Writing Your Coffee Shop Business Plan is Worth Beans!

<h1>Writing Your Coffee Shop Business Plan is Worth Beans!</h1>Author: <a title="Tony DiCorpo" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/tony-dicorpo/64487.htm">Tony DiCorpo</a> If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Simple, short and to the point. People ask quite often of the importance of a business plan when starting a coffee shop. My response is always a statistic: Most businesses fail within the first year due to lack of planning. If you don’t have anything to plan your course by, how can you move forward? Any business vision is blurry without a written plan. Your plan takes time to write now, but it’s designed to help you avoid costly mistakes later. The true value of creating a business plan for your endeavor is not the finished product, but in the process of writing it. Experience has taught me that while planning to open a coffee shop, templates and generic plans will not help you much except for the typical form the plan should follow so be very careful. You need to make yours unique, and as coffee shop friendly and specific as possible. When I wrote my original business plan I read and studied quite a few versions of them on the internet, and picked out sections I liked best. I rewrote it until I was satisfied and then gave it to my banker. He said it was the best business plan he had ever seen. So I put the plan to use and opened my coffee shop, and made lots of mistakes! My banker loved it but he was not a small business person, nor anyone that was familiar with coffee shop operations. Had I wrote the plan realistically and pertaining specifically to a coffee shop I’d have avoided a bad location, incorrect demographics, lack of capital, and a lot of other mistakes. You have to be realistic with your prospective numbers and in many ways you have to get creative, especially with marketing. The specialty coffee business is unlike a lot of other food service businesses because of its nature. Writing your coffee shop business plan will force you to think about your business in a way that you will always have to think about it: it’s unique. And just because you open your shop and may be open for a year doesn’t mean you can put the plan away. You should always be tweaking it. Trust me you will always be a business person and thinking about what you can do different and new. Things change, markets change and trends change so your business has to change as well to adapt. Otherwise, you will be closed before you know it. It bears repeating: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It’s as simple as that! Be sure you have a specific business plan when starting a coffee shop. Your plan won’t be worth beans otherwise!About the Author: Tony DiCorpo is a coffee shop owner, operator, barista and entrepreneur. He is also a coffee shop business consultant. Tony has extensive experience in business and more than 20 years experience in sales, customer service and business management with special focus in start-up and entrepreneurship, marketing, public relations and website design and development. 
 
Tony also has a experience in real estate acquisitions, leases and lease negotiations, business acquisitions, fixing distressed and broken coffee shops, rehabbing distressed and dilapidated properties, business start-ups and of course, the coffee business. His complete coffee shop business plan package can be found at <A href="http://www.tonys-coffee-shop-business-plan.com">tonys-coffee-shop-business-plan.com</a>

Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/writing-your-coffee-shop-business-plan-is-worth-beans-456171.html" title="Writing Your Coffee Shop Business Plan is Worth Beans!">Writing Your Coffee Shop Business Plan is Worth Beans!</a>

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Simple, short and to the point.

People ask quite often of the importance of a business plan when starting a coffee shop. My response is always a statistic: Most businesses fail within the first year due to lack of planning. If you don’t have anything to plan your course by, how can you move forward? Any business vision is blurry without a written plan.

Your plan takes time to write now, but it’s designed to help you avoid costly mistakes later. The true value of creating a business plan for your endeavor is not the finished product, but in the process of writing it.

Experience has taught me that while planning to open a coffee shop, templates and generic plans will not help you much except for the typical form the plan should follow so be very careful. You need to make yours unique, and as coffee shop friendly and specific as possible.

When I wrote my original business plan I read and studied quite a few versions of them on the internet, and picked out sections I liked best. I rewrote it until I was satisfied and then gave it to my banker. He said it was the best business plan he had ever seen. So I put the plan to use and opened my coffee shop, and made lots of mistakes!

My banker loved it but he was not a small business person, nor anyone that was familiar with coffee shop operations. Had I wrote the plan realistically and pertaining specifically to a coffee shop I’d have avoided a bad location, incorrect demographics, lack of capital, and a lot of other mistakes.

You have to be realistic with your prospective numbers and in many ways you have to get creative, especially with marketing. The specialty coffee business is unlike a lot of other food service businesses because of its nature. Writing your coffee shop business plan will force you to think about your business in a way that you will always have to think about it: it’s unique.

And just because you open your shop and may be open for a year doesn’t mean you can put the plan away. You should always be tweaking it. Trust me you will always be a business person and thinking about what you can do different and new. Things change, markets change and trends change so your business has to change as well to adapt. Otherwise, you will be closed before you know it.

It bears repeating: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It’s as simple as that! Be sure you have a specific business plan when starting a coffee shop. Your plan won’t be worth beans otherwise!

Tony DiCorpo is a coffee shop owner, operator, barista and entrepreneur. He is also a coffee shop business consultant. Tony has extensive experience in business and more than 20 years experience in sales, customer service and business management with special focus in start-up and entrepreneurship, marketing, public relations and website design and development.

Tony also has a experience in real estate acquisitions, leases and lease negotiations, business acquisitions, fixing distressed and broken coffee shops, rehabbing distressed and dilapidated properties, business start-ups and of course, the coffee business. His complete coffee shop business plan package can be found at tonys-coffee-shop-business-plan.com

Rate this Article:

5 / 5 stars - 1 vote(s)

Re-Publish

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/writing-your-coffee-shop-business-plan-is-worth-beans-456171.html

Article Tags: Coffee Shop Start Up, Starting A Coffee Shop, Coffee Shop Business Plan, Start Your Own Coffee Shop

Related Videos
Related Articles
Ask / Related Q&A

Play

Losing Weight - Coffee

Play

Drawbacks of Using a Flower Shop

Play

Using a Flower Shop for Wedding Flowers

Play

Flower Shop VS. Wedding Specialist

Play

How to Make an Expensive Coffee-Themed Wedding Favor

Latest Entrepreneurship Articles
More from Tony DiCorpo

My Internet Business LLC Primo Travel Club Review

By: Mike Bordon | 27/11/2009
Dave Garven and Rob Hannley are the two who created MY Internet Business LLC and "YourNetBiz Opportunity", and they are now the co-creators of Prima Vacations Club too. With their runaway success of the other two online businesses this too is set to take the internet by storm. If someone intends to become an associate of My Internet Business his task would be to drive business to the site with his sales gimmicks. The same principle applies to the promotion of the Primo Vacations Travel Club.

Finding Your True Purpose as an Entrepreneur

By: naveen k | 27/11/2009
Some of the people are extremely lucky as an successful entrepreneur. But for us it is very difficult to find the answer of how to find our true purpose being an entrepreneur. The general answer is that look your passion, hobbies and interests.

How To Make Money With Paid Surveys

By: Jeff Gribbs | 26/11/2009
Believe it or not, but it’s actually quite easy to how to make money with paid surveys. It’s one of the oldest methods of making money from home and is used by thousands of people like you every day. All you really need is a computer (which you already have otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this), and a few hours of spare time.

10 new ways to make money using the internet

By: Kausar Khan | 26/11/2009
People nowadays are ditching their work cubicles for online income sources, and by online it is not necessarily data entry, affiliate marketing, selling junk on eBay or online advertising. There are a number new ways that you can utilize the internet to make decent income from the comfort of your home.

Are Giveaway Items a Good Way to Attract People to Your Trade Show Display?

By: Yvonne Corilla | 26/11/2009
People always like free stuff. Sometimes they want free things for the sake of getting something free and other times they want something free in order to make an informed decision about a particular product or company. At a trade show, you want them to have a good impression of you and sometimes the way to their heart is through giving them something free that they can enjoy. You want attention to be drawn to your trade show booth and giving away free stuff is the way to do it.

Singapore Company Incorporation Agency will help you get your Business License & Permits

By: John Media | 26/11/2009
Typically application for licenses and permits in Singapore can only be done after successful incorporation of your company; however, in a few instances, application for licenses and permits is done simultaneously with the application for name approval from Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), from which, the ACRA system will indicate if another approving authority is required to grant licenses or permits.

5 Great Ways to Make Extra Money

By: Anifa Williams | 26/11/2009
Almost everyone could use some extra cash these days. Five great ways to make extra money offers practical solutions to your money shortage problem.

Make Money Secret

By: tom algiers | 26/11/2009
#Money Making System# You're Curious About Internet Cash Systems Like: Craigslist Systems YouTube Systems Affiliate programs You've heard its a breeze to make 6 figures? Nope - max you can hope for, with high hours, is $40K/Yr... Unfortunately, the newest money making system makes the rounds quicly, so you're stuck with an outdated system and you've gotta buy an upgrade to your system and-or move to another system to keep making money. Know why? It's supply and demand in a c...

Coffee Bean Storage and Brewing Tips

By: Tony DiCorpo | 05/09/2009 | Coffee
Coffee stales relatively quickly so by following some helpful hints will get you better tasting coffee than you have ever had, ever! Coffee loses about half of its flavor in the first 10 days after roasting and even more after grinding. It is a good idea to only purchase what you intend to be able to grind and brew within a reasonable amount of time, 3-4 weeks at the most.

Start a Coffee Shop or Buy an Existing Shop?

By: Tony DiCorpo | 27/06/2008 | Entrepreneurship
Many people have asked me if buying an existing shop is a good idea. Maybe the thought of a coffee shop start up is not amusing you. Maybe you'd rather pay a higher amount up front and walk into a cash flow situation. Whatever your decision and reason is be sure that you are well informed.

Starting a Coffee Shop: to Franchise or Not?

By: Tony DiCorpo | 27/06/2008 | Entrepreneurship
Maybe you are thinking that buying a coffee shop franchise would work better because you are not sure how to go about this coffee shop start up, or that you can get operational support or that potential customers will recognize my company name and buy from me. Franchises can give you an edge because they have some name recognition and support but think it through before getting the sales pitch and going the franchise route. There are pros and cons to buying a coffee shop franchise.

New Coffee Shop Start Up…not Another One!

By: Tony DiCorpo | 20/06/2008 | Entrepreneurship
Before you start your own coffee shop, in order to gain ultimate success you will need to find an under served area. You also need to be unique, and people should see it.

Effective Marketing Ideas for Starting a Coffee Shop

By: Tony DiCorpo | 20/06/2008 | Entrepreneurship
Most traditional marketing just does not work in the specialty coffee business. When starting a coffee shop, you should know what types of advertising and marketing are actually worth your money.

What Type of Coffee Shop Should I Open?

By: Tony DiCorpo | 20/06/2008 | Entrepreneurship
When starting a coffee shop, there are some points to consider like what type of shop to open. When we think of a coffee shop, most think of a sit down place, maybe with or without a drive through but there are a few other options.