# Coffee shop business plan

A skeleton, not a template to fill in blindly. Each section says what it is
for and what a lender is looking for in it. Delete the prompts as you write.

Sources for the structure: the US Small Business Administration's traditional
plan outline, the Business Development Bank of Canada's four-topic outline,
and three Small Business Development Center templates. Two sections here are
not in the SBA outline and are added deliberately: Operations, which every
other structure has and which a cafe lives or dies by, and Legal and risk,
which only the Central Virginia SBDC template isolates.

Read alongside: https://coffeestudies.com/coffee-business/coffee-shop-business-plan

---

## 1. Executive summary

Write this last. One to two pages. What the business is, who it serves, what
you need, and why it works.

- The concept in one sentence.
- Location and format (shop with seating, takeaway, cart, truck, kiosk).
- What you are asking for, and what it buys.
- The three numbers you want remembered: total capital required, break-even
  sales, and month of first positive cash flow.

The Business Development Bank's view is that you can leave this out unless a
partner asks for it. If a lender is reading, include it.

## 2. Company description

- Legal structure, and why. (Sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC or
  corporation in the US; sole proprietorship, general partnership or
  corporation in Canada.)
- Ownership and who holds what.
- Where you are and why that address.
- What problem the shop solves for the people within walking distance of it.

## 3. Market analysis

- The trade area: who lives, works or passes within your catchment, and how
  many. Census data is free and specific; use it rather than national figures.
- Direct competitors, by name, with what each does well.
- The gap you are filling, stated as something a customer would recognise.
- Do not use a national market-size figure as evidence that your corner works.

## 4. Products and menu

- The drink menu, and the three items you expect to carry the day.
- Food, and whether there is a kitchen. Food changes your permits, your
  equipment and your staffing.
- Where the coffee comes from and on what terms.
- Retail bags, merchandise, and whether either is real revenue or decoration.

## 5. Operations

Not in the SBA outline. It belongs here anyway, because this is the part that
actually runs.

- Hours, and the staffing each daypart needs.
- The bar layout and who stands where during the morning rush.
- Throughput: drinks an hour at peak, and what limits it.
- Suppliers, delivery days, and order lead times.
- Opening and closing procedures, cleaning, and equipment service.
- What happens when the espresso machine fails on a Monday.

## 6. Management and people

- Who runs it day to day, and what they have done before.
- The org chart, even if it is three people.
- Hiring plan, wage rates, and the labour cost you are budgeting as a
  percentage of sales.
- Advisors: accountant, lawyer, insurance broker.

## 7. Marketing and sales

- How the first hundred regulars find you.
- Opening plan, and what you spend on it.
- Retention: loyalty, email, the reason to come back on a Tuesday.
- The channels you will actually maintain, not the ones you could.

## 8. Legal and risk

Only one of the templates surveyed isolates this. For a food business with a
lease, a health permit and employees, it deserves its own section.

- Licences and permits, who issues each, and the fee.
- Health department plan review, and the fact that in many jurisdictions you
  may not begin construction until it is approved.
- Zoning, and whether the use is permitted at your address.
- Insurance: general liability, property, equipment breakdown, workers
  compensation where required.
- Lease terms that can end the business: personal guarantee, demolition
  clause, relocation clause, assignment restrictions.
- What you do if the build runs late and rent has started.

## 9. Funding request

- How much, over what period, and in what tranches.
- Debt or equity, and the terms you want.
- What the money buys, line by line, tied to the startup cost sheet.
- What you are putting in yourself.

## 10. Financial projections

The rest of the plan explains these numbers. If they are missing, the plan
does not get read.

- Startup costs, line by line, each with its source and the date you priced it.
- A twelve-month cash flow, monthly.
- Three-year income statement.
- Break-even, in sales dollars and in cups a day.
- The assumptions, written down, so a reader can argue with them.

Use the companion workbook:
https://coffeestudies.com/downloads/coffee-shop-projections.csv

## 11. Appendix

The SBA's own page lists eight sections and describes nine; the appendix is
the one that went missing. Include it.

- Menu, lease or letter of intent, permits applied for.
- Resumes of the people named in section 6.
- Equipment quotes.
- Anything a lender would otherwise have to ask for.