First things first. Why do you need a business plan?

The restaurant industry is still known to be an unorganized one. Which is exactly why a business plan needs to be in place. It also is important to have a business plan so you can show your investors where their money is being put and even to get that bank loan you’ve been waiting on. A business plan is the blueprint for your restaurant where you chalk out the restaurant’s goals – short and long term ones, what your vision is for the restaurant and how you plan to make it a success. There are plenty of modules, guides and even softwares that can help you make these plans. But before any of that, you need clarity on what you’re going to do.

Definition

You need to define your business for yourself and for the investors.

What kind of restaurant will yours be? Cafe, fine dining, casual dining, QSR, or any other.

What cuisines will you serve? Based on location, demographic and your own business interest, understand what cuisines will work for your restaurant.

What will be the USP? A unique theme or cuisine, events, or anything else.

A cafe serving American cuisine with a circulating library within the cafe and live music on Friday evenings. Here, the library and live music can be your USPs and something that customers will be drawn to.

Key factors to succeed

In all businesses, there are a few key factors that ensure the success or failure of it. It’s not different with the restaurant business as well.

Location – List of ideal locations and why you want to open a restaurant there.

Demographic – The kinds of people you’re targeting – age group, floating population or locals.

Staff – Are you hiring experienced staff or new ones to be trained? What are your staff retention plans?

Food costs – How are you going to control food costs? Have you spoken to multiple suppliers before finalizing on the ones that would work out for your business?

Strategy

Investors need to know your strategy to success. We mentioned key factors earlier, but without a strategy, they are only just points on paper. From operations to staff, you need to have a clear strategy that you intend to follow.

Operations – Number of people required in various shifts, whether you’re going to be open all day or just for lunch and dinner services, supplier management, etc.

Home delivery – Do you have enough staff to run delivery operations? You can sure improve on profit margins, but can you handle the volume? Will it work in the locations ideal to run the restaurant in? Will you use a third party for delivery or in house staff? Will you go online or stay off it?

Costs – How are you pricing your menu – starting low and bump it after 6 months, or keep it stable for a year and raise it according to market later?

Financial analysis

A business plan cannot be complete without a mention of financials. Even if it isn’t elaborate, you need to cover the important points. Cash flow, profit and loss statements, risk analysis, pricing, cost control, operational costs, sales forecast, quarterly and annual growth rate, etc. It’s not easy to work on financials if you don’t have experienced people working with you to guide you in the right direction. There is a lot to consider at the beginning so you don’t suffer later in the business.

Future plan and vision

Even a restaurant, however unorganized the industry may be, should have a vision and a plan to achieve set goals.

Expansion – Do you plan to open other outlets in other locations of the city? Financially, will you be in a position to do so in the time set to achieve this goal? Do you want to expand the brand or open different kinds restaurants?

Diversification – Do you intend to add cuisines? Or events? How else do you plan to keep your restaurant relevant?

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A good business plan should basically talk about what your restaurant will be like on paper and how you intend to run it bearing in mind the financials and other practical aspects. You must have an executive summary for your business plan where you condense everything into just two or three pages. A lengthy powerpoint presentation is outdated and tiresome to compile as well as read. Keep it simple and as clear as you can.