Opening a Restaurant or Other Food Business Starter Kit: How to Prepare a Restaurant Business Plan & Feasibility Study: With Companion CD-ROM

by Sharon Fullen

Restaurants are one of the most frequently started small businesses, yet have one of the highest failure rates. Survivors need a powerful strategic a sound business plan and feasibility study prior to opening. A new study from The Ohio State University has found the restaurant industry failure rate between 1996 and 1999 to be between 57-61 percent over three years. Dont be a statistic on the wrong side, plan now for success with this new book & CD-ROM package. A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your firm's resume. The basic components include a current and pro forma balance sheet, an income statement, and a cash flow analysis. It helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make good business decisions. Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any loan application. Additionally, it informs personnel, suppliers, and others about your operations and goals. Despite the critical importance of a business plan, many entrepreneurs drag their feet when it comes to preparing a written document. They argue that their marketplace changes too fast for a business plan to be useful or that they just don't have enough time. But just as a builder won't begin construction without a blueprint, eager business owners shouldn't rush into new ventures without a business plan. The CD-ROM will cover the following Elements of a Business Plan, cover sheet , statement of purpose, the business, description of the restaurant, marketing, competition, operating procedures, personnel, business insurance, financial data, loan applications, capital equipment and supply list, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, pro-forma income projections (profit & loss statements), three-year summary, detail by month, first year, detail by quarters, second and third years, assumptions upon which projections were based, pro-forma cash flow, supporting documents for franchised businesses, a copy of franchise contract and all, supporting documents provided by the franchisor, copy of proposed lease or purchase agreement for building space, copy of licenses and other legal documents, copy of resumes of all principals, copies of letters of intent from suppliers, etc.

Genres: Business

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2004

Reviews

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sharon Fullen, Opening a Restaurant or Other Food Business Starter Kit: How to Prepare a Restaurant Business Plan and Feasibility Study (Atlantic, 2005)

I took much of the summer off from reading new books, instead concentrating on stuff that's been languishing on my backlist, books I started back in the mists of time, had to return to the library, and that subsequently got lost in the book-journal shuffle (or that I have to get through interlibrary loan now, as I switched library systems a couple of years back). Opening a Restaurant... is one of those; I started it way back in August of 2007, had to return it because someone else had a hold on it, and forgot to take it out again until last week. While the dream of actually opening a restaurant has fallen by the wayside (or at least been put on a very very backburner), I figured I'd finish the book anyway and report back. It's the curse of the obsessive reviewer.

One of the great things about nonfiction is that in many cases you don't have to provide a summary; one look at the combined title and subtitle should tell you all you need to know. That's the case here, and Fullen does it short, sweet, and to the point, taking you step by step through the writing of a business plan and feasibility study, with little of the rah-rah-rah confidence-building stuff you find in so many more tiring books like this. The downside to that is that the book stays well within the norms, not mentioning any alternate suggestions for style or the like. That said, if you're looking to write a classic business plan to drum up money to open a restaurant, you'll want to read this unless you already know what you're doing. ***