Business Plan
Business Plan
1. Branding
Displaying your brand is one of the most important steps while writing your restaurant business plan. Your
brand will make your idea stand out from the thousand other ideas. Your brand includes the following
essentials:
Logo: The first thing to do while writing a restaurant business plan is designing a logo. It is okay, if it
isn’t finalized but you should have a tentative cover for your brand
Name: Treat your business plan as a project and name your restaurant. Make sure you give it some
catchy name which makes it unique and different not only for the investors but also for the
customers. Let an attractive name play as one of the marketing strategies for your business
Tentative release date: Branding your ideas comes with a deadline. When you have a release date
in mind along with a timeline for your project it shows you as a very promising candidate
3. Menu Presentation
A sample menu is important for your business plan. You can add some basic dishes from all the cuisines
you want to serve. Mentioned the list of drinks you want to have on the menu and it is good to go. Since
this is still a plan under process the menu does not have to be finalized. It can just be an outline of what
your menu would look like.
4. Management Plan
You are going to introduce yourself and your entire team. Here you establish the concrete plan for your
business. Each team member’s role has to be elaborated here. You need to establish how you are going to
manage every small detail in your restaurant and the job responsibilities of each of your staff members.
6. Target Customer
For any business plan, it is very important for you to specify your target customer. There can be a variety of
target customers, such as:
Families: Lot of fine dining restaurants have the ambiance which attracts big family gatherings and
parties
Couples: Various cafes and restaurants are a hotspot for couples to have dates. Some of these
restaurants might as well attract couples with special candlelight dinner arrangements
College students: Several cafes attract college students with a budget-friendly menu and other
combo offers which make it a hotspot for groups of friends
7. Tentative Location
The location of your restaurant will largely affect your business. It is important for you to choose the
location based on the target customers. For example:
Restaurants with families as their target customers can be on the outskirts of the city since families
prefer a long drive to get to the place
College students would prefer cafes and restaurants near their college itself
Couples would prefer a silent place to find some quality time for themselves
8. Market Study
A thorough market study is the base of any business plan. A restaurant business plan should have concrete
market research done before establishing it. More of extensive research shall result in the better
implementation of the project. Market research is important in the following areas:
Location analysis: It is very important to study the location of your restaurant. The kind of people
live there and the kind of gentry you can attract to your restaurant are some of the essential points
to go through
Finance: You need to have an idea about the investment you need to build a restaurant in that
locality. Additional research of how much people are willing to spend on a meal outside can
broaden your perspective as to what to provide to the customers there
Cuisine preferences: A research on what kind of cuisines do people prefer in a locality is also very
important. Preferred cuisines on the menu increase business
9. Marketing Strategies
Any new business requires a proper marketing plan in action, especially in the initial time. The following
marketing strategies can help you spread the word for your business:
Print media: Giving out advertisements in local newspapers can attract a crowd. Sending out
pamphlets can also help the business
Social media coverage: Social media is making it very easy to reach a large crowd in a short
amount of time. It will be really helpful if you put out content on social media websites like
Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Bloggers meet: Restaurants and cafes can reach a large number of audiences with the help of local
food bloggers. It is trendy these days to arrange for blogger’s meet up and invite various food
bloggers to rate your dishes and write a review for you on their personal blogs
10. Finances
Finances play a big role in a business plan. You need to have a structured finance plan in hand before
approaching banks or investors. The following points should be kept in mind while structuring your
finances:
Initial investment: You need to specify the initial investment that you will need to set up your
restaurant. This will include the cost of the place you’ll get, the interiors, the initial setup of kitchen
appliances, etc.
Working capital: This is the investment or amount you will need every month to keep your
restaurant running. This will include the cost of the ingredients, the salaries of the staff, etc.
Insurance: Always get business insurance while setting up the same. In case of any problems, you
will need an insurance policy to go back to for reimbursements. You will need money to pay for the
monthly premiums of the same
Many other factors are also important to ensure a successful setup of a restaurant. Most of these are
subjective to your own ideas and innovations. Many banks provide business loans specifically structured
for restaurant business. You should look into more such loans to get an insured investment from a reliable
source.