Sample Restaurant Business Plans
When writing a business plan for your restaurant, think strategically about the type of restaurant. Although certain elements will be similar across different restaurant formats, each has its own characteristics.
Consider, for example, a self serve buffet's plan versus that of a health food restaurant. Both plans would have the same general outline: Executive Summary, Restaurant Overview, Product and Service Descriptions, Business and Market Analyses, Marketing Plan Strategies, Sales Strategies, Management, Financial Analysis, and Financial Statements.
Details, however, will differ dramatically between the two plans. Many of the target customers for the health food restaurant, for example, are wealthy or otherwise prefer healthy meals. The buffet customers, on the other hand, tend to have an appetite for heartier dishes.
These demographic differences between the two restaurants alone cause business plans for the two to be quite different. As an example, think about the financials. The health food meals will be priced higher than the buffet price. Food costs will also be higher due to quality requirements, variety, and rarer ingredients. Additionally, per-meal labor costs will be much higher for the health food restaurant versus the buffet restaurant. Reasons include higher paid specially trained staff, full table service, and the individual preparation of each meal.
Thinking along these lines, you can understand why each restaurant is unique and a generic "restaurant business plan" copied from someone else's plan is not adequate. To get a better idea about the nuances, have a look at both restaurant plans - the self serve buffet and the full service health food restaurant. Both are available online.
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