TailCrate Business Plan

Evan Belfer, Teddy Kaplan, Jackson Kelley, Ethan Moscot, Danny Qiu, Jack
Schaible, Stephen Tannenbaum, Analeise Urquijo, Robert Zhang

Table of Contents
1

Executive Summary

Company Overview

Products and Services

Marketing

11

Sales

13

Market Analysis

13

Operations and Implementations

16

Management Team and Staff

17

Financials and Projections

19

Significant Risks and Responses

22

Appendix

24

Works Cited

27

1. Executive Summary

A. Company Description
TailCrate is a tailgating rental service based in Dallas, Texas. TailCrate will provide
customers with all of the equipment and food items necessary to enjoy the great American
tradition of tailgating without the inconveniences. By choosing to use TailCrates services, our
customers will eliminate the hassle that comes from setting up their own tailgates while enjoying
delicious food and time with their friends, families, and colleagues.
B. Objectives of Business
TailCrates goal is to provide an all-inclusive tailgating service to fans who would
normally miss out on an exciting part of the gameday experience: tailgating. Whether it is an outof-market fan who does not have tailgating equipment, a fan who has never tailgated before,
corporations, or an existing tailgater who does not want to deal with lugging around supplies,
stopping at the supermarket, or cleaning up, TailCrate seeks to remove the hassle from tailgating.
Through our service, TailCrate will allow each and every fan to experience only the highlights of
tailgating.
C. Keys to Success
I. Reaching a New Market of Tailgaters
Typically, out of market fans or single game ticket holders either do not have the
equipment necessary to tailgate or are faced with the daunting task of buying all of the expensive
equipment for a tailgate. With TailCrate, we are appealing to a new demographic of fans who
would otherwise not be tailgating at the event. By allowing the fans to customize their specific
orders within three broad packages, TailCrate is truly all about the fans. From removing the pretailgate tasks of buying/bringing a grill and buying all of the food and supplies required to

cleaning up for the tailgater, our dedicated team of college students is devoted to serving the
customer and making a new kind of pleasurable experience in the parking lot.
II. Growth Potential and Long Duration
After TailCrate becomes profitable, which is projected to occur in year two, we plan to
expand to other cities and college towns around the country through a franchise model. By this
time, the TailCrate brand will be well-recognized in the Dallas area through our marketing efforts
and business experience, which will cause a brand appeal to develop in other markets. As a
result, we feel there is a great opportunity to find success in franchising TailCrate to other major
cities and college towns.
III. Cooperation with StubHub
StubHub, one of the largest secondary ticket sellers in the world, was launched in 2000
with the idea to help fans find fun (Stubhub). We plan to partner with StubHub in a mutually
beneficial partnership that will carry out their mission and result in revenue for both parties. Prior
to each season, TailCrate will send StubHub our schedule. For each game that TailCrate is
servicing, prior to checking out, a window will pop up (see Appendix) where fans can select that
they would like to use our services at the game. Fans will have the ability to customize their
orders on StubHub. We plan to pay an up-front fee of $75,000 to StubHub and give them 15% of
our income as part of our first deal. Through StubHub and advertising on popular websites for
sports fans (especially traveling ones), we plan to grow the TailCrate brand.
D. Team
Our team will consist of a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, both of
which own 11.1% of TailCrate. We will also have a full-time customer service representatives.
On game days, we will employ two executive managers to be in charge at that location as well as

one grill supervisor per grill to handle setting up, cleaning up, or any complaints that arise at
each station.
E. Financial projections

Our income comes from our three customizable tailgating packages: First Down (Single
for baseball games), Field Goal (Double), and Touchdown (Home Run). In the first year, we
predict a loss of about $181,000 due to the start-up costs of purchasing our equipment. However,
we expect TailCrate to grow and be profitable in our second year. After this time, we plan to
franchise and continue to grow our brand and our profits.
F. Amount of funding sought
TailCrate is seeking $200,000 in exchange for a 20% equity stake in our business.
2. Company Overview

A. Company history and ownership structure

TailCrate was founded in the summer of 2016 with the goal of removing the hassle from
tailgating and allowing people who normally would not tailgate the opportunity to do so.
TailCrate does this by providing fans with the necessary equipment, such as grills and tents, to
have an enjoyable tailgate without needing to own the equipment. The company was co-founded
by a group of hardworking students who have a strong passion for sports and recognized a need
in the market: Evan Belfer, Theodore Kaplan, Jackson Kelley, Ethan Moscot, Danny Qiu, Jack
Schaible, Steven Tannenbaum, Analeise Urquijo, and Robert Zhang. The company is divided
equally among the nine partners.
B. Company mission
At TailCrate, we have a twofold mission. Our primary mission is to reduce the hassles
that exist with tailgating. Before tailgating, fans must own a grill, rent a tent (if they desire), stop
at the supermarket to purchase food and drinks, and then clean up once it is all over. TailCrate
eliminates all of these tedious steps, allowing the fans to truly immerse themselves in the great
American tradition of tailgating and enjoy every step of it along the way. We believe that
tailgating should be a hassle and stress-free activity, and TailCrate provides fans the opportunity
to enjoy it this way.
Our second mission is to attract a new wave of tailgaters who would not tailgate
otherwise. We plan to target four major groups: corporations, fans who are fed up with the
current state of tailgating, out-of-market fans (fans of the away team or home team fans living far
from their teams stadium) who cannot bring their tailgating equipment with them or do not have
equipment and single-game ticket holders who do not have tailgating equipment. Through

TailCrate, these fans can not only tailgate, but do so without all the inconveniences that come
with normal tailgating.
C. Geographic focus of company
We plan to launch in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, an area where football and tailgating
are ubiquitous, and then franchise throughout the United States. Texans are well known for their
obsession with football; as many as 100,000 children participate in football games each week
during football season (ABC News, 2015). In addition to the rampant sports affinity throughout
Texas, the climate and weather patterns of this specific region are conducive to tailgating for
most of the year. Furthermore, the Dallas Cowboys are known as Americas Team with fans
around the entire country, making it more likely that out-of-market fans will attend their games.
In our first two years, we will provide our services for fans attending college and professional
football games in the Dallas area. Additionally, we plan to serve about seven Texas Rangers
games per month. Once TailCrate has been well-established in the Dallas market and has become
profitable, we plan to franchise the company to other major sports cities and college towns
throughout the United States.
3. Products and Services
TailCrate provides a hassle-free experience for fans looking to optimize their time at the
stadium, eliminating the inconveniences of tailgating. Prior to typical tailgating, fans must own
or rent a grill, bring food, drinks, and a cooler; and then clean up their equipment, all in time to
get into the stadium. This makes it very difficult for out-of-market fans or the casual fan to enjoy
the amazing experience of tailgating before a game. TailCrate solves these problems by
providing all of the necessary goods to have a fun and delicious tailgate. From the grill to the
food to the clean-up, TailCrate provides an exceptional experience.

Fans who are traveling from out of town or who only go to one or two games per season
typically either do not own grills or do not want to bring grills with them while away from home.
Thus, TailCrate will target this type of fan. With the Dallas Cowboys having such a national
appeal, we expect a lot of out-of-market fans to attend their games, creating a large market of
fans we can appeal to. Furthermore, we will target fans who are fed up with the hassles of setting
up and cleaning up their tailgates and who prefer a streamlined service to do it for them. Since
many of these fans will be purchasing their tickets from secondary ticket markets, we plan to
have a corporate partnership with the leader in the secondary market, StubHub. This will allow
fans to purchase our services while buying tickets on StubHub. There will be a full page between
the selecting tickets and checking out phases where fans can customize their First Down,
Field Goal, or Touchdown packages (see Appendix).
TailCrate will offer three umbrella packages with customizable options within each one.
Within each umbrella, the customers get to choose what kind of food they want, showing our
customers that we care about them. The First Down (Single for baseball) experience, the most
basic of the three, includes the option to customize food and drinks, with a minimum $80
purchase required. We will offer delicious food, including Pat Lafrieda's steak and burgers,
Nathans hot dogs, and french fries, and Heinz ketchup. Once we purchase a liquor license, we
plan to offer alcoholic beverages. The Field Goal (Double) experience includes a grill, tent,
cooler, utensils, food, drinks, and all the other necessary materials to tailgate. This package also
includes a personal attendant who will set up, clean up, and provide any services throughout the
tailgate. The Field Goal package will start at $250, with the potential to increase if the customer
requests additional food or drinks. The Touchdown experience, the most exclusive option,
includes a TV, generator, and games, in addition to all the perks that come with the Field Goal

package. This package will start at $500. Regardless of the package, TailCrate seeks to make the
tailgate an amazing experience through our delicious food and phenomenal team.
TailCrate will also have a website, TailCrate.com, where fans can purchase packages
(15% of the revenue will still go to StubHub). On the site, fans will be able to see the local
teams schedules and our season schedule. When ordering here or on StubHub, fans will be able
to choose their umbrella package and then select the food that they would like to purchase with
suggestions based on party size.
TailCrate will also target corporations with money to spend and not a lot of time to waste.
TailCrate is a perfect choice for these corporations, as we make the tailgating process as efficient
as possible. Through our online advertisements and partnership with StubHub, we seek to be
recognizable by corporations in addition to the aforementioned fans. This will be a win-win
scenario, as we will be gaining clients and the corporations will be impressing theirs.
While a few similar companies exist, all of these are local companies based in college
towns. None of these companies have the vast marketing appeal that we will have. The StubHub
deal is an unprecedented feat that immediately separates us from the rest of the pack. Rather than
being based in a small college town, we expect the large Dallas metropolitan area to help us
garner national recognition. Through the StubHub deal and this large market, we seek brand
recognition that our competitors do not currently have.
Wire to Wire Experience:
As mentioned, fans will have the ability to purchase TailCrate services on both our
website and Stubhubs. After buying our service, fans will receive an email confirming their
purchase with the following instructions: At least 12 hours before the game, the fan must indicate
on our website which parking lot he/she plans to park in and his/her estimated time of arrival

(this can change). When he/she arrives in the parking lot, the fan will call a phone number that
had been emailed and texted to them. The fan will indicate where in the parking lot he/she is, and
within 7 minutes of arrival, a representative will be there on a golf cart, guaranteed, with a crate
full of food and all of the supplies. A staff member will set up and stay at each Field Goal and
Touchdown tailgate so that he/she can clean up whenever the fans are ready to go into the
stadium. By eliminating the annoying steps of setting up a tailgate, TailCrate provides a unique
service that allows fans to have even more fun at sporting events.
TailCrate plans to launch in September 2016, in time for the start of football season.
TailCrate will start off serving Dallas Cowboys home games and postseason Texas Rangers
games that do not interfere with the Cowboys schedule, in addition to select Texas Christian
University, Southern Methodist University, University of Texas, University of Oklahoma, and
Baylor University football games. We will do about 7 Texas Rangers games per month starting in
April 2017.
While the company initially expects losses due to the upfront costs of grills, TVs, and our
other equipment, we expect more people to purchase our services as time goes on. We will be
able to sell our products for a large price due to the demand for a streamlined service to get rid of
all the hassles of tailgating. As the financials section mentions, we expect to profit in year 2 of
our business, as our costs are expected to be far less than our revenue, and we expect our
marketing efforts to pay off. As we make a profit, we plan to franchise to other cities around the
country to reach a wider clientele and make a greater profit.
In our first season, we plan to serve 8 football games in September, 7 football and about 5
Rangers games (depending on how far they advance in the playoffs) in October, 7 football games

10

in November, 3 in December, and on average, 7 Rangers games per month from April to August
(see the appendix for specific schedule).

4. Marketing
A. Marketing Strategy
TailCrates marketing strategy will consist of a four-pronged approach: (1) an exclusive
partnership with StubHub that will target customers who are buying single game tickets, (2)
targeted online advertising toward sports fans (especially those who recently bought tickets to
events), (3) social media, and (4) setting up TailCrate tents at sporting events to promote our
brand and sign-up potential customers in exchange for a free football or other giveaways.
Our main marketing strategy is an exclusive partnership with StubHub that will offer our
service while buying tickets on StubHub (see appendix). We plan to pay StubHub $75,000
upfront in addition to 15% of our revenue. StubHub currently has a similar partnership with Uber
that gives customers the ability to order an Uber to and from the game from the StubHub app,
increasing Ubers exposure and revenue. (Swanner, 2015) We expect StubHub to significantly
drive up our revenue, as many single game ticket holders, our main market, purchase tickets on
StubHub.
Our second marketing feature is our targeted online advertising toward sports fans,
especially those who are traveling or who recently purchased tickets for sporting events. We plan
to place our ads on popular websites: Stubhub.com, Bleacherreport.com, ESPN.com,
DallasCowboys.com, TexasRangers.com, and airline websites: Delta.com, AA.com, United.com,
and jetBlue.com. We will spend $5000 monthly on this type of marketing.

11

Our third aspect of marketing will be our social media platforms. We will launch
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat accounts in which potential customers can see our
fans having fun at the tailgates. We will also be offering exclusive discounts if a package is
purchased through one of our social media accounts. Fans will be directed to our social media
accounts through our online ads and our information pamphlets with our social media accounts at
the games.
Our fourth marketing facet will be large free tailgates where free memorabilia, such as
mini footballs with our logo and food will be given away to potential customers. We will offer
discounts for future tailgates if fans sign up at these events. Since we will only give the free
gear/food to people who give their emails, we will be able to send emails to these customers and
give them exclusive discounts to sign up for TailCrate.
To additionally promote our growth during this initial period, we plan to offer a
promotion where a fan can refer TailCrate to his/her friend, relative, or colleague. If the person
uses TailCrate, he/she will get 10% off his/her first order and the original fan will get 10% off
his/her next order. This will incentivize our customers to help us grow.
B. Sales
TailCrate is going to be sold to customers online through three different avenues:
StubHub, TailCrate.com, and at the stadium. Since our product is going to be available at NFL
and college football games, our primary customer will be someone who has already bought
tickets to these events. Therefore, through our exclusive partnership with StubHub, when people
buy tickets to games that we will be tailgating at, an option will pop-up for them to purchase
tailgating packages directly on the StubHub website. These are people who are already going to
the game, so we do not have to worry about wasting money appealing to customers who will not

12

even use the product. Our targeted online advertising will drive customers directly to our website
where they will be able to customize their package. We will secure sales at the stadium through
our big tailgate offering and other fans who see TailCrate customers having fun. We project the
majority of our sales to occur during football season. From January to March, we will continue to
have our online advertisements which will promote the following season. During baseball
season, we hope to secure Texas Rangers fans and football fans for the upcoming season.
C. Market Analysis
TailCrate falls into the broadly-defined industry of sports tailgating. The true size of the
tailgating industry has been a very difficult figure to calculate with accuracy. To elaborate, it is
difficult to identify the actual cost of tailgating - for example, it is uncertain whether or not
money spent on gas getting to the stadium should be included in calculating costs associated with
the industry. Mark Stewart, a former executive director of the Tailgating Industry Association,
agrees. He roughly estimates the industry at $10 billion and upwards to $20 billion for football
tailgates alone annually (Lariviere, 2013). For this reason among others, companies have shied
away from innovation in the tailgating industry due to such ambiguity. The sheer lack of
numbers available adds an element of uncertainty and risk, but TailCrate does not view it that
way.
The Tailgating Industry Association estimates that $35 billion is spent on food and
beverages alone for tailgating each year (Lariviere, 2013). That is without taking into account the
exorbitant cost of other supplies and the valuable time wasted in preparation and clean-up. In
addition, approximately 240 million people tailgate at least once per year, with 93% of them
preparing their food on-site (Quench, 2014). There is clearly a massive market that we can reach

13

out to, and the demand in this market just keeps growing. In turn, a few businesses have begun to
take advantage of this opportunity, but TailCrate can maintain a competitive edge.
Competitors are either solely local service providers or, if they operate nationally, it is
strictly within the scope of college sports. Our most notable competitor in the industry is
Tailgater Concierge, a startup which has successfully targeted certain collegiate markets but has
yet to market its product to the NFL, the most popular league in America, where a quarter of the
fans each game tailgate on average (Wolff-Mann, 2015).
TailCrate will target a wide variety of fans. First, we see a major opportunity in marketing
our product to corporations who are seeking to bring clients to the game and give them an
unforgettable football experience. Second, we will market our services to out-of-market fans who
do not have the necessary tailgating equipment at their disposal. Third, we will be targeting
football fans who generally do not tailgate or do not regularly attend games by promoting the
convenience of our packages to entice them to at least try the full tailgating experience. Finally,
we will be targeting the common tailgater who is annoyed with the current inconveniences of
performing a tailgate. We will provide them with simple and enjoyable ways of continuing to do
what they love most: tailgating with family and friends. After all, 46% of tailgaters will tailgate
at 6-10 games, 21% tailgate 11-16 games and 8% tailgate at more than 16 games (Joe Cahn,
2016).
Furthermore, our target age demographic will be those aged 21-44. This will provide
focus not only on the most common tailgater (male aged 35-44) but also focus on the college
aged tailgater attending games and who will continue utilizing our services post-graduation (Joe
Cahn, 2016). We also choose to not identify a specific gender in our target market because, while
the most common tailgater is male, females make up nearly half of all NFL fans nowadays

14

(Harwell, 2014). If we were to look at the statistics, we see that it is most common for the food
purchased for a tailgate party to be purchased by both a man and his wife collectively (44%) (Joe
Cahn, 2016). TailCrate services would thus appeal just as much to female fans as male fans.
Concerning additional competitive advantages of TailCrate, we emphasize the importance
of partnering with StubHub. The exclusive marketing TailCrate will have through StubHub at
ticket checkouts gives way for TailCrate to reach a huge audience, maximizing the number of
fans who will come into contact with our brand, while also making it extremely easy for
customers to purchase our services whereas, for our competitors, official websites must be
contacted directly. Additionally, TailCrate makes it easy for the less avid fan to tailgate. Our
competitors tend to either undershoot necessities (which is cheaper) where the customer still has
to provide much of the needed materials for a high-quality tailgate or overshoot what the market
demands in terms of necessities where the customer is paying too much due to limitations in only
being able to choose one of three packages. TailCrate provides the customer with the option to
customize his/her own package from an umbrella of three packages. The customizable package
ensures the customer is getting exactly what fits his/her needs while the option to follow
suggested packages offers an easy purchase experience.
5. Operations and Implementations
We are not physically producing a product; however, we will need to buy products from
existing companies in order to perform our services. At the tailgates, we are going to need
products such as coolers, tents, grills, food, and drinks, among other things previously mentioned
that will be purchased from existing retailers at a wholesale cost.
TailCrate requires the purchase of grills, coolers, chairs, tables, tents, charcoal, food,
drinks, other necessary tailgating supplies (see financials), golf carts, and a truck to

15

transport/temporarily store TailCrate supplies. We anticipate the start-up costs to be $147,000.

See the financials section for further spending details.
The nature of TailCrate requires that the majority of supplies be outsourced. It does not
make sense for us to endure the cost of manufacturing our own products since we are a service
based start-up. We will be much better off buying necessary products at a wholesale price. This
also secondarily lends itself to the possibility of creating partnerships with companies in the
future to sponsor manufacturing of our own products.
We realize that our ultimate goal will be to franchise the company among several
different markets, so we must position the business for a potential franchising option. Our goal is
to initially develop a successful, profitable company in the Dallas Fort-Worth area prior to
entertaining that idea of franchising. In order to develop a successful product in Dallas, we will
address our biggest challenge of attracting customers. We are planning to combat this through
taking advantage of several marketing strategies such as partnering with StubHub, positioning
ads through targeted online advertising, and utilizing on-site marketing opportunities such as
giveaways.
We will not have an office, but will instead keep our goods in a designated TailCrate
truck. This truck will be kept outside the CEOs home. The customer service representative will
work from home on non-gamedays.
Milestone

Cost

Timeline (Month-Year)

Purchase Start-Up Material

$147,000 total

Aug-16

Launch Website and Online Marketing $5000 per month

Aug-16

Purchase Marketing (Give Away)

Merchandise

Aug-16

$400 per game

16

Finalize StubHub Partnership

$75,000 + 15% of
revenue

Aug-16

Finalize Team Approval

15% of revenue

Aug-16

Tailgate First Game

$2000 (approximately)

02-Sep-16 (Northwestern
@ Baylor)

Reach 10 Game Customer Goal

N/A

10/08/2016 (Oklahoma @
Texas)

Break Even

N/A

Aug-18

Expand to First Franchise

TBD

Sep-18

6. Management Team and Staff

TailCrates staff will consist of a CEO, CMO, executive managers, a customer service
representative, a cook, and tailgate attendants.
The Chief Executive Officer will be one of our founders and will not receive a salary. The
CEO will be in charge of all of the day-to-day operations and will work with teams and schools
to secure the right to tailgate there (we plan to give 15% of our income to the home team at each
game). The CEO will be in charge of overseeing franchising in the future and as such must have
a strong grasp on the business as a whole. The CEO will be present on gameday to represent our
brand well.
The Chief Marketing Officer will also be a founder who has an extensive background in
the field of marketing. The CMO will be in charge of executing all four phases of our marketing
campaign. He/she will be responsible for working to secure a partnership with StubHub and
negotiating an agreement with that company. In addition, he/she will be tasked with facilitating
our online marketing campaign through customized advertising towards fans who are attending
sporting events. Finally, he would be in charge of organizing and executing our large, free

17

tailgate at the games in order to attract new customers. Our CMO will be an avid sports fan and a
representative of our target market so he/she would be able to relate to customers.
The executive managers are part-time employees that will be tasked with overseeing the
success of each of our tailgates. There will be two managers at each tailgate who will be in
charge of assigning the tailgate attendants to different locations, overseeing each of these
tailgating areas, and ensuring that the tailgates run smoothly. They will train the grill staff prior
to each game. The executive managers will also be representing our brand at games, acting as
part of our sales team to recruit new members.
Our full-time customer service representative is responsible for answering phone calls
pertaining to reservations, questions, comments and complaints. During game days, he/she will
be present at the tailgates, walking around and talking to all of the customers to find out how we
can improve their experience in the future.
We will also employ a cook for the games, paid at an hourly rate, who will cook at the
free TailCrate tailgate in order to provide customers with an exciting experience of what
TailCrate can do.
Our tailgate attendants will be in charge of setting up all of the tailgates, as well as taking
them down and cleaning up when it is over. These part-time employees will only work on game
days and must ensure that each customers experience is one that will be remembered so they
will refer us to their friends and continue to be customers in the future.

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7. Financials and Projections:

We are seeking $200,000 for 20% of our company.

Year 1 Projected Number of Packages To Be Sold per Game Type by Month
Game Type / Month

First Down
Estimated Number
of Packages

Field Goal
Touchdown
Estimated Number Estimated Number
of Packages
of Packages

College / Sept. 2016

10

10

College / Dec. 2016

15

17

Cowboys (NFL) / Sept. 2016

20

10

Cowboys (NFL) / Dec. 2016

45

30

10

19

Rangers (MLB)* / Oct. 2016

10

Rangers (MLB) / Apr.-Aug.

2017

15

15

*During playoff games

While the customers can customize what is in each package, we will start the First Down
package at $80, the Field Goal at $250, and the Touchdown at $500, giving us a wide profit
margin. This will result in a year-end income of about $447,000.
While we do not anticipate any income for the offseason of January, February, and
March, with only 1 full-time employee (our customer service representative), we will only be
losing $7600 each month ($350 per month for 10 DISH subscriptions, $2250 for the employee,
and $5000 for online advertisements) (TV Package, Quirks).
On the costs side, we plan to purchase 50 grills from Volcano Grills that are propane, but
also have a coal option (Volcano Grills). We will also buy 50 10 X 10 tents from Walmart, 100
tables from Walmart, 300 tailgating chairs from Dicks, 50 tailgating coolers from Dicks, 20 TVs
(Viziod), 20 TV stands (Alibaba), 20 dishes (King Tailgater Bundle), 50 spatulas and grill forks
(Bulk cooking), 50 propane tanks (Pre-Filled Propane Tank), 50 grill scrubs (3 in 1), 50 bottle
openers (Bulk Multifunctional), and 500 premium stickers (My Cart) with our logo on them up
front. In addition, we plan to pay StubHub $75,000 up front in addition to the 15% of our
revenue that we will be giving them. (We will also give the first team we work with an additional
15% off of our income.) We also plan to buy 3 golf carts (Golf Cart) and a truck (Pre-owned) to
store our golf carts and supplies. We project these start-up costs to total $147,000. In addition to
these upfront costs, we plan to pay approximately $40 per package on food, including Pat
Lafrieda's meat and Nathans hot dogs, $20 on drinks, and more money allocated to napkins,

20

utensils, footballs and games for our Touchdown customers, aluminum tins, charcoal, refilling
the propane tanks, cups, table cloths, sanitary wipes, trash bags, and plates.
We plan to hire part-time employees for each game, a number equal to the amount of
Field Goal and Touchdown packages together. We will pay these employees the Texas minimum
wage of $7.25 an hour. We will also have 2 part-time executive managers at each stadium, paid
$10 an hour, who will be in charge of distributing the employees and food each game day. We
will have one full-time customer service representative, paid $27,000 annually (Salary), or $2250
per month. We will hire a college student to cook for our big tailgates for 2 hours each game for
$15 an hour. On the marketing side, we plan to pay StubHub $75,000 upfront and 15% of our
income. We plan to pay $200 per game on free promotional giveaways, including footballs and tshirts with our logo. We also will pay about $200 per game for the big tailgate. As
aforementioned, we will pay $5000 per month for online advertising (Quirks). On the Operations
side, we will pay a trucker $2200 per month, depending on his/her hours (Truck), a liquor license
for $750 per year (Dallas County), and $300 per month for gas. We dont plan on having any
interest for our investors, as we will be giving them equity in our company. This ultimately
results in a net loss of about $181,000 in our first year.
In year two, we will not have to deal with the startup costs. This, along with an increase
in sales, will allow us to make a big profit. With football sales expected to reach 50 First Downs,
35 Field Goals, and 15 Touchdowns per game and baseball sales be 30 Singles, 30 Doubles, and
10 Home Runs per game, we expect to have an income of $1.23 million in year 2. This will
result in a net profit of $198,000, allowing us to make up for our year one losses.
We value our company at $1 million due to our projected profit of $198,000 in year two,
which we project will continue to increase as we franchise our brand to other cities around the

21

country. We need the $200,000 to cover the $180,000 loss in year one. We are willing to partner
with an investor for 20% of our company. We want to continue to own over three-quarters of the
company while obtaining influential investors who are key in growing TailCrate.
We do not plan to sell the business anytime soon. We project TailCrate to continue to be
profitable for a long amount of time. Furthermore, we want to continue to run this business for
the enjoyment of putting smiles on the faces of our amazing customers.
8. Significant Risks and Responses
Q: What happens if the deal with StubHub falls through?
A: If our deal with StubHub falls through, we will shift our marketing expenses to different
avenues. Instead of having the option to purchase a tailgate on StubHub, we would propose the
same deal to individual teams such as the Cowboys, and have the option on cowboys.com to
select a tailgating package. Furthermore, we would be able to use the money we had set aside for
StubHub to purchase in-stadium advertising which would attract many new customers. Also, it is
important to note that if the deal falls through, we would gain back the 15% of our revenue that
would go to Stubhub.
Q: What happens if the teams dont want us having this service?
A: First, we plan to offer the home team at each game 15% of our income. Second, teams
currently do not receive any money from tailgating fans, as they bring all their own equipment.
With our service, however, we provide the teams with money from these tailgating fans.
Q: Arent there going to be a lot of upfront costs to get off the ground?
A: Our success hinges on securing an upfront investment, as we need to purchase our grills,
tents, and coolers that we will provide to our customers. While these upfront costs will be

22

expensive, our financial projections indicate that we will be able to recoup these costs by the
second year.
Q: How will the gameday employees know what to do?
A: Before any one of our employees works at any of the tailgates, he/she will be trained on-site.
Our CEO will teach our employees how to set up each package and ensure they are prepared to
work on game day. We will also have customers fill out reviews of their tailgate attendants to
ensure that our employees are representing TailCrate in a respectful, professional manner.
Q: What happens if people attempt to steal the tailgating supplies?
A: Theft will not be a concern because we will have game day employees at each Field Goal and
Touchdown tailgate who are deterring any potential thieves.

23

Appendix
Our 2016 schedule:
September (8):
Friday, Sept. 2 -- Northwestern @ Baylor 6:30
Sunday, Sept. 4 -- Notre Dame @ Texas 6:30
Saturday, Sept. 10 -- SMU @ Baylor 2:30
Sunday, Sept. 11 -- Cowboys 3:25
Saturday, Sept. 17 -- OSU @ Oklahoma 6:30
Friday, Sept. 23 -- TCU @ SMU 7:00
Saturday, Sept. 24 -- OSU @ Baylor (TBD)
Sunday, Sept. 25 -- Cowboys 7:30
October (at least 7):
Saturday, Oct. 1-- Oklahoma @ TCU (TBD)
Saturday, Oct. 8 -- Oklahoma @ Texas (TBD)
Sunday, Oct. 9 -- Cowboys 3:25
Saturday, Oct. 15 -- Kansas @ Baylor (TBD)
Saturday, Oct. 22 -- Houston @ SMU (TBD)
Saturday, Oct. 29 -- Baylor @ Texas (TBD)
Sunday, Oct. 30 -- Cowboys 7:30
All home Texas Rangers playoff games (we expect 5)
November (7):
Saturday, Nov. 5 -- TCU @ Baylor (TBD)
Saturday, Nov. 12 -- Baylor @ Oklahoma (TBD)

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Saturday, Nov. 19 -- Kansas State @ Baylor (TBD) OR Oklahoma State @ TCU

Sunday, Nov. 20 -- Cowboys, 12:00
Thursday, Nov. 24 (Thanksgiving) -- Cowboys, 3:30
Friday, Nov. 25 -- Baylor @ Texas Tech (AT&T Stadium) 5:00
Saturday, Nov. 26 -- SMU vs. Navy (TBD)
December (3):
Saturday, Dec. 3 -- Kansas State @ TCU (TBD)
Sunday, Dec. 18 -- Cowboys, 12:00
Monday, Dec. 26 -- Cowboys, 7:30
(January):
Cowboys playoff games (we expect 0)
February-March:
Offseason:
The offseason will be dedicated to securing partnerships and exclusivities for the next season. In
addition, we will put a large emphasis on market research through surveys and focus groups to
figure out how to improve our products. We will sell our tailgating packages for the upcoming
season during the offseason.
April-August:
About 7 Texas Rangers home games per month

25

StubHub Website:

26

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