The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Restaurant Business Plan
2 Min Read By Andrea Victory
Whether you’ve already opened your business, are dreaming of one day running your own restaurant, or have the wheels in motion and have begun making your foodservice idea a reality, you need a comprehensive business plan to keep you focused and on track. A proper business plan is a guide that will help take your idea from concept to actuality and will become a tool you’ll refer to once you’re running the coolest new joint on the block.
In this Ultimate Guide, we’ll walk you step-by-step through all of the sections you’ll need to include in your business plan, get you thinking of important factors you may not have considered, and show you how to wrap it all up in a professional format.
So grab a pen and paper, get out your laptop, and let’s make this vision of yours come to life.
Things to Consider Before You Start Writing a Business Plan
Before you set your pen to paper or start typing out the opus that will become your comprehensive business plan, you’ll want to consider a few key things. Knowing the answers to these questions will make writing your business plan and communicating your vision a hundred times easier. Take some time to think about the answers so they will be top of mind as you go through each section in the template.
Who is this for?
Are you approaching investors, is this guide specifically for you and your staff? You’ll want to have the reader in mind, and will need to write accordingly to convey details and information to different audience types.
Where will you be located?
If you don’t yet have a location in mind, narrowing down what area of town or specific neighbourhood you’ll be in is necessary. Your restaurant’s location will dictate very important elements of your business plan like competition, ingredient availability, venue type, etc. If you’re in the very early stages it may be hard to know your exact address, but nailing it as close as you can will help keep consistency in your business plan as you get closer to opening.
What is your venue type?
You may have a very clear idea of what kind of restaurant you’re going to run whether it be an intimate cafe, craft microbrewery, or gourmet food truck. But if you aren’t quite sure yet, you’ll need to get on that before setting pen to paper. Maybe you know that you want to run a place with organic fare and fresh juices, but there are major differences between a quick-service vegetarian lunch spot and a raw fast casual venue, even though they may seem similar. You should know exactly what your venue is going to be as you work through the questions and details of our business plan.
