Restaurant Business Plan Template

This outline is provided as a free resource to help restaurant entrepreneurs prepare a comprehensive business plan suitable for raising capital to launch and operate a successful restaurant business. This outline should be only considered a guide and used accordingly. For a number of different reasons, the outline for your business plan will vary. However, we hope this resource gets your business plan off to a great start.

1. Executive Summary
Use the Executive Summary to give your reader a 2 page or 2 minute overview of what they are about to read and why reading it is important to them. Nail the Executive Summary and you increase the chances they will read the rest of your business plan.

1.1 1.2

Introducing ABC Restaurant The ABC Team

Describe the concept, location if known, type of food, etc.

Provide a 1 sentence bio on each team member emphasizing what benefits they bring to your restaurant venture.

1.3 1.4 1.5

Market Opportunity Funding Requirement & Capitalization Plan Summary Financial Highlights

This is where you tell your reader why this is a terrific business opportunity.

Explain to the reader how much capital is required and how that capital will be used.

It is a good idea to provide a small table with the restaurants financial highlights for the first 5 years. Highlights might include revenues, gross profits, operating profits and net cash flow.

2. The Restaurant 2.1 The Dining Experience

Picture yourself as one of your patrons and describe what it is like to enjoy a meal in your restaurant.

2.2

Cuisine Overview

This is where you really go into detail about the food you will serve. Later in this outline you have the opportunity to provide sample menus. If you chose not to do this, then consider providing samples here.

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2.3

Spirits, Wine & Beer

This is relevant only if you intend to do something interesting, special or unusual with beverages.

2.4

Customer Service Excellence

If this is an important aspect for your restaurant, then you will want to talk about how you will achieve customer service excellence.

3. The Menus
Many restaurant owners have thought through their menus and some have even designed menus by this time. Menus will give your readers an understanding of the food choices and pricing that you are planning. For purposes of the business plan, the menus do not have to be specially designed. The purpose is to provide information and insight. Remember these menus are samples and highly subject to change.

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

Dinner Menu Lunch Menu Dessert Menu Wine List

4. Restaurant Operations
Again, some restaurant entrepreneurs will have well developed designs, drawings, policies and procedures and other operating details by the time they develop a business plan and while others will not. Just be as informative as you can in this section. Give the reader the impression that this business plan is more than a good idea.

4.1

Restaurant Location

Many restaurateurs will have selected a location by the time they write their business plan and others will not. If you have, provide details, maps, address, basic lease terms, etc. If you have not selected a space, you need to have settled on a neighborhood. You can use this space to describe the neighborhood.

4.2

Floor Plan

If you have not had a floor plan drawn professionally, simply draw your floor plan on a piece of paper, scan it and copy and paste it into the plan.

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BizPlanIt Companies, LLC tel| 480.595.7227 web| www.bizplanit.com email: jimmy@bizplanit.com 2010 BizPlanIt Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved.


4.3 Operating Policies, Procedures and Philosophies
This section will be as robust or as small as you wish to make it. Here are the topics that you might want to touch on: days of the week and hours of operation; customer payment options; cash management; food handling and sanitation; recipe and portion control; purchasing cost controls; inventory controls; cross utilization; software & systems; staff training.

5. Market Analysis
This is a good place to describe and analyze the market for your restaurant. The best way to approach this is to tell the reader why you chose to locate in this market, sub-market, etc.

5.1

Market Overview The Your Town Dining Scene

Give the reader your assessment of the dinning habits of the people that live in this area or neighborhood. Do they dine out a great deal or not so often? You might want to discuss things like weather, seasonality, parking, safety, number and type of restaurants in general terms.

5.2

Demographic Overview

Do your research. Start with the internet. Check with associations, organizations, etc.

6. Competition
Your reader will want to know that you know about your competition. You need to understand the competition so that you can react to it.

6.1

Competitive Landscape

So, what is the competitive landscape? Are there a large number of restaurants near your proposed location? Are some of the restaurants similar in style to your concept? How do they price? How are they doing? Define what makes a key competitor.

6.2

Key Competitors

Here you will want to list the 3-5 key competitors. You will want to list their name, perhaps their address, their website address, and then tell the reader something about the competitor. For example, perhaps their prices are too high or they dont treat customers well.

6.3

Competitive Advantages

This is where you will discuss your advantages over the key competitors. Try to think of 3-5 good advantages that will give you an edge.

7. Marketing
Marketing is about two things. Creating awareness for your restaurant and getting people to actually come in and spend money. Your overall marketing strategy will be driven by who you have defined as your target customers.
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BizPlanIt Companies, LLC tel| 480.595.7227 web| www.bizplanit.com email: jimmy@bizplanit.com 2010 BizPlanIt Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

7.1

Target Customers

Define the target customer. What do they like to do? Where do they live? How about their families, educations, marital status, discretionary spending and much more?

7.2

Market Positioning & Branding

Keep this simple. This is about what you want your customers and potential customers to think about you. So, will you position yourself as high priced, stuffy, family oriented, niche, service oriented, great taste, etc.?

7.3

Marketing Strategies

This is where you list the strategies that you will use to get people to come in for the first time and return again and again. Think in terms of strategies such as advertising, direct mail, website, social networking, word of mouth and many more.

7.4

Marketing Budget

How much will you spend each year, how much will your spending increase year over year and what will you spend your marketing dollars on.

8. The Management Team

Even though this section is often found toward the back of the business plan, it is often the most important section. The reason is that none of the material that is provided in front of this section matters if you and your team dont have the passion, talent, experience and skill to run a successful restaurant.

8.1

The Team

Start by providing a brief description of the team. Talk about your experience working together and how much the team cares about customer service and happy customers, etc. Then provide a brief paragraph on each founding team member with the purpose of convincing the reader that each individual is the right person to be involved in the operation of the restaurant and why.

8.2

Key Staff Additions

Here you will want to explain the additions that will be made to the team before the restaurant opens. You may not know the names of these people but you certainly know their job descriptions.

8.3

Compensation Program

How will the members of the team and other employees be compensated? Will some people be salaried while other will be hourly? How about benefits? These are the issues you describe here? A table here showing numbers of people and salaries and rates can be helpful.

8.4

Professional Services Providers

If you have a lawyer, accountant, or consultant that you care to list you can do it here. It makes you look like you have more of a team.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

BizPlanIt Companies, LLC tel| 480.595.7227 web| www.bizplanit.com email: jimmy@bizplanit.com 2010 BizPlanIt Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

9. Financial Plan

This is often the most challenging section for most entrepreneurs. And yet, it is very important. How much capital will be required to start the business and sustain it until it is able to sustain itself? How will you spend the capital? What are the financial consequences of your success? Those are the questions that you will answer in this section.

9.1 9.2 9.3

Capitalization Plan Use of Proceeds Assumptions

How much money will you need and what in your opinion is the source of that capital?

How will you spend the money?

This sub-section will discuss and describe the assumptions that you used in developing the financial projections that follow.

9.4 9.5 9.6

GOOD LUCK!

5 Year Balance Sheet Projections 5 Year Profit & Loss Projections 5 Year Cash Flow Projections

Some restaurant entrepreneurs will be able to create a comprehensive business plan from beginning to end while others will struggle with some sections and do a great job on others. At BizPlanIt we are always available to provide assistance when and where you need it. Interested in Learning More About BizPlanIt? Contact us today to learn more about how our
Business Plan and Other Consulting Solutions can help you start a business, raise capital, and achieve your growth objectives? We look forward to connecting with you soon!

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BizPlanIt Companies, LLC tel| 480.595.7227 web| www.bizplanit.com email: jimmy@bizplanit.com 2010 BizPlanIt Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved.