Similar to any other business, a catering business also works on a business plan and having one ready before you begin a catering business will make sure that you start well and go in the right direction as planned. As with any business, a catering business will also have goals and tools to measure progress as a part of the catering plan. In short, having a solid plan will make sure that you remain focused on your objectives.

A business plan, not only to keep track of your business but also helps when you look for help from outside, especially financing. If you are looking for investors in your business, the first thing that an investor would like to see is a very solid plan – be it your future business partners or financial institutions (banks).

Writing a plan for your business is not as easy as it sounds, it does need a fair amount of research and a good bit of thinking. In fact, you can get a sample business plan from a well-run catering company and use it to write your own by inducting your own parameters. The business should consist of the following components:

a. Executive summary: This part of the business plan should explain your business and consist of a brief outline to the reader.

b. Objectives: this part of the business plan should describe the short to long term goals of your catering business (ideally for the next 4 to 5 years) in financial terms. These goals should outline the objectives to be achieved with a time-line.

c. Mission statement: This part of the business plan should define and explain the catering company’s values and ideals (in short, business ethics and ambitions).

d. Ownership: this section go the business catering plan deals with ownership structure of the catering company, whether it is a proprietorship, partnership or a limited company and the details thereof.

e. Start-up requirements: This section should contain information about the catering company’s start up needs. What is the cost of start-up? What is the working capital required? What is the equipment required? Etc.

f. Market Information: A catering business also has competition and it is necessary to include the information pertaining to the same in this section of the business plan. This would contain a brief summary of the competition along with analysis and the plans that would be followed to get ahead of the competition along with details of new markets to be explored and services to be offered.

g. Strategy: This part of the catering plan should contain the marketing strategy that is to be followed to achieve the objectives. This section would also include forecasted financials for sales.
h. Management: For your catering company to succeed, it would need a highly skilled management with hierarchical control. This strategy and working needs to be integrated into the business plan in this section.

i. People: Hiring would be a key factor in the catering business and therefore the plans for hiring and man power costs need to be estimated well in advance and put forth into the business plan in this section.

j. Finances: Last but the most important, the financials of your catering business needs to be put on as per in this section of the plan for your catering business. Projected profit and loss statements need to be prepared depending on estimated costs and revenues for the nest 4 to 5 years. Understood that the market is never consistent, however having some optimistic as well optimistic estimates would help plan your business better. Once this is done successfully, it is easier for you to understand and underline the break-even point for your catering business. Once you know this, the objectives are frozen and all you need to do here is to put your best foot forward.

A lot of generic business plans are available; you can always grab one and customize it to suit your catering business. Although this is easier, it is always good to begin from the scratch and make your own catering company business plan since it would help you to understand your business better and will surely put you on the right path to success.

A simple business plan is all you need to keep your company moving along the success track.

Ask many entrepreneurs if they have a strategic/business plan/blueprint and they will nearly always say yes, but ask to see it and you’ll discover that it is often just a mental vision they have in their heads.

Writing a strategic blueprint is one of the single most important things that any company owner can do and yet, many small business owners never get around to doing it! Yes, they may have a dream for what they hope to achieve with their company but unless it is written down with goals, strategies and a plan of action, it’s really just a pipedream.

Planning is a critical part of ‘working on rather than in the business’. Many people with an entrepreneurial mindset have read the E-Myth by Michael Gerber and they are aware of the need to do this but still, there is resistance to doing it.

This may be because the typical entrepreneur is full of ideas and loves putting them in to action. Planning and strategizing is seen as boring or simply overwhelming. Where do you start when you’ve got such a huge vision for your burgeoning enterprise?

Sometimes the resistance to planning can be a plain old time management issue – it’s far more exciting to respond to urgent emails and phone calls, to solve problems on the shop floor and chat to important customers than to sit in the back office writing down goals. But allowing your ego to be puffed up by these urgent things rather than focusing on what’s really important can be to the detriment of your company.

Any business coach, advisor, banker or accountant will tell you that a plan is critical to your success.

A strategic blueprint gives you a sense of direction even when you’re immersed in the daily grind of running a company. It also allows you to make better decisions and, very importantly, it gives you peace of mind knowing what you need to do each day.

Any plan is better than nothing. It is better to have something written down on a piece of paper and stuck on your office wall than nothing at all.

Many of the templates on the Internet are long and complicated – but unless you are applying for finance they don’t need to be. A short simple business plan, of one page, that you actually use and refer to is far more valuable than a huge document that collects dust.

No business can effectively operate nor attract the funds needed to survive prosper and grow without a good business plan. A good plan is a management tool that shows where your business is going, and just how you plan to get there, and is a necessity for attracting lenders, investors, partners and key personnel, plan outlines vary but they all must cover certain key areas, such as: Executive Summary, Business Description, Marketing Plan, Financial Plan, Management Team, and Appendix.

Moreover, there are many kinds of software on the market that can help you write you write a good plan, but you must still input the data needed to write your plan into the software. The output of the software can never be any better than the data you put into it and you must manually put that in yourself. Here are four steps to help you write a strong business plan:

1. Put all of your plan data and information into several good old fashion file folders and label each folder so that you know what is in it. This data and information will include such materials as marketing methods you will use, market research, management team bio’s, financial statements, profit projects and other similar items.

2. Get a good outline or use the outline in the software you will be using to help draft your plan. And write a 250 to 500 word summary for each section of your business plan using the materials that you have in your plan data and information file folders.

3. Expand upon your brief summary descriptions for each section of your plan to write your actual plan, or let the software write this for you. Be sure to give extra attention to the marketing section of your plan because this section gets the more attention than any other part of your plan from lenders and investors, since this tells how your profits will be obtained.

4. Keep your plan to between eight to 12 pages, because when it comes to business plans more it not better, and anything longer than that quite simply won’t get read, then put a list of other information you have available in your appendix to be requested if wanted. You want your business plan to be a clear concise document that is easy to read and understand, because a confused mind will usually say no to what is being proposed.

A good business plan will help you to effectively and profitably operate your business, and is a clear road map that shows where you business is going, how you plan to get there, the people you will need to get there, and the profits your business will produce when you get there. And it will help you to get the money you need from lenders and investors to get where you want to go with your business. So do not underestimate the power of a good well written business plan, and by all means prepare you one getting started today.