The fast-food industry is highly competitive. With several franchise brands dominating the market in South Africa, starting a fast-food outlet that is not part of a franchise can be challenging, but rewarding if done right. Research and planning will help to set you up for success. But even if you know exactly what you want to do, where the outlet will be located, and what the target audience is, you need a professional business plan to secure finance and attract investors. This is also true when it comes to crowd funding the outlet.
A professional business plan contains all the essentials, such as the:
- Executive summary that includes an overview of the enterprise
- Products and services
- Location
- Target audience
- Marketing strategy
- Management structure
- Reporting structure
- Management systems
- Legislative requirements
- Background of the directors or owners
- Training
- Market analysis
- Financial overview
- Financial analysis
- Break-even plan
- Projected cash-flow
- Projected profit and loss statement
- Projected balance sheet
- Exit strategy
A professional business plan discusses each of the above categories in detail, ensuring that your investors, the bank, and shareholders can understand the potential of the business. However, it is also the guideline for your success.
You want a professional design according to which you can set-up, manage, market, and grow the outlet. Simply using a template does not help. Accurate information is crucial. The business plan is an objective overview, analysis, and projection of the profitability of the outlet. You thus need to take all important factors into consideration.
Such factors include a competitor analysis, trading hours, the menu, time it will take to break even, security, liability insurance, and more.
With the excitement of opening your own fast-food restaurant, you may, for the sake of not having to give up on your dream, overlook important factors that are vital for the success of the outlet.
One such a factor is staffing. Finding reliable people to work at your fast-food outlet can be difficult. Staff overheads easily count for a major portion of the expenses. Determine how many people you need for each shift and use the hospitality industry minimum wage table as the base of salary cost estimates. Also keep work on Sundays and public holidays in mind when calculating costs. The hours of operation will have an effect on how many employees you will need. Remember to take annual salary increases into consideration for the three-year income and expenses projection.
Let us help you draft a professional business plan with the consideration of staffing, demographics, location, and many other relevant factors, otherwise easily overlooked in determining the profitability of a fast-food outlet.
