Downloadable Template for Your Coffee Shop Business Plan
What is a coffee shop business plan?
A business plan is used to describe a number of documents or forms that details a business’s future goals, as well as the steps involved in getting them there along with an estimation of how long it should take for them to be successful. In this case, we will specifically be looking at coffee shops and the processes needed to build a successful one.
Coffee Shop Business Plan Template
To get a better idea of what a proper business plan for a coffee shop should look like, click on the link below to be taken to your very own downloadable business plan template that can work as a great reference point for you as you put together your own business plan. Simply input your own information into the template to make the process easier for yourself.
Why does my coffee shop need a business plan?
While there are many trends that may come and go, one that has stood the test of time is people wanting a cup of coffee from their local cafe. Whether it be bright and early and they need the extra bit of caffeine to jump-start their day, or it’s late in the evening and they need a boost to get through a long list of tasks, buying a cup of coffee has been ingrained in our society and how we live our lives.
This prominence has made slinging caffeine an ideal investment for many business owners as they carved a path into their customers’ everyday lives. While a classic cup of coffee has, and will always be popular, brands like Starbucks and Caribou Coffee have dominated the industry for a number of years and have caused many mom & pop locations to close their doors. Even with the international brands acting as competition, opening your own coffee shop can still be a lucrative venture as long as you understand what you’re getting yourself into and prepare yourself accordingly.
The best way to assure the success of your coffee shop is by having an optimal business plan in place that will guide you through each step of the process as well as fill you in on what you can come to expect on your journey of slinging cups of coffee to the masses. Building a business plan that is thorough enough to build a successful coffee shop is no easy feat, which is why this blog will be analyzing what goes into a great coffee shop business plan as well as providing you with a downloadable template that you can reference during each stage of the building of your business.
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Types of Business Plans
The first step of putting together an effective business plan for your coffee shop is understanding what type of business plan would be best for your coffee shop. Despite what most people think, business plans aren’t as straightforward as they’re made out to be and you need to be aware of each type so that you choose the one that fits best for your coffee shop. Here are a couple of the most common types of business plans that are useful for potential business owners.
1. Traditional Business Plan
A traditional business plan is the most common that is used amongst businesses and consists of a comprehensive amount of information that includes an executive summary, description of the company, analysis of the market, etc. While a traditional business plan is largely comprehensive, it’s still fairly straightforward by providing readers with all the information they need to know that they’re going into a sound investment and that the business is poised to be stable.
2. Lean Startup Business Plan
If you want to start your coffee shop in a hurry, need to explain it quickly, or want it to be a simple business like a stand outside of an office building that serves coffee, then a lean startup business plan may be the best option for you. A lean startup business plan will typically use a lot of visual aides like graphs and other tools that are useful for visualizing tradeoffs as well as other important facts regarding your company.
3. Growth Business Plan
If you have already started your coffee shop and are looking for a way to secure investment so you can further your growth, a growth business plan may be a good fit for your organization. They are detailed and in-depth plans for growth and are typically made for external purposes so that companies are able to secure funding for their next ventures.
4. Strategic Business Plan
Another notable business plan is a strategic business plan that provides an in-depth map of a company’s goals along with how they plan on achieving those goals. A strategic business plan typically consists of five different elements: the vision of the business, the mission statement, success factors, strategies used for achieving goals, and a timeline detailing when they plan on implementing certain strategies. A strategic business plan is great for detailing to each employee, as well as anyone else, exactly how the business is planning on becoming successful.
5. Operations Business Plan
An operations business plan is usually made for internal purposes and contains information regarding company operations, upcoming deadlines that people need to be aware of, as well as the responsibilities for each of the employees to ensure that the goal is reached.
6. Feasibility Business Plan
A feasibility business plan is made to answer two big questions about a specific business venture, these questions are: who will purchase the products and can the business turn a profit. Although they’re built to tackle a host of different topics regarding a new business, some of the most important points of interest are the specific consumers that are going to be interested in the product in the first place, the amount of money that will be needed to keep the business going, as well as a host of other topics.
While all of these strategies are effective in helping a company work to reach its goals, the downloadable template attached to this blog will mimic a traditional business plan because it’s the most straightforward and commonly used form that business owners use for their own ventures.
What goes into a business plan?
A business plan is the foundation of any successful business and provides the building blocks for you while you’re in the process of building your coffee shop. Not only that, but you’ll need a top-notch business plan if you want to assure that you’ll be able to secure funding in the form of loans from banks. That said, here are the sections of a business plan you’ll need to organize and build out if you want your coffee shop to reach the level of success you dream of.
1. Executive Summary
First and foremost, your business plan will need an executive summary that will serve as an introduction and will let everyone know what your goals are for the document ahead. In other words, it is a summary of your entire business plan and its purpose is to give readers a brief idea of the topics you plan on touching on. Also, although it will visually be the first item that appears in your business plan, you should write it last. That’s because you want your executive summary to be all-encompassing in regards to what it covers in the document and the only way you can ensure it’s as effective as you need it to be is by completing it after you’ve done everything else. This way, you have an overview of everything you’ve touched on in the piece fresh on your mind and will be better suited to piece together your executive summary.
Also, your executive summary should also contain your company’s mission statement, which is a shortened statement of a company’s goals or overall purpose. To give you an edge on your competition, here are some quick tips for producing an effective mission statement.
Have your target demographic in mind when you’re writing the mission statement so you have a clear idea of what would make someone want to support your business.
Define what your business does for its customers. For a coffee shop, this should include some variation of providing high-quality coffee and great customer service to all of your customers.
It should reflect the long-term vision for your company, as well as stating what your company stands for both internally and externally.
Pay attention to the four important elements of any great mission statement, these are value, inspiration, plausibility, and specificity.
Keep it short! Remember that a mission statement should only be 1-2 short, succinct sentences. Input too much, and you risk overloading the reader with information that they don’t care about.
2. Company Synopsis
The next section of your business plan is the company synopsis that is used as an overview of the most important aspects of your company. It covers information like the history of your company, your founders, location, management team, number of employees, etc. In other words, it’s everything about your company that you feel is relevant for an investor or anyone else on the outside looking in.
That said, it’s also the first introduction that people have with your business as well as with yourself as a business owner, so make sure you’re putting your best foot forward. A company synopsis is also typically one of the shortest parts of a business plan and involves a lot of the “who, what, when, where, and why” of your business. Here are a few questions you should consider that can really help in piecing together your company synopsis.
- What is the product you’re offering?
- How will I solve my customers’ issues?
- What impact does my product have on my customers’ lives?
- How will my product fill the hole that similar businesses in my area haven’t?
3. Product Synopsis
Although you touched on your products in the company synopsis, it’s time to get into more detail by spending this section explaining just how your coffee shop’s products will work to please your customers and keep them coming back. For example, this means going over the type of coffee you’ll be serving and giving details on whether it’s organic, single-sourced, etc. You should also detail how you’re planning on preparing it, other items you’ll serve aside from coffee, etc. Although you may see a coffee shop as a very straightforward business, you still need to go into plenty of detail during this step so you know you didn’t leave anything out.
4. Market Analysis
The next section of your coffee shop’s business plan is the market analysis, while the previous sections worked to introduce your business to people who are unaware of your brand, the market analysis is used to prove that your business will have a sizable consumer base that will be enough to sustain the business as well as provide an avenue of profits for a number of years going forward. In other words, this section serves to show readers you have actual proof backed with data that your business will be able to attract and sustain a sizable number of customers. Here are some numbers you should uncover to assure that your market analysis is hitting all the points that it needs to.
- What is the size of the market? (Will it be local, national, worldwide, etc.)
- How long should it take for the company to break even?
- How much is it growing? What proof do you have that it’s growing?
- How much profits should the coffee shop be bringing in each year?
5. Strategy & Implementation
The strategy & implementation section of a business plan gives an overview of your sales & marketing strategy as well as how you plan on implementing them within your business. No matter how amazing your product is or how efficient of a worker you are, you need a strategy in place to make sure you get your business’s name out there. Make sure to include the following items:
- An explanation of how you’ll promote your business to consumers and the rest of the market.
- Costs associated with all of your sales & marketing strategies.
6. Financial Planning & Projections
This section of your business plan should be made with the assistance of your accountant or some other financial consultant that can help you with market analysis as well as setting goals for your coffee shop. You should make sure that this section includes realistic financial figures like forecasted income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, as well as capital expenditure budgets for the coming years.
Closing thoughts
The world runs on coffee, so it’s understandable that you would want to carve out your own space in the industry. That said, keep in mind that you’ll have plenty of competitors and that you’ll need a strong business plan if you want to come out successful.
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