Tips for Creating your Restaurant Business Plan

Tips for Creating your Restaurant Business Plan 

  The first four areas for your Table of Contents
     Our last post gave you the highlighted areas that should be included in your restaurant business plan. This post will give more details on what can be included in each of the categories. If you've already started writing your table of contents, now you can move on to giving your lender the information about you, your partners, your goals and ideas for your new restaurant. These are the categories used in our business plan and it should get you the attention you deserve from a lender. Take your time, don't rush the process. It's worth the effort you put into giving the best information you can. If you have no skills at all and need some additional help with graphs, demographics and calculations, we recommend Complete Restaurant Business Plan or Anatomy of a Business Plan Step by Step.
       Create your business plan continuing with these categories:




Executive Summary:
     Early history - of you and any other owners of your company that will be participating in your restaurant, their roles, job descriptions and how you became interested in owning your own restaurant. This page could be one or two pages long and give concise details. 

     Current history -this is the 'where you are now section' and should include what you are currently working on, what job you have now, your plans to expand. Here is where you could also give a quick explanation of profits you are making, brief goals list, positive strides you are making in your current business and any special recognition you have received from the community in the form of awards, etc.

      Management team - Highlight yourself and each of your team members that are essential to your operation and will also allow your lenders to know your experience and why they should lend you money to fulfill your goal of your own restaurant. Hopefully, you already have a team in place with experience working in the food service industry. 

Company Analysis:

     Profile - create this page with your company name, origination date, type of business you have such as a LLC, Corporation, Sole Proprietor, location of the business and any stock holder information. Your business profile should also include your phone numbers, fax, website address if you have one, current sales figures, cost of goods, labor costs, utility costs, advertising, legal and end with your profit after deductions. 

     Past Accomplishments - Use this section in creating your business plan if you already own a restaurant and are planning an expansion or move.
                                        - Include a page of information detailing how you got started in business, rent or mortgage payments, type of menu served, sales figures and when and if you reached the million dollar sales figure. Add any special customers or recognition you received here as well.

     Awards and Accolades - Try to use the earliest dates possible if you've kept records of your awards and accomplishments in your city or nationally. List as many important items here as possible to show that you are experienced in the restaurant industry to help your lender recognize the seriousness of your intentions.

     Key Employees - (note: if you don't have employees as of yet, describe in this section the types of employees you will need)                      
                              Provide the name of each employee that you already have if possible along with their hire date, job title, job description, salaries and any key attributes to bringing them along in your new business.


     Unique Qualifications - in this section of your business plan highlight each of the employees, management team, business history, long term relationships with vendors and/or customers. This page should be no longer than one page and describes the particulars to how and why you are already successful as a restauranteur or how you plan to be.


Industry Analysis:


     Market Size - check out the demographics for your location online. There are many free sites that will give you information on the town or city you are looking to locate your new restaurant. Some that come to mind are www.demographicsguru.com, the US Census bureau and your city and county transportation data. Avoid the wikipedia type sites that are written by anyone and may not provide the most accurate information - you don't want to guess at statistics, you want to prove and document already existing ones.
                          - if you can, do your own study of the area, traffic, growth and any changes or improvements to the area you want to locate your restaurant and include this information here as well.


     Trends - Use this area of your business plan to provide information on your area, the growth trends, new developments and buildings, other new businesses that could draw customers, news about trends in your area and any other information that could help your potential investor recognize the growth potential of your new restaurant.


Customer Analysis:


     Customer Identification - what customers will you or do you now target, what ages are they, median incomes. Include your pricing structure of your menu here to demonstrate how you will meet the needs of those targeted customers.


     Customer Demographics - on your restaurant business plan, in this area you'll want to include the immediate area of your business and those customers. Note any increase in population, new businesses that could attract business to yours and any particular studies you could site.


     Advertising - List all of your advertising ideas that will help you to reach your target demographic in this section. List them all, free and paid. Be reasonable - advertising is expensive so try to keep those at a minimum and include your website, flyers, business cards, word of mouth, partnering with other businesses, bartering ideas and free online advertising. 


  Our next post will finish the rest of your Table of Contents sections for your business plan. Add any comments or questions you have below and thanks for reading. Cheers!