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Business Plan for a Meal Preparation Business

September 10, 2006

Q-I want to start a business that prepares meals ahead of time so that working parents can quickly grab some on the way home to give their family a very nutritious and great meal. I am drafting a business plan for this new business. How detailed in this plan do I have to be for prospective investors? Additionally, how much research do I have to do on my competitors if I am expecting to get only 1% of the dining market?

The business plan must be done without getting into too many of the details. While including a sample menu is worthwhile, showing the recipes for the various dishes would be too detailed. You need to take the approach as to: What do potential investors want to see? While you cannot get this right all of the time, taking their viewpoint will really help. Just ask yourself this question, “If I was going to invest in this venture, what would I need to know?”

Most business plans are between 15 and 20 pages of narrative. On top of this, there should be some pro forma statements showing the future profitability of your business. Spend much of your time talking about your concept and how you are going to move it to become operational. Additionally, you must talk about how you are going to grow your business. The business plan should not be written to show only how you are going to start your business; rather, it should be written on how to start and then to continually grow your business. This is so important.

By far the most important part of the business plan is the executive summary. This document should be about two pages in length and should summarize what you are going to do and how are you going do it. Most investors will read the executive summary, and if they are not grabbed by it, they will not go further. The executive summary must not be just good -- it must be great!

Many businesses do not get funding because they make crass assumptions about the market share they can get. One percent is a large amount of market share and many large companies fight over getting just this 1 percent. To have a viable business plan, you cannot make any assumptions about market share. Investors are too wise to just believe statements about market share that come out of thin air!

Market share and market size are so important to potential investors. The heart of whether a business will be successful is if there is enough demand for the product. By far the best way to determine this is to hire a market research company to test the demand for your product. This type of data, while expensive, is the data that investors can rely on.

Now go out and write the best business plan you can. I just know you can do this!