A typical comfort food business plan includes a proposed menu along with descriptions of each food category and the average prices you'll charge for food. It also provides the reader with a sense of the market opportunity for a comfort food restaurant, which means looking at the prevailing market conditions in your area and trying to gauge the interest for a new comfort food joint. You will have to perform some competitive research (where are the other restaurants near your location and what do they offer?) in addition to an industry snapshot (how much money is flowing through this industry in general?). Your plan also needs to answer these questions:
• Will you sell any food outside the restaurant, i.e., packaged for wholesale or retail?
• What is the demographic profile of your typical customer?
• How much do you think you can sell in Year 1 after start-up?
• How much money do you need for the comfort food venture?
• What is a realistic break-even point?
Many of these questions will be answered when you create the pro forma financial model that your plan requires. The Small Business Administration and any bank that grants a loan will require a three-year model; an angel investor however, which restaurants typically need, is going to want to see the life cycle of a five-year investment. Show the revenue forecast, break-even point, profit and loss projections, cash flow, and balance sheet, in addition to a Year 1 monthly appendix. Don't forget to make a marketing strategy and include a section on your background and the personnel needs you foresee for the business. Get stuck somewhere? You should call the experts at MasterPlans. Hundreds of our recent business plans have been for the restaurant industry. Our team of experts can get you a draft in under 10 days: (877) 453-2011.
