your resume very carefully, using marketing tools to increase the readability and appeal of the text. The text itself should be written simply and usefully.
What does a resume consist of:
- The name of the establishment.
- Description of the concept of a cafe or restaurant.
- A brief description of the personnel that will be required.
- Advantages of the institution over competitors.
- Goals in the development of the institution.
- Availability of permits, licenses, or certificates.
- Efficiency indicators of the institution.
- Risks and additional costs.
Description of the business and relevance of the idea
Here, add information about your company: is it the first institution you open, what are the founders, and what is the initial capital. Also, pay attention to the relevance of the idea and analyze the following indicators:
- Location. Choose a good area for opening a cafe, it may be the central area of the city, where the premises will be expensive, but there will be a large flow of visitors.
- Competitors nearby. If there are already many catering outlets in the chosen area, you may not meet the payback period.
- Working hours. An important role is played by the opening hours of the institution. If you open a cafe in a business district, you should pay attention to the work schedule in the morning and lunchtime. An evening work schedule for a cafe in the city center is more suitable.
- Target audience (Wikipedia). Analyze the audience interested in your institution – families with children, students, and youth or employees of business centers in the area.
The analysis will be useful for you, as the establishment owner, and for the partners you want to attract.
The concept of the restaurant
Think carefully about the cafe’s concept and write all the ideas in the business plan. Everything should be in the same style and combined.
More about what the concept of the institution consists of:
- menu;
- price policy;
- the target audience;
- features and differences from competitors;
- special equipment;
- room and interior.
The goal and objective of the concept are to attract attention so that the guest wants to return to you.
Marketing part
One of the main sections of the business plan is “Marketing.” In it, describe the sales market, and analyze the performance of the market and competitors to determine the strategy for promoting the institution.
Description of the market
The development of a cafe business plan includes an analysis of the market and the industry in which it is planned to work. Describe the conditions and features of doing business in the region, and provide additional information about the structure, growth rate, and business prospects.
- If the goal of the business plan is to attract partners and investors, then in this section, explain your ultimate goal. Then, show the scale of the market and where you want to go and share your plans, backing them up with market growth dynamics.
- If you are writing a business plan for yourself, the market analysis will show you the real picture and help you assess your strengths and growth opportunities.
Market analysis with competitor assessment
Every year new and interesting formats of establishments appear, so it is necessary to evaluate competitors and their target audience to correctly draw up a development strategy for your establishment.
You can visit several establishments in the area where you plan to open a cafe, evaluate the service, see the number of visitors during rush hour and find out the pricing policy.
Such intelligence requires personal presence and time. Another option is to search for information about competitors on the Internet. For example, explore cafe websites for search engine queries in your city, so you can find out:
- The number of competitive sites and establishments.
- What ads are competitors using?
- The quality of sites and contextual advertising.
Such an analysis will show the number of competitors in the catering market and will help evaluate their promotion costs.
Sales and marketing for business
Any business area needs advertising, especially catering establishments, as competition is high. Therefore, the marketing strategy should be painted in stages, indicating each paragraph’s conditions and approximate advertising costs.
The program includes:
- Advertising in social networks – write if there is already a page of the institution on the social. Networks. What advertising methods do you plan to use on social media? Networks and approximate advertising costs.
- Website promotion – create your website or a rough template, which will later be a website. Specify the budget you need to create a site and promote it in a search engine.
- Brand – come up with a logo and briefly describe the concept of your brand. The cost of the menu or logo design is also worth writing down.
- Participation in social events – describe what events you plan to travel to, city food fairs, and exhibitions.
- Loyalty programs – whether there will be discounts or bonuses for regular customers in the institution. Think about whether it will be plastic or electronic cards in the application. This will require a different budget.
These are not all promotion options. You can also come up with special offers, gifts, and promotions during the institution’s opening and the entire period of work.
All the points in this section should come together in one holistic marketing strategy that will help you effectively advertise your establishment.
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Stages of project implementation
It’s easier to work according to a prepared plan, so divide everything into stages, and write down the deadlines and costs for each stage. This will help in the proper distribution of finances. The number of stages depends on the type of institution and the documents needed for work. Main:
- Premises – write in detail about the premises, purchase, or lease. Specify the cost of buying or renting a room per month.
- Equipment – determine the list of equipment for the kitchen and hall required.
- Refurbishment – When opening a new indoor cafe, you will need to make repairs and pay attention to the interior that suits your concept.
- Obtaining Permits – Decide on the time required to obtain licenses and permits.
- Conclusion of contracts with suppliers – specify the list of suppliers you will conclude or have already concluded contracts with.
- Start of work – determine the opening date of the institution so that all stages are ready and the cafe is fully opened.
Registration in the tax and the list of documents
In the beginning, it is worth deciding on the organizational and legal form: a private entrepreneur or a legal entity. Each form of activity requires documents for registration.
Production part
This section reveals the inner workings of the establishment: procurement processes, information about staff, the location of the establishment, and the premises themselves.
Premises
The first thing to write about is the location of the institution. Then, analyze and write in detail about the traffic of people in the area, the convenience of the location, whether the premises are rented, or you bought them.
Equipment
Make a list of equipment for running a cafe, from the kitchen to the hall. To compile a list of kitchen equipment, it is better to involve a technologist or chef who will evaluate what is needed to prepare all the dishes on the menu. When compiling a list of equipment for the hall, consider furniture, utensils, appliances, decorative items, and lighting, cafe program. If you are looking for an accounting system for your business, learn more about Poster’s advantages over other pos systems on the r-keeper alternative comparison page.
It is best to make a 3D model of the institution project, or at least a diagram on the A4 sheet, to understand how best to arrange all the necessary equipment and furniture.
Menu
Develop and write down the details of the menu, seasonal options for dishes, and their composition. Pay attention to drinks and an alcohol card if it fits the cafe format.
Business Staff
Calculate the number of staff that will be needed for the full operation of the institution. For example, consider waiters, cooks, bartenders, administrators, and cleaners.
Financial section
The most important section, since it considers expenses, and based on the results of the calculations, it will be clear how much money will be needed to open a cafe, as well as for the first time, until the institution pays off.
A part of the costs paid one-time: the purchase of premises, equipment, and furniture. However, the other part of the expenses will be monthly, and it is more convenient to group such expenses into categories to make it easier to calculate everything.
Main categories of monthly expenses:
- purchase of products;
- room rental
- communal payments;
- staff salaries;
- repair of furniture / equipment / premises.
If you want to understand the costs in more detail, check out our article on how much it costs to open a cafe.
Risk Analysis
It’s good when everything goes smoothly and according to plan, but there are situations when the actual project performance differs from the planned ones. To do this, you need to do a risk analysis.
The purpose of the analysis is to identify the types of risks and calculate the budget for elimination. It is worth considering any option: a breakdown of sewage, equipment, an error in the calculations.
Use a table in which you can indicate: the risk, its probability, the amount of damage, and the method of elimination. For example:
Risk:
- Damage
- Elimination
- Probability
Refrigerator breakdown:
- Average
- Replacement/repair
- Medium
This way, you will know how much additional funds you need to put in the budget to eliminate them. Before opening an institution, it is important to assess the risks to understand what to expect and know how to eliminate them without a big loss.
Financial results
After the costs are calculated, the menu is created, and there is an understanding of the concept. All this needs to be collected and combined with one common thing – money. Therefore, it is more convenient to create a safe financial plan in the form of a table. Such a table will show the integral amounts of costs and profits and understand the payback period based on capital and expenses. When you have a ready-made cafe business plan with calculations, you can turn to investors or partners to attract investment and additional capital for opening.
Findings
Opening a cafe requires not only initial capital and a desire to make a profit, but the integrity of the concept, advertising, recruitment, and choice of premises is also important. Writing a cafe business plan combines all these factors into one document, which will make it easier for you to assess the risks and opportunities and attract potential investors.
The calculation of risks and all indicators in the business plan is needed to understand the payback period. You want to make a profit in the shortest possible time – this requires a strategy.
You can also buy a ready-made cafe business plan compiled by experts, taking into account all the risks.
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