If you want to start a coffee shop business, you probably have already thought about where you would like to open it, have a creative name for the shop, and even considered picking out the swag items that you want to sell to customers.
However, all of these steps are secondary to the most important thing that needs to be created for your business: your business plan. Learning how to make a coffee shop business plan can help get all of your thoughts in order to keep the business going strong.
Without a business plan in hand, you will not even be able to register your business in some states. Your business plan is also like your blueprint which will help guide you through the early stages of creating and developing your company.
Making sure that you have a thorough and complete business plan on hand can be the difference between your shop being a success and having to close due to issues that you did not predict. You will have much better luck getting a business off the ground with an effective and well-thought-out business plan guiding your path.
Many people do not take the time to fully develop their business plan, and this causes them to run into major issues that they could have avoided if they had taken the time to create this essential item.
| Item | What it Does For Your Business |
| Executive Summary | Offers a concise overview of the business |
| Industry Overview | Based on information you gathered to assess the market and niche you are planning to move into |
| Market Analysis | Thorough analysis of the target market and the location that you want to open your business |
| Sales and Marketing | This is the plan for your marketing and sales which is linked to your budget |
| Ownership/Management Plan | How ownership and management will be handled and structured for your business |
| Operating Plan | How will daily operations work? Discusses supply chains and employee roles as well |
| Financial Plan | Demonstrates the planned income, cash flow, costs, and overall budget of your business |
| Exhibits and Appendices | Anything extra that needs to be considered like specific permits, resumes of owners, information about the industry and location and more |
Making a Coffee Shop Business Plan
If you do not feel that you are up to the task of creating a business plan for your coffee shop, do not skip this step altogether. Make sure that you hire a legal expert or someone with the skill to take care of this task to handle this essential document for you.
You should not be without a business plan for many reasons, and you will not want to skip over this step just because it feels daunting to you.
1. Executive Summary
This part of the business plan will usually be written last, but it is typically placed first in the document. This is the part of the document which offers up a concise overview of what the business will be all about and what it will do for the community.
You should aim for this part of the plan to be two pages or less and offer up a brief description of each of the various other parts of the business plan. This is a higher-level view of the business and it is ideal for use to create vendor contacts, to get your business license, and to help give any other business partners an idea of what your business will be all about.
You can mention expected sales revenues, benefits to the location you have selected, local partnerships that you are creating, and more. Just make sure that this is a summary and that it is concise and succinct.
2. Business or Industry Overview
This part of the plan will explain the coffee industry, what the expected opportunities are within this niche, and what the coffee shop customer expects from coffee shops and kiosks. Make sure to indicate the demographics of the expected customer base for your business and explain some statistics about the coffee industry as a whole.
If you are going to be offering services within a very narrow part of the coffee industry, such as sustainably-sourced coffee drinks only, or other types of very specific services, describe these in detail as well.
One of the most important parts of this portion of the business plan is what your stated position will be within the coffee industry. How will you be different from your competition? What makes you unique?
Maybe you are offering the chance for students to study in study cubes at your store, or maybe you are creating unique drinks that no one has ever made before. These kinds of details help explain what your business stands for and what makes it able to stand the test of time.
You will also need to discuss the competition that you expect within your niche or lack thereof. If you are truly entirely unique as a business, maybe you don’t have any direct competition. However, the coffee industry is a really busy and full business niche, and you will almost certainly have competitors who could impact your business.
3. Market Analysis and Competition
This is where you dive into the nitty-gritty of what the competition is like in the coffee shop industry as a whole. You will want to be sure that you have a full understanding of this part of your business plan yourself as well.
Most people who dream up a business that they want to start and forget to look at the market and figure out what it takes to start a store that will make it amongst strong competition. You will need to look at customer surveys if you have them, studies about what makes or breaks coffee businesses, and all the other information that you can find about local shops which have succeeded or failed.
Make sure that you are specific in this section of the plan as well. State why a shop failed and cite ways that this could have been avoided. Make sure that you detail why you can avoid this pitfall and why your situation will be different than this competitor who did not make it in the industry.
Make sure as well that you detail why your business will attract in more customers than established entities in the same space. You need to be able to get enough business every day to keep the lights on, and you need to be clear about how to do that.
You can also discuss in this section how revenues will be better for your business due to the factors that you have considered which can be improved upon. This might be just a projection, but it does need to be founded on real actual information and facts. You cannot state that you think you will do better without having any information about how or why you will do better.
4. Sales and Marketing
The sales and marketing costs for businesses can be very steep. This is one of the places where having a really good idea of costs will help protect your business from failure. The cost of advertising can sink a business before it has even had a chance to get off the ground.
There are many ways to market your business, but you will need to have some idea about which methods will work best for your business. You might have better products, make more unique drinks, or offer a nicer place to sit down and sip on coffee. Whatever the difference is between you and your competition, this will figure into how you advertise and promote your store.
Having some idea about how to best allocate your marketing dollars is key as well. Marketing costs can add up really quickly, and you could be throwing money into the wind without even realizing it when you don’t have a solid sales and marketing plan. You will be doing yourself a big favor down the road if you take the time to make a good marketing and sales plan.
Be sure to describe the sales experience that your company will offer. Even if you are setting up a kiosk for your business or a food truck-style shop, make sure that you explain what the experience of getting coffee will be like at your shop. This is part of your branding and you will want to be clear about the expectations that you have for your company in this space.
This is what customers remember the most about visiting a coffee shop and you will need to be sure that you know what kind of experience you want to promise to people well before your store is open for business.
If you need to pay for signage to direct people to your kiosk, or you are going to have to pay for advertising permits to use signboards at a strip mall or some other location, explain that you will have these costs and why they are key to your marketing plan.
This might be the most important part of your advertising budget, and you need to be sure that you are clear about these costs well before you start planning to open your store.
5. Ownership and Management Plan
This part of the document offers up the legal business ownership structure as well as information about the management and staffing for your business. You will want to indicate what type of business you are going to operate, and you will want to explain to the shareholders if you are not the sole owner of the company.
The management plan might need to include specific information about which owners do which tasks toward operating the business if you have more than one shareholder or owner. Make sure that you are as detailed as you feel you need to be to avoid conflicts with your business partners.
Most people assume that they will never have problems with the other owners of the company, but this happens more often than you might think. The clearer this part of the document is, the less likely it will be that you will run into management issues and disputes down the road.
6. Operating Plan
The requirements for your business, like the retail space, the inventory, and supply needs, and the labor requirements, should be laid out clearly in this part of the document. You will also want to discuss things like specialized equipment, special training, and other kinds of specifics if they apply to your business.
The more detail that is included in this part of the plan, the better. You should be able to map out all the things that you need to have in place to operate your business so that you can create a budget and stick to it.
Detail what you get with your lease if you are renting a business space, and make sure that you outline things like utilities, zoning, and other kinds of considerations, and any permits and facility fees you will need to pay to get your business into the space that you have in mind.
Brick-and-mortar locations often require far more detail in this section of the contract, but there are operating considerations for all businesses which need to be outlined in this part of the document.
Define what full staffing looks like and what the jobs will be for each person. If you have a dishwasher, a stocker, or some other staff who do not make drinks, make sure you explain what their role is as well. You will want to explain the costs of your staffing as well, from insurance to permits, to training for each new staff person.
Make sure to detail the purchase or lease costs and details for the large machines that you will need. Things like espresso grinders and refrigerators can be costly, and you need to be sure that you explain how these costs will be handled and budgeted for.
You will also need to explain in detail the supply contracts that you are going to use to make sure that you have what you need to make drinks. These are usually vendor relationships that are contracted for at least a month at a time, and you need to be sure that you explain all the details of this commitment and the costs associated with it.
You will also want to explain what your plan is for any food items that you are going to sell. Most coffee shops get their bakery goods from local caterers or bakeries, but you do need to explain how this process will work and what it will cost you.
7. Finances
This is the section of your business plan that talks about how your business will grow, how much it will cost to start, and what the breaking-even point is before your business becomes profitable. You will also need to provide projections for your profits after you have paid back any loans that you took out or have finished paying off large purchases for things like machines.
You can include income statements, cash flow projections, monthly expense calculations, and a balance sheet in this part of your business plan. This is the most important part of your road map to success, as most businesses flounder due to finances and never become profitable.
It can be tempting to deviate from the financial plan associated with your business plan, but you should not do this without careful consideration of the possible consequences. Your finances are key to the success of your business, and you will have a much better time keeping your business operational and successful if you make sure that you stick to this part of your plan.
A breakeven analysis should also be part of your financial planning, and you should make sure that you take the time to run the numbers to see if you are on target once your store is opened. You will want to get to the breakeven point as soon as possible and having a breakdown of how to get there can help to make this a possibility without any major issues along the way.
8. Exhibits and Appendices
This section is for all the unusual or unique paperwork and costs that you might have to take care of for your business. You might have unique signage permits that need to be paid for, or maybe you have a unique arrangement to be allowed to use the parking lot where you want to park your kiosk or truck.
You will need to outline all of the things in this section that do not naturally fit into the other sections but require attention.You might want to include the detailed market research that you did or the resumes of your owners or predicted staff selections. The site plan or the building layout for your location might be necessary and could be added here.
Mortgage documents, equipment lease contracts, and even quotes on these items can be relevant and require inclusion in your plan. Make sure that this section has everything in it that you do not want to forget to take care of or consider as an expense related to starting your business.
You can even add marketing materials or projections for the cost of things like gear or marketing items that can be sold to customers. There are no limits to the number of items that you might consider relevant to your overall business plan that you think should be attached at the end of this document.
Feel free to annotate as you see fit so that you can remain on track and make sure that your business will be a big success.
A Business Plan for Your Coffee Shop is a Must
No matter how sure you are about the process of opening a business or how much you think you have thought about the plan in detail and understand the expenses and the needs of the business, you will want to make a business plan. There are so many details that need to be taken care of and considered when you are opening a business, and you should not leave any of these details to chance.
Your business needs to be carefully guided from its early phases to the stage where it becomes profitable. Having a business plan in place will make it easy to take care of the needs of your business one step at a time as it grows.
Creating a business plan can seem daunting, but it is well worth it in the long run. You will find that having this document is required to get your business license in some states, and you will appreciate having the help of the guide to make sure that you can get your business rolling without going over budget or running into issues that you never saw coming. With the tips above, you will know how to make a coffee shop business plan for your business.