food delivery business plan sample pdf

Food Delivery Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Food Delivery Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Food Delivery business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Food Delivery companies.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Food Delivery business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Dig In is a newly established food delivery business located in San Diego, California. The company will have an online platform that will also be able to be downloaded to users’ phones as an app. Users will be able to create a login profile and have instant access to all the local restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, and fast food establishments.

The company will outsource its delivery to local drivers that will be employed as Independent Contractors so they will be able to set their own schedule and hours. The drivers will receive orders through their app, select which user they want to deliver to, pick up the food order from the chosen establishment, and deliver to the user in a timely manner.

Dig In will reward users that frequently use their app. Users will be able to earn rewards and discounts for every order they place through the website or app. This will enable users to keep ordering their food delivery through Dig In.

Dig In will be owned and operated by John Hutchinson, a local entrepreneur who has been in the tech industry for over 15 years. He has developed other apps and platforms for tech companies and has started mapping out this business’ platform for over two years. At this point, he has perfected the technology and is ready to reveal the new local food delivery service in San Diego, California.

Product Offering

Dig In will provide food delivery services for the residents of San Diego. Residents who want the convenience of food delivered to their doorstep can download our app, find the establishment of their choice, and order whatever they’re craving for. Most of our sales will come from orders to local restaurants but we will also offer delivery from grocery stores and drug stores. Customers will be charged a small delivery fee or have the option to join our membership for reduced fees and special deals.

Customer Focus

Dig In will target all residents living in and around San Diego. It will appeal to students, families, retirees, white collar, blue collar, and government employees. Because our fees are moderately priced compared to other delivery apps, all income levels will be able to enjoy our delivery services.

Management Team

With his entrepreneurial and tech knowledge, John will be able to quickly fix any issues with the platform. He has also formed relationships with the most sought after restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores in the area to sign them up to be part of the food delivery platform. He has also hired a team of independent food delivery drivers to earn extra money by completing the food delivery orders.

Success Factors

The following success factors will set Dig In apart from the competition:

• Comprehensive List of Restaurants and Food Stores: Dig In will include a more comprehensive list of restaurants, grocery stores, and drug stores for customers to choose from.
• Membership Rewards: Dig In will allow users who create a profile to earn rewards for every order they place through its online platform. The rewards can be redeemed for delivery fee and order discounts.
• Faster Delivery Times: Dig In promises to have faster delivery times than its competitors.
• Pricing: Dig In’s price point for delivery fees is on par with its customers, if not cheaper.

Financial Highlights

Dig In is seeking a total funding of $500,000 of debt capital to launch. The funding will be dedicated for the design and development of the app, marketing expenses, working capital, and three months worth of payroll expenses. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Platform Development: $150,000
• Marketing and Brand Development: $100,000
• Three Months of Overhead Expenses (Payroll, Rent, Utilities): $150,000
• Working Capital: $100,000

The following graph outlines the pro forma financial projections for Dig In:

Company Overview

Who is dig in.

  The company will outsource its delivery to local drivers that will be employed as Independent Contractors so they will be able to set their own schedule and hours. The drivers will receive orders through their app, select which user they want to deliver to, pick up the food order from the chosen establishment, and deliver to the user in a timely manner.

Dig In’s History

John Hutchinson has spent the last 2.5 years creating the food delivery online platform. As a tech entrepreneur, he knows how to map, develop, and implement an online platform. He has been instrumental in creating other apps and platforms for ecommerce companies and has created attractive and efficient apps for numerous Fortune 500 companies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, John was on lockdown and working from his home. He used other food delivery services, but they were all slow, got his order wrong, or didn’t have a good selection of restaurants and establishments. It was then that he started developing his food delivery business and would implement and perfect all of the things that the competition suffered at.

Since incorporation, the company has achieved the following milestones:

• Mapped out the online platform for the food delivery business
• Developed the company’s name, logo, and website
• Approached multiple local restaurants, grocery stores, and bakeries to be a part of Dig In’s platform
• Determined necessary insurance and legal requirements
• Began recruiting key employees
• Written and developed the Delivery Driver processes and procedures.

Dig In’s Services

Industry analysis.

The Food Delivery industry has grown substantially in the past five years. The convenience of ordering food from home has appealed to large demographics and now nearly everyone orders through a food delivery app at some point. Food delivery apps became a necessity during the COVID pandemic and now they are a mainstay in modern society.

According to Grand View Research, the Food Delivery industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 18.7% from now until 2030. What helps this growth is the increasing popularity of smartphones and the expansion of these services overseas. Food delivery apps are becoming an essential tool in modern society, which makes this a great time to create a new food delivery service.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

Dig In will target millennials, young professionals, and college age students as this demographic is more comfortable with online delivery services and regularly use other similar apps such as Uber and Tasty.

However, we expect Dig In will appeal to other demographics as well as it will be a convenient and moderately priced option to get food delivered quickly. For example, we expect working parents will enjoy our app as well as elderly residents who have trouble leaving their home to go grocery shopping or go to a restaurant.

The precise demographics of the San Diego area are as follows:

Customer Segmentation

Dig In will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Young professionals
• College students
• Working parents

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Dig In will be competing with other popular food delivery apps. A profile of each competitor is below.

Food at Your Door

Food at Your Door is an online and mobile platform for restaurant pick-up and delivery orders. The company is known for connecting over 30 million customers and processes on average about 500,000 daily orders in most cities around the United States. Customers are able to search for restaurants, order directly through the website or app, and then await their delivery from independent contractor drivers.

The company generates revenue from delivery fees paid by consumers as well as commissions paid by participating restaurants. Food at Your Door’s other offerings include a program for corporate food ordering, website design and hosting for participating restaurants, and point-of-sale integration services. The company is continuously updating its platform with innovative technological advancements to stay on top of the competition.

Fast Foodie

Fast Foodie is a technology company that connects people with the most popular food establishments in their neighborhoods. They enable local businesses to meet consumers’ needs of ease and convenience while enabling their independent contractors to generate an additional source of income. The company is passionate about transforming local businesses and dedicated to enabling new ways of working, earning, and living. They empower their local economies by ensuring that people have equal access to opportunities to reach their full potential.

Fast Foodie has expanded their database to include not only restaurants, but convenience stores, pet stores, grocery stores, and drug stores.

Ding Dong is an operator of an on-demand goods delivery platform that is intended to facilitate smooth delivery of essential goods. The company’s platform offers full-service and in-store shopper services through a network of independent shoppers with same-day delivery and pickup service of fresh groceries and everyday essentials. This enables users to select items from their favorite grocery stores and get them delivered almost instantly.

Ding Dong was the first online platform to expand their services and products by including anything that can be purchased at a local grocery store, convenience store, or drug store. The drivers/shoppers are required to ensure delivery during the selected timeframe that the user selects.

Competitive Advantage

Dig In offers several advantages over its competition. Those advantages are:

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Dig In will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Comprehensive list of restaurants and grocery stores
• Membership rewards and specials
• Faster delivery times
• Moderately priced fee structure

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Dig In are as follows:

Social Media

Dig In will utilize the most popular social media platforms for ads since the majority of the clientele will be active on social media. The company will also have business accounts on each major platform to post regularly of food options that are available for delivery.

Collateral Material

Dig In will develop numerous collateral materials to have on hand to give out to potential customers at the local farmers markets, events, or restaurant or store events.

Website/SEO

Dig In will invest heavily in developing a professional website and app that displays all of the restaurant and store options the company will be able to deliver for. The company will also invest heavily in SEO so that the brand’s website will appear at the top of search engine results.

Billboards/Signage

Dig In will invest in attractive signage and billboards to increase the brand awareness of the local food delivery business.

Dig In’s fee structure will be moderate so clients feel they receive great value when placing their food delivery orders.

Operations Plan

Operation Functions: The following will be the operations plan for Dig In.

• John Hutchinson will operate as the CEO of Dig In. In addition to running the general operations, he will oversee the app development and provide app support.
• John will hire 2-3 additional web engineers to run the website and app.
• John will hire 20-30 delivery drivers to work on an independent contractor basis.
• John will also hire an administrative team for accounting/bookkeeping, sales and marketing, and customer service support.

Milestones:

Dig In will have the following milestones complete in the next six months.

• 8/202X – Finalize app development
• 9/202X – Hire and train initial staff
• 10/202X – Kickoff of promotional campaign
• 11/202X – Launch Dig In
• 12/202X – Reach break-even

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

Dig In’s revenues will come primarily from the fees it receives from the food delivery orders.

The delivery driver commissions, website platform fees, supplies, marketing, and labor expenses will be the key cost drivers of Dig In.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following table outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and pay off the business loan.

• Initial Number of Orders Per Day: 100
• Average Order per Customer: $25.00

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, food delivery business plan faqs, what is a food delivery business plan.

A food delivery business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your food delivery business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your Food Delivery business plan using our Food Delivery Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Food Delivery Businesses?

There are a number of different kinds of food delivery businesses , some examples include: Restaurant Delivery, Meal Kit Delivery, Grocery Delivery, and Veggie Box Delivery.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Food Delivery Business Plan?

Food Delivery businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Food Delivery Business?

Starting a food delivery business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Food Delivery Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed food delivery business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast. 

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your food delivery business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your food delivery business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Food Delivery Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your food delivery business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws.

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your food delivery business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms.

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations.

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events.

7. Acquire Necessary Food Delivery Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your food delivery business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation.

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your food delivery business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful food delivery business:

• How to Start a Food Delivery Business

Ultimate Guide on Online Food Delivery Business Plan

• Last Updated: November 3, 2023

As a food delivery service, you will be expanding convenience and choice for your existing and potential customers. You will be working towards making it easier for them to order a wide variety of food from various restaurants.

In the last few years, there have been huge changes in the food delivery market . These changes have come into effect due to:

• Increasing demand and competition;
• Competitive prices;
• The rise of digital technology;
• Evolving customer behavior; and 

At the time of creating a food delivery business plan , you may be required to consider several aspects in advance. In this blog, we will help you create an effective food delivery plan for small businesses in the online food delivery sector.

Table of Contents

Why Do You Need a Food Delivery Business Plan?

Key statistics to observe before entering the food delivery market, different food delivery business models, how to write a food delivery business plan, let upper help you grow your own food delivery business.

The customers have evolved. Their demand for food options, types of food delivery, and behaviors have changed. These points show how:

• Offer great speed of delivery and boost customer retention rate;
• Most meals are ordered from & delivered to homes;
• High volume of orders on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

In order to tackle these challenges and many others, you need to formulate a detailed food delivery business plan and affordable prices. The plan is not only an executive summary or roadmap, it is much more than that, incorporating advanced technology to meet these evolving needs.

Here’s how a well-developed winning business plan can help you:

• Offers an understanding of your industry, key competitors, target audience, food delivery platforms, and trends.
• Conducting a SWOT analysis for the food industry and getting insights on your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Works as a benchmark on how to conduct the business and know average prices for your products.
• You can find out the requirements of new members, tools, and equipment to help you reach any major goals or business goals.
• Helps with cash flow statements, financial statements, competitive strategies, and revenue models of the food business along with investment strategy.

Source: Statista

• The global revenue in the online food delivery segment has doubled since 2017.
• 57% of millennials prefer to have restaurant food delivered.
• 33% of consumers are willing to pay higher fees for faster delivery services.
• 60% of restaurant owners & operators said that offering delivery generated incremental sales.
• Joining hands with third-party delivery services has raised restaurant sales volume from 10% to 20%.
• 70% of consumers prefer to place delivery orders online for a seamless robust experience . 
• Ghost kitchens or cloud kitchens are going to be an office food delivery industry worth $1 trillion by 2030.

When you are ready to create a plan, you must know which business model you will acquire and how it will benefit you. Business models should be considered based on what are your requirements. Basically, it helps you choose which services you will offer to your target audience including strategic locations and operational cost. While doing so, you should decide whether you will run a food store or an online food delivery service business.

Here are different types of popular food delivery business models .

1. Order Only

This type of food delivery is followed by food delivery companies like Grubhub. These services only function as a software layer between the standard restaurant and the customers. Order-only platforms like Grubhub & Postmates have experienced remarkable growth.

This model becomes ideal for those who want to provide on-demand services. In fact, it is the best way to customer contact more easily. This business model will act as a medium between your restaurants and online services. Hence, making it easier for online users to take benefit of online purchase of food. This is why so many food business owners prefer to consider online order requests.

By opting for an order-only business model, your main job will be to deliver food to the buyer. In this process, the business cum restaurant will earn a commission of 10-15% for every order request they receive.

2. Order & Delivery

Apps like DoorDash , UberEats, and Deliveroo are food delivery platforms that bring in extra orders to restaurants in the form of takeaway and delivery. The apps manage the deliveries for these restaurants using their fleet of independent drivers.

It is quite different than what we understood in the previous model. In simple terms, the delivery process is not directly connected to restaurants. In fact, you need to hire a third-party delivery service that can provide timely delivery to the customer’s doorstep. Delivery service providers jointly work with the local restaurants to provide quicker meal deliveries or drinks to customers, but they also put on extra charges for received orders.

This order and delivery model also comes up with challenges that you should look at before acquiring it completely. Since you are handing over the delivery duties to another party, they should store the food at a consistent temperature. If not done, food may not have the same taste and freshness. Thus, you need to put a systematic delivery system. 

3. Fully Integrated

Fully Integrated delivery businesses develop their apps using which customers can get meal deliveries from cloud kitchens to the ideal location. These popular food delivery apps focus on convenience and direct experience to consumers.

It is usually preferred by startup restaurants or family businesses where they can prepare meals and deliver them to the food buyer. Business owners opting for a fully integrated model only serve in a specific service region. They also collaborate with chefs to provide a different range of foods and a better quantity of food. Going for this model, you need to pay for the cost of equipment which means your operational cost may raise.

With this model, you are likely to provide quicker deliveries and may find it easier to adjust the delivery schedule as per consumers’ requirements. Moreover, in the competitive delivery market, the ability to optimize delivery routes can give your business a significant edge.

Here are the handy tips to apply while creating a new plan to make a successful food delivery business.

Do In-depth Industry Analysis

Identifying your usp.

Make something memorable: A good USP is one that is memorable, makes a case against existing products, and offers valuable interaction with customers. How will you embody your USP in your products, services, user experience, and office food delivery brands?

What are you doing differently?: In order to identify your USP, look at the direct competitors, and indirect competitors and find out what you are doing differently from your major competitor. An on-demand delivery market analysis, customer analysis, and knowing the relevant market size will be helpful.

Notice patterns in the market: If you notice a pattern in the market about features or aspects missing in the competitors, note that down and see if you can offer those features or food services.  

Talk to your customers: Conduct a thorough survey of the food delivery market. Talk to your loyal customers or different types of customers and see what they have to tell you. It will help you find out what’s working for your food delivery model and what’s not working.

Developing your USP

Don’t try to be the best: Don’t try to be the best brand or product out there. Just carve out a niche for your own business in the food delivery industry and stick to it. You will not be concerned about the competition once you make the rules yourself. 

Who are you targeting?: Be particular about who your target market is. Focus on that particular audience. It will help you achieve corporate sales goals and keep your brand image consistent because you can’t be everything to everyone. 

Develop a personality: Incorporating a strong personality into your USP will make your product more memorable. Once you infuse a personality into your brand or product, it will be difficult for others to not notice you.

Create your USP 

Write things down: Create a list of all potential differentiators. You will find these points if you do a thorough actual market trends. Wrap these points around your advertising strategies, business strategies, and detailed strategies.

What are your unique angles?: Pitch your most unique angles against the customer’s needs. Learn about their pain points as it will help set long-term goals.

Compile data: Collect all the data you receive from your consumer and market research and integrate it with your product, service, marketing plan, and business idea.

Prepare a Financial Plan

Your budget will be dependent on your approach and the food delivery business model you choose. Your approach to market and growth strategy will also be an important factor in the total operational costs or key costs you incur. 

As an office food delivery company, you can choose if you will be building an in-house tech platform and support or whether you will be dependent on third-party services for the same. It is an expensive thing to integrate advanced technology in-house. You need a great amount of investment just to get started.  Figure out a budget considering all the major factors of your business model, revenue model, and food delivery marketing plan. You will have several financing options to choose from:

• PayPal Working Capital Loan: PayPal offers short-term loans to help small businesses grow. The application process for a PayPal Working Capital Loan is quick and easy and there are no extra fees and prepayment penalties. 
• Credit Cards/Personal Loans: Business credit or personal loans can be acquired to fuel the daily functions of your business. Small business owners can easily qualify for credit cards and personal loans.
• SBA Loans: You can apply for a small business loan under the Small Business Administration advantage program. SBA offers small business financing with lower interest rates compared to other options. SBA Microloans can be used for inventory, supplies, working capital, and machinery.
• Government Grants & Subsidies: There are several State and Federal Government grants and subsidies available to businesses. In recent times, the government has helped several small and medium-sized businesses to revive their existing food delivery business or any type of meal kit delivery startups.
• Crowdfunding: Reach out to investors and financial institutions to see if you are eligible for a loan. There are great opportunities for businesses with innovative ideas. An online platform where innovative businesses are identified and valued is KickStarter and Indiegogo .

Resource and team management

• Acquiring New Equipment & Vehicles: Decide which major sources and equipment or standard kitchen utensils you will require for your standard food delivery company, considering cash flow. Do you need bikes, box trucks, or cargo vans? Depending on your business model and budget, plan out the lease or acquisition of vehicles and new equipment to gain a competitive advantage.  
• Hiring Drivers: You will have to choose whether you want to hire contract drivers or full-time drivers. It will depend on your delivery business model. Look for drivers on industry-specific job boards. Make use of social media platforms to search for suitable drivers, while considering payroll expenses.
• Training Drivers: A thorough training will have to be provided for your newly hired drivers, whether they are involved on a full-time basis or a contract.
• Train your entire staff for your last mile delivery process; 
• State their responsibilities as a delivery driver;
• Form a strong management team to work with a customer-centric mindset;
• Give access and train management staff for the tools and equipment they will be using on the job;
• Help them establish excellent customer service culture;
• Train drivers to prioritize their health and safety over the package from time to time.

Generate an operations plan

• Plan Your Last Mile Process: Your last mile delivery process is the front-end process that is often trackable and visible to the customers. Try to make this process as efficient as possible. A month of operation on customer-facing troubles always be crystal clear and should be carried out without any uncertainty. 
• Simplify the Process by Employing the Right Tools: One major way of simplifying your last mile delivery process is to cut down planning and optimization time by eradicating a manual procedure. In order to automate these steps, you will have to integrate a food delivery planner and route optimization software in your last mile delivery process. 
• Executive Summary: As a food business owner, you will be employing multiple drivers and creating multiple routes for them daily. You will need to be prepared for every unexpected challenge. Create a summary of how your food delivery operations will take place. You can give an overview and discuss the business model with your delivery team. Address your marketing team to work on key issues that help them attract target customers.

Developing a meal delivery business plan can be challenging. There are quite a few aspects that need to be considered seriously. The increasing competition in the office food delivery services industry only makes it more difficult for new entrants to make space for themselves.

With a reliable food delivery business plan, you can never go wrong. Make sure you consider all the important pointers mentioned above before setting up your own online food delivery system. 

One of the most important aspects, as mentioned above, is planning and optimizing your delivery routes. Without proper optimization and a strong last mile delivery setup, you will not be able to gauge an audience in the market. 

Use a route planning and optimization software like Upper to make sure your routes are optimized and you save the delivery time. It keeps an eye on your personal savings while achieving more deliveries per route.

Utilize Upper to Automize Food Deliveries

Preparing a food delivery business plan? Why not include the best route optimization for getting faster delivery routes. Start using Upper for better delivery management and timely deliveries.

Offices food delivery services are booming currently. The rise in quarantine and lockdown restrictions has people locked up in their houses. It has given a huge boost to online food ordering. Most businesses recorded the highest revenue only because of online food ordering and delivery.

Food delivery businesses either prepare the cooked food on their own or partner with the entire restaurant to handle food deliveries on behalf of them. These are the two main ways in which food delivery businesses operate. A food business that prepares and delivers on its own either receives orders through its website, third-party mobile app, or phone call.

You can start accepting orders for your homemade food online through your social media platforms, website, or phone calls. Many small businesses that sell homemade food accept orders through phone calls or online business plan software that helps them sell and deliver their food to the customers.

Food delivery services businesses like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Postmates are some of the most popular food delivery services having the potential market share in the online food delivery service industry.

If you are new to the food industry, it means you need to work hard for business planning. We discussed significant factors that should be considered while making your own business plan. So, all in all, you must analyze the current market statistics that may help you make a robust operations plan. For a new player like you, it becomes necessary to understand business models before implying them to your business.

Successful online business may not even if you finish your food delivery business plan template as you may need support from online tools. Upper is one of such tools that streamlines your food delivery services and helps you reach the food buyers’ locations easily. You can manage unlimited food deliveries with the help of a fully automated delivery process. Import your data, optimize them, and hit the dispatch button with just a few clicks. Book a demo with us to get more insights into Upper Route Planner.

Rakesh Patel, author of two defining books on reverse geotagging, is a trusted authority in routing and logistics. His innovative solutions at Upper Route Planner have simplified logistics for businesses across the board. A thought leader in the field, Rakesh's insights are shaping the future of modern-day logistics, making him your go-to expert for all things route optimization. Read more.

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Food Delivery Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Food Delivery Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their food delivery businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a food delivery business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your food delivery business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a food delivery business, or grow your existing food delivery business, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your food delivery business in order to improve your chances of success. Your food delivery business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Food Delivery Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a food delivery business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings is the other most common form of funding for a food delivery business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for food delivery businesses.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a food delivery business plan.

If you want to start a food delivery business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Below are links to each section of your food delivery business plan template:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your food delivery business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of food delivery business you are operating and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a food delivery business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a food delivery business in multiple regions?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the food delivery industry. Discuss the type of food delivery business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of food delivery business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of food delivery businesses:

• Restaurant Delivery : this type of business delivers food prepared by a restaurant to the consumer.
• Meal Kit Delivery: this type of business delivers pre-made meal kits.
• Grocery Delivery: this service delivers grocery orders, and may or may not include personal shopping.
• Veggie Box Delivery : this type of service delivers boxes of vegetables and other produce, either as part of a CSA or another type of program.

In addition to explaining the type of food delivery business you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, number of positive reviews, total number of meals or orders delivered, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the food delivery industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the food delivery industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your food delivery business plan:

• How big is the food delivery industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your food delivery business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your food delivery business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: working professionals, university students, families and retirees.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of food delivery business you operate. Clearly, working professionals would respond to different marketing promotions than retirees, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most food delivery businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.  

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other food delivery businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes grocery stores and restaurants. You need to mention such competition as well.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other food delivery businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be food delivery businesses located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What types of food do they deliver?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide better food delivery services?
• Will you offer features or services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a food delivery business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of food delivery company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to food delivery, will you provide personal shopping services or any other services?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your food delivery company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your food delivery business located in a busy retail district, restaurant district, etc. Discuss how your location might be the ideal location for your operations.

Promotions : The final part of your food delivery marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertising in local papers and magazines
• Reaching out to local websites
• Social media marketing
• Local radio advertising

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your food delivery business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your food delivery business, including processing orders, delivering orders, marketing, and maintaining fleet vehicles.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to deliver your 1,000th meal, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your food delivery business to a new city.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your food delivery business’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing food delivery businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing food delivery businesses or successfully running small businesses.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you deliver 100 meals per day or per week? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your food delivery business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a food delivery business:

• Location build-out (if applicable) including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment and supplies, including company vehicles
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your company vehicle lease or timetables for delivery days you are working on.  

Putting together a business plan for your food delivery is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the food delivery industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful food delivery business.  

Food Delivery Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my food delivery business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Food Delivery Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of food delivery business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a food delivery business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of food delivery businesses?

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Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Free Food Delivery Business Plan Template

Free Download this Food Delivery Business Plan Template Design in Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages Format. Easily Editable, Printable, Downloadable.

If you’re thinking of starting up a food delivery business, then be sure to make good use of our Food Delivery Business Plan template in preparation of opening up your business. Our plan template comes immediately useable right after download for your convenience. Narrow down the food items that your target market is bound to order to prepare for the corresponding items needed. Easily come up with a meal plan to help speed up and standardize the making of meals. Offer a fast and efficient food delivery service using our template. Be sure to download our template today for use on your food delivery business.

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Food Delivery Service Business Plan

JAN.06, 2014

Food delivery service is an amazing business idea. It is trending across the world and the popularity is only increasing. The online food delivery is such a latest service that the availability of market opportunities is ever flowing. Yet, another gripping factor of the food delivery service is the small amount of investment needed to start the food business. Anyone who dreams of leaving the job and starting their own food business can do it. About 5000-6000 dollars is all that is needed to be the proud owner of a food enterprise. The budget and the low risk factors make the food delivery a favorite business to start and run. It is a hit among all the young entrepreneurs too.

Hang on! Before you go ahead and make an investment on your new food business endeavor there is a vital thing to do. You have to first craft a premium quality food delivery service business plan. Then, with determination set out following your passion to have your very own food business. If you constantly work hard with complete dedication, nothing can stop you from taking your food business to heights of success.

Models of Food Delivery Business

Delivery Service Business Plan

The food delivery business covers a vast arena. There are various kinds of food delivery. You can choose to start any type of food delivery business as per your preference. As per the service there are home delivery food business plan, food ordering online business, partnered food delivery business and so on. To assist you different food delivery business models have been briefly discussed as follows:

Local Food delivery Business Model

A local food delivery business model is that where the owners chooses to stick to the home area. Doing food business in the local area has some positive sides like the market, prevailing competitors, mode of communication, customer likes and dislikes, etc. are known to you. But, there are certain risks associated to running the food delivery locally. A major risk factor is customer security. The customers may not be steady which can affect the food business adversely.

Organized Food delivery Business Model

As compared to the local food business model, it is far safer to have an organized one. In an organized food business model, you can choose to have a bonded support for all your food supplies. This process is much consistent and structured, making it a better option that the previous one.

Common Health Food Delivery Business Model

In this particular type of model, your thought-process must be focused from consumer’s angle. There is need of doing extensive research of the marketplace to learn which products are already available in abundance. This will reveal the missing products in that particular market. Offer consumers the products that are not readily available to them. Why will any consumer be interested in your products if you offer something similar to other food delivery company? Think of new food products and introduce it in the market. It will attract maximum customers. Thus, by offering new and scarce products, you will be able to reap the best of the market. To make an impact in the market, it is essential to supply unusual products. For instance: Provide nourishing baby food, healthy food for pregnant ladies, organic drinks and so on.

Diet food Delivery Business Model

Currently, majority of the people are conscious of what they eat. Being fit has become a priority. Everyone is focused on exercising and eating carefully. Folks are serious about maintaining a daily diet, calorie intake, amount of sugar/salt, etc. In these conditions, introducing diet foods can be a turning point for your food business. These diet foods can be beneficent to keeping fit, losing weight, also may be good for body ailments. Of course, running this sort of food business comes with massive responsibility. The main idea is to concentrate upon- supplying diet foods which are healthy as also tasty. This, when achieved can make your food business rule the market.

The Dubba-walas delivering food to hundreds of people daily in the metropolitan city of Mumbai, in India, is a brilliant example of successful food delivery service. This Mumbai food delivery service has the six-sigma awards in its bag. Anyone willing to be inspired by the food delivery business should read about the Mumbai dubba-walas.

Food Delivery Business: Know the Most Important Pointers

Enlisted below are 5 major pointers that can prove to be hugely profitable for your food delivery business endeavor:

• Market research: The primary most significant aspect of the food business or any other business is market research. This opens the eyes of the food business owner. The entire market situation is visible clearly. This enables to shed all pre-conceived notions and start afresh. Understanding the market allows to carve the path where you should head. It also helps eliminate the paths that have already been taken by other similar food services. Clarity of market knowledge aids in making sound decisions. It helps decide the precise types of food items to deliver to customers through your food business.
• Long-term goals: A clear mind-set is very important to be specific in terms of the new food business venture. Having a broad all-encompassing food delivery business idea won’t take you anywhere. The point is to being very specific and far-sighted. Utilize all the market research options through which you can collect abundant data before actually entering the food business arena. You can do the research on your own. Use whatever data is already available or you can also outsource it to professionals. Utilize all the information gathered from market survey, to decide on your food products and services. Jot down, long-term goals in your business plan for food delivery service.
• Stand-out: There is no use is doing what everyone else is doing. Make your food business stand-out with fresh foods and transfer options. For instance: If your selected market area doesn’t have any service that delivers food from 8pm-11pm, then you must target those customers. There are students, night-shift employees and working couples who want to order their dinner. So, you can benefit by delivering food or meals at odd hours. Be original with your business plan food delivery service but also keep in mind the market. To beat your competitors come up with fresh ingredients, up-to-date menus, and so on. You can also add something innovative to your existing food products.
• Charge Carefully: The price charged for your food items plays a crucial part to your food business success. You cannot charge as per your will. Firstly, you have to do thorough market survey. Check the rates charged by your competing food businesses. Depending on the market analysis, set the prices for your food products and meal platters. Don’t charge the customers too low, otherwise your food business will run in losses. Neither can you charge too high or else the customers will not order. Strike a balance while charging so that you and your client both have profits and, the customer too is content.
• Constantly Evaluate : When you are running a food business, there is always the risk of your business becoming stagnant. To eliminate that from happening, you must regularly evaluate your food business condition. You must also keep checking the competency and keep updating your plan for food delivery service. The frequent evaluation will give you the idea as to where your food business is going right and where it is lacking behind. This way you will be clear about the changes you make to keep your food business spinning money.

Online Food Delivery Business Plan

Online food delivery services get piping hot yummy meals straight the home. The USP of these online facilities is that anyone can place any food order via a smartphone/tab with internet access. The mouth-watering food being delivered is fresh, healthy and reasonably priced. The online food delivery system is in fashion.

Are you interested to benefit from the online food delivery system? Then read on to discover how you too can start an online site for ordering food. For better grasp of the market dynamics, an idea of the revenue and business model is a must.

A Basic idea

Any individual using an online food ordering website would have to first sign up. The site will lead the user to give other relevant information. For instance: The address where the user wants the food to be delivered, a phone number for reaching out at the time of delivery, choosing the dishes and the delivery time. The choice of availing daily delivery or on select days is also there for the user’s convenience.

Revenue Model of Online Delivery Policy

The revenue model is quite straightforward. The more the number of food boxes delivered per delivery, the more the profit.

Chief Features of Website to Focus On

Do not get lost amidst the thousands of online food ordering sites. To make the site better than your challenging counterparts, designing it brilliantly plays a crucial role. It will draw in maximum customers. A detailed description of website features that makes it a user-friendly online food delivery portal has been discussed as follows:

To make your homepage attractive:

• You need to focus on the Top banner. The key elements such as sign-up or sign-in are present in it.
• The banner image should be tactically built. All the special food items should be displayed online, in a manner that lures the users to place an order.
• The tagline must be striking as well as greeting
• A search bar having a location selecting list is essential, because the food delivery business is location-based.
• A homepage segment on customer feedback. It will allow a path to influence users to opt for your online food delivery service. The reviews and consumer testimonials together work like magic to drive customer traffic to the website. Both start-up businesses as well as well-known business brands can benefit from it. Majority of the first-time users rely on the reviews and testimonials to decide whether to order food online or not.

How-It-Works Page

This page assists new-bees to learn how the online food delivery functions. Any user not knowing about it can read this page and learn the simple process. It may include info about-

• How the online food ordering works
• Delivery of online ordered food/Meals
• The Payment Options for food ordered online

Log-in & Sign-up Page

This page has to be easy and quick. No user would be interested in filling a complicated online sign-up/log-in form that takes too long to complete. There is also the choice to have a pop-up than a full-fledged log-in page. The convenient one-click online login through social networking sites is quite popular. It is very much preferred by users. You may also maintain the customary email sign-up/ log in.

Pre-activation verification system

This is a system where in order to activate their user accounts online the individual has to give an email confirmation. This is necessary as it cut down the possibilities of spam accounts. For phone verification, a One-time-password (OTP) can be sent to the contact number provided by the user.

Account summary

A food ordering website has to have this as it shows all the main details related to the use. User information like- contact details, delivery address, wallet balance and contact details.

As stated above, the homepage has to have a search bar as it plays a vital role. Once the user input the location. Next, the selection for preferred meal such as whether the user wants breakfast, lunch, or dinner must come up. This when chosen by the user, will give the idea of the delivery timing.

When you have a home delivery food business plan , then delicious and personalized food packages are a must. It should be healthy too. Those you order online for their breakfast, lunch or dinner would want foods that are tasty and light, rather than greasy and heavy to digest. Furthermore, rotating the menu and having something new on the list will keep your regular customers interested. They won’t get bored of having to eat the same cuisines and move to other food delivery choices.

The listed food should be:

• Well-designed
• The images of meals platters and foods should be of high quality. Do ensure that the pictures displayed are not of too high resolution, otherwise the loading time will increase and it can really make users leave the site.
• To keep customers interest in mind, it’s best to have vegetarian cuisines separated from non-vegetarian dishes.

Order Placement Process

This need to be kept fast and easy. First, the user would choose the food from the menu list to order. The order place process follows after the food selection process is complete. The user by typing in the contacts details should be led to verifying the order. Next, comes the adding of the delivery address. If the user has saved a default address for delivery, it will show up and can be selected. The final step would be the payment process followed by order confirmation. The user may select the preferred mode of payment such as COD (cash on delivery), debit/ credit card, or Net banking and be done with the purchase easily. The online food delivery business plan needs to mention all the facilities you offer. The online delivery system is a recent market trend and you must surely try it.

Why you need a Delivery Service Business Plan?

The food business can be a start-up or an established one, a business plan plays a crucial part. If you are into food delivery service, then you would need a business plan too. Many food business owners have no idea as to how a ‘business plan’ is to be written. There are several questions that may come up. Why would a food delivery service need a business plan? What sort of benefit will such a plan do to food delivery? Most of the business heads, especially those of a start-up food delivery business feel this way.

Why build a food delivery Business Plan?

A business plan is a document having all the information about your food delivery business. This allows you to present it to anybody interested in supporting your food delivery business venture. It serves more than one purpose:

• A business plan works like an elaborate design encompassing all the deeds required for launching a food delivery business. Additionally, it also works to enhance an already established food delivery business. It has all the intricate business details of the food delivery service (time of delivery, types of food that customers can order; online, phone and textual modes of ordering food, etc.). The market of the food delivery service is mentioned (whether there are other food business, is it a competitive market area, etc.). The food delivery service’s management details are also touched.
• A food delivery business plan works as a benchmark. You can calculate how well your food delivery business has achieved the set targets.
• A food delivery business plan works as an instrument to attract lenders and acquire business loans. It also aids to grip the attention of many other company owners. If your food delivery business plan can make an impact then you can get monetary support. You may also get other resources to support your food delivery service.

What is the Business Plan Standard Format?

A food delivery business plan is usually seen to cover some familiar elements of a food service. Here’s a common format of the food delivery business plan. It will give you a rough idea as to how to a business plan is to be organized.

• Executive Synopsis
• Keys to Success
• Company Synopsis (It gives a basic idea of the food delivery company’s background and history)
• Product Description
• Market Analysis Synopsis
• Strategies and Execution Synopsis
• Management Synopsis
• Financial Analysis

Some business plan may include some further food business and service information. For instance: the company operation methods, the owners, the management, strategies for products and service promotion and marketing and soon.

3 Different Tools to Build a Business Plan Easily: Template, Software, Sample

A large number of services choose various alternatives when crafting a business plan  for their company. Some approaches are quick and easy, while some take time. The diverse tools used for crafting a business plan includes- business plan template, trying a business plan software, downloading a sample business plan, or hiring a professional consultant to build the business plan for you.

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Business Plan Template

Are you are short of time? Do you want a finished business plan right away? Then, opting for a business plan template can be a great idea.

What is a business plan template?

A business plan template is basically a draft that is already written. The entire business plan is pre-written by professional business plan expert with some blanks left to be filled by individual business owners. You just need to fill in your names and it will become your very own business plan. That is to say, for a food delivery business plan template, browse through the available templates in a website offering business plan templates to find a matching one. Sometimes, the templates don’t have spaces or gaps but have some dummy names which you need to change.

At times, it can be tough to find a matching template. To resolve this issue some website template online services provide a form. Filling in the requirements helps them to find a suitable template. You can jot down some specifics about your food delivery service. For instance: Pointers like, whether you provide breakfast/lunches/ dinners and get a similar business template offered immediately. Once the appropriate template is found, the business owner needs to fill in the personal details in the template and it will be ready. Personal details such as name of the company, the precise services offered, financial date and so on are to be changed.

Is a tailor-made business plan template reliable?

It is pretty common to have doubts when selecting a food delivery business plan template. There may be several questions that cross your mind. Will a template be accurate? Is it safe to depend on a template to build a business plan? How much will it cost? To make a sound decision it is best to see both sides of the coin. So, let’s glance through the positive as well as negative sides of using a business plan template.

Advantages of Business Plan Templates

Shows Business Plan Outline

A top quality business plan can be very useful to give structure to your thoughts. You will obviously have several things going on in your mind about your food delivery business. But, it can be very difficult to express the thoughts in writing. Often, you may clearly know what you wish to write about your food delivery service but do not know how to start a business plan. A food delivery business plan template can come in handy at such occasions. It works like a guideline. Rather that staring at a white sheet it is a good choice to download a template. It gives the basic outline of a typical business plan. You can just insert any information as per requirement. You also can modify it according to your desire. Download Sample From Here

Provides Detailed Instruction

A first-class business plan template offers a clear idea of how to arrange all the information. When drafting a business plan for your food delivery service you have to keep in mind the investors. It should be written in a manner so that it is organized aptly for the investors to understand your plan and be impressed. It gives a step-by-step instruction to build your food delivery business plan.

Can Be Depended Upon

A superior quality template for business plan is SBA approved. This makes the plan a reliable one. There may be many business plan templates on food delivery service that you come across. Check which templates have the SBA stamp of approval! Those that have the stamp are written in the correct manner. You can use it to craft your food business plan.

Industry Specific and Customizable

The business plan templates are available in a large number. They cover a wide range of businesses and services. For instance: The restaurant and hospitality section envelopes a vast number of services. A food delivery may be big or small, serve a particular dish or have specific delivery timing. A breakfast delivery service business plan will not be similar to a dinner delivery business plan. The availability of such specific service templates is a huge benefit. Additionally, there is also the scope of modifying and personalizing the plan as per business specifics.

They are Free

The best part of a business plan is that they are free. Any business owner can browse through websites offering business plan templates and download them for free.

Limitation of Business Plan Templates

Bulk Information Input Ha to be Done Personally

Do not hold the misconception that a template is the final draft completely ready for use. It is a guiding outline of course. But, it’s not a business plan that you can immediately use. After getting a suitable template that fits your food delivery service, you have to work on it. There are several sections that will require accurate input. Take for example, you will need to do all the calculations and insert the financial spread-sheets. This can be tough and time-consuming.

Inserting Spread-sheets from Excel to Word document is Tough

It may not strike you when you download a free template. You realize how complex it is to fill all the data from Excel to Word doc, only when you actually try to do it. Again, while altering the numbers, keeping all of it at par with the latest data is difficult. Additionally, there are the diagrams, tables, and suitable pie charts to be incorporated in the food home delivery business plan template.

Inadequate Instructions

The free templates most often lack in providing proper instructions. This makes it very difficult to craft a business plan. This stands true especially for those who don’t know the exact procedure of writing a business plan. Proper knowledge of the business plan writing procedure is a must to put everything in its proper spot. Moreover, with the inadequate instructions, building the business plan can be an excruciating task.

Finding Appropriate Good Quality Template Is Tough

There are innumerable services offering huge number of templates. Finding the most apt template can be an exhausting task. Furthermore, there are some services that try to cheat customers with a poor quality template. Distinguishing the services offering trustworthy first-rate food business plan template, from those services that are unreliable, can be quite difficult.

Some Sites Charge Fee

Do not be fooled by some shrewd services that try to deceive business owner into paying for a template. Avoid all such sites that charge a fee for a template. Even if they charge a small amount, don’t pay for a template which you can easily avail for free!

Nevertheless, a template can be useful to any business owner seeking a rough idea of how a business plan is crafted correctly. In addition, a template is easy to download. It gives the push that is needed to begin with the business plan writing process. Lastly, being free there is no harm in trying out a template as it might actually be very helpful.

Business Plan Software

Besides the templates there is the business plan software to assist business owners to build an excellent business plan. So, in case the template fails to fulfill all your expectations, then this can be a good pick. Business plan software offers the apt directions and flexible approach sought to complete a business plan. It can be used to develop a business plan for food delivery service.

There are innumerable software tools available online that claim to aid you in building your service business plan. Not all of them are good. It is easy to distinguish good business plan software from a bad one. All you need it to know are the few things that are present only in the best software. Some of the attributes found in top-quality software are:-

• Guiding help for each and every step of forming the business plan
• Video Lessons for better understanding
• The necessary financial estimates are detected automatically
• All the data is automatically arranged in the right order
• Diagrams, charts are put in place

When preparing the business plan for your food delivery service using first-rate business plan software can prove to be a smart move. It saves a lot of time. Maximum business owners, not aware of the business plan software, waste a lot of time in documenting Excel spread-sheets in Word. All such complex task is easily achievable within minutes through the software. That spares the business owners ample time to focus on the other major business areas. Still, if there is any trouble experienced when using the software, there are professionals to help out.

Business Plan Sample

There is yet another tool that can be of great use to you. It is a business plan sample. There are many who confuse a sample with a template. Both are different.

A sample is basically where the entire business plan is written out by an expert. Unlike the template, there are no gaps or blanks in a sample to be filled by the business owner. A sample writer is a professional, trained and experienced in writing business plan examples on various topics. The samples are well-written, proof-read and are arranged as per the standard business plan format. It is easy to locate such samples. There are multiple services who publish business plan documents on their website. Some services charge some fee while many offer it for free.

Download Sample From Here

Steps to Find a Suitable food delivery business plan sample

• To find a meal delivery service business plan sample a business owner needs to visit a site offering sample business plans. There is huge number of websites available so finding one isn’t tough.
• Once such a site if located, the business owner has to click on the business plan samples under the “Restaurant and Hospitality” section.
• The “Restaurant and Hospitality” page will have a sub-page with business plan written on food delivery service only. Click on that.
• Once there, you need to see if you can allocate the business plan specific to the service you offer. For instance, whether your service caters to a particular age group- kids, students, office employees, senior citizens, etc. Then, there are specific cuisines served. Also, your service may have a particular delivery timing focusing on breakfast, lunch or dinner. Check that topic which matches your precise business services .
• If you cannot find the befitting food delivery business plan sample, do not leave the page. There are uncountable samples and it is common not to find what a befitting one. At such instances, you need to call or drop in a form in the website’s contact page. The form usually contains some questions. Those queries, when answered, allows the attendant to know which business plan sample you need exactly. Then, the service assistant helps to find the specific food delivery service business sample for you.

The sample will have everything written down in a manner that would impress the investing clients. Still, since it is a pre-written document, it is likely to be based on general information only. To make it your own food delivery service business plan , it is best to modify the document. Insert all the vital information that can make your food delivery service stand out. Remember that sample is available for use to everyone running a food delivery service. Therefore, edit and change as much as possible to make it a unique and excellent business plan.

If you are short of time you can get professional help. You can directly speak to a professional via emails or the phone. They will customize the sample business plan as per your preferences. They generally do it through a step by step interview process. They ask questions and take your inputs regarding each and every part of the business plan. Ultimately, the completed draft is given to you for review. If you need further changes, you need to point that out. The experts will make all the necessary modifications and send you the finished food delivery service business plan sample, ready for use. Unlike a sample which is readily available for free download; you may have to pay some amount for a tailor-made business plan sample.

Business Plan consultation

If all these fail, you can hire a business plan consultant. There are services that have website portals. There you can find all the details about consultants. They are professional having expertise in building business plan for all sorts of business. It may be a small start-up business or a big renowned one. The crafting of a business plan consists of many intricate detailing at each segments. Furthermore, impressing an investor is not an easy job. A template, software or sample can be helpful. But, to achieve the impeccable business plan specifically designed for your service would require an expert help. This is where a consultation can aid you. You can find all their qualification, experience and previous business plan designs before hiring them. You can speak to them and clear your apprehensions.

They are trained exclusively in crafting business plans. Hence, you can be assured that you are in safe hands. They know their job well. Moreover, you can always share your thought-process and what you need your business plan food delivery service to look like. They being experts in crafting business plans doesn’t mean they will disregard your inputs. On the contrary, they will take develop the business plan exactly as per your expectation. Additionally, the final draft will be in correct format. Its originality and accurateness will grip the investor’s attention and impress them thoroughly.

Lunch Delivery Service

The lunch delivery service is a latest business trend. Large numbers of entrepreneur’s are taking major interest in this particular business. Firstly, this is a very affordable start-up business endeavor. Secondly, it is up to the business owner whether s/he wants to do the business on a small scale or a large one. The recognition and classification of the services areas, various kinds of lunches to be delivered, all come within the lunch delivery service business plan.

Reasons for popularity of lunch delivery service in the offices

The on-set of businesses delivering lunches at offices has been a huge relief to workers across the world, majorly in the metropolitan cities. The lunch delivery business has been hugely popular among the masses, especially office employees, mainly because-

• The present times, when everyone is busy working, there is little time for cooking and packing lunches to work.
• There is no time to go visit a near-by restaurant during lunch-breaks. Often even not enough time to go to the canteen. Thus, the afternoon meals delivered at desks are a great solution. It is a superb way-out especially for those employees who are busy working at desks during lunch hours.
• This is an affordable in-budget option. Ordering an expensive fancy meal at the restaurant can be somewhat off-budget.
• This is a perfect for offices with no canteens or near-by eateries.
• The office canteens have limited options. The rush during lunch hours often exhausts the available dishes. Quality of food is at times poor. Having the same food every single day becomes monotonous and boring.

2 Options for Food Delivery Business

The business owner has two ways to go ahead with the business delivering the lunches on the desired customer location:-

Option 1: The owner running the service can choose to do the whole thing. Various stages are involved in this business. Starting from taking the customer’s order to buying the ingredients, cooking the food, organizing, packing and delivering it to them on time. The service owner may opt to undertake all the responsibility.

Option 2: The business owner can choose to sign an agreement and team up with a food company owner. In this option, the responsibility is shared between the food company and the business owner delivering lunch-packs. The food company handles the first part- cooking plus packing the lunch as per customer order. The owner of the food business handles the second part- delivering lunch-packs to customers.

3 key Elements of Lunch Delivery Business

The popularity of services delivering lunches has inspired people from different backgrounds. The youth, housewives, mothers staying at the house, retired individuals, as well as others from diverse walks of life are becoming fresh entrepreneurs. Their business has been profitable due to its low-cost investment and high-demand feature.

There are 3 key elements of running the business of lunch delivery:-

• Primarily, it’s compulsory for every business associated with delivering food to have the basic permit. A green signal from Health Inspection Department is also a must.
• An appropriate place is needed to systematically arrange all the food.
• To carry the lunch-packs to the customers a suitable mode of transport is necessary. For example, food trucks, vans, etc.

10 Things to Represent in the Business Plan for Lunch Delivery Service

• The factors suggesting that the lunch delivery service is an exclusive one. Factors like- a stand-out lunch menu, regional cuisines, use of fresh local herbs, organic ingredients, prompt deliverance, zero competitors within the vicinity set for lunch delivery, personal request based meals such as sugarless, less salt/chilly, less calorie, and so on.
• There should be clarity of the starting investments made for purchasing all the items. All the paraphernalia which comprise of- the kitchen utensils, movable refrigerator, ovens, coolers, and also delivery van.
• Information of the food supply and wholesale vendors is to be stated. Needs of the working staff too requires illustration.
• Marketing strategies restaurants to form, maintain and boost the customer base. Face-to-face marketing, building online food business website, circulating menu brochures, sending mails directly, etc. being some tactics of achieving it.
• Having a place for food assembly, which fulfills the criteria set by the Health Department
• Wide range of menu choices. Rotation of the menu at regular intervals depending on seasonal change, ingredient availability, customer preferences, etc.
• Routes selected strategically depending on locations that have large number of offices, and also buildings where meetings and social events are held.
• The range of specific target consumer like- office staff, private parties, community gatherings, corporate events, visitors residing in lodges, societal occasions, and formal conferences.
• Different kinds of lunch packing, along with the diverse substances used for packing. Examples would be- lunches packed in boxes, paper packs, steel cases, plastic containers and so on.
• Financial statement asserting the overall performance of the food business in the last 5 Years. It must cover the complete expenditure details. For instance, money spent in buying ingredients, food packaging charge, staff fees, charges for making health department permit, insurance bill, and, transportation price.

5 Things That Play a Crucial Part in the Business Providing Lunch Delivery Services

• Food delivery business entrepreneurs must have excellent management skills.

It’s essential to plan-up in advance to get the lunch ready on due time. It is important to make the plan full-proof. A back-up plan for any emergency situations is important as problems may crop up at the last moment.

• A dependable vehicle for delivering the packed lunches/food is vital.
• Company promotions displaying that all deliveries will be made exactly on time have to achieve it in real. Before making any promises on delivery timing to the prospective customers it is best to clarify certain doubts. For instance: Will it be sensible to give such assurance when providing food delivery service in a busy traffic zone? Will it be possible to deliver lunch-boxes as per time in a place of high populace?
• The owner of the food business must understand the competitors well. At the time of introducing the lunch delivery service business plan to the investors, every fact must be revealed. All records of similar lunch/food delivery businesses such as near-by food joints, restaurants, etc. need to be mentioned.

Our consultants have an all-embracing knowledge and experience in food delivery business plan development in the hospitality and restaurant industries. Reaching out and hiring a consultant is very easy. You can simple call or fill in an online form with your requirements and a consultant will get in touch with you shortly.

Download Food Delivery Service Business Plan Sample in pdf

OGScapital also specializes in writing business plans such as personal chef business plan sample , business plan for a pizza shop , business plan for seafood restaurant , business plan for a startup Subway , fast food restaurants business plan , BBQ business plan and many other business plans

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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Sample Food Delivery Service Business Plan

Food delivery business plan sample.

Fast food delivery thrives very well because food is a necessity of life; no one can do without food. It is a business that gets more popular day by day. It is the type of business that does not require much investment to start.

A very important aspect of an online food delivery business is the business plan and that is why every business put in its best to come up with a great business plan to aid the success of their business.

• Bread delivery business plan
• Bottled water delivery business plan

A food home delivery system can either be online, physical, or both. This post will be focusing on an online food delivery system.

Here is a sample business plan for starting a delivery business.

BUSINESS NAME: Henny Penny

TABLE OF CONTENT – FOOD DELIVERY SERVICE BUSINESS PLAN OUTLINE

Executive Summary

Business Description

Business Purpose

Vision Statement

Products and Services

Business Legal Status

Industry Analysis

Target Market

Marketing Strategy

The food delivery business is a form of the system adopted by restaurants in the food industry and also a service offered in food delivery.

Henny Penny is the first known online food delivery system in the whole of Pakistan. Henny Penny aims to provide quality food of consumer’s choice at their doorstep with a convenient method of ordering and paying.

Henny Penny is an online food delivery system that makes it possible for people to order their food from several restaurants that are available on the business website.

It is web-based and has mobile web integration that allows users to order their food online and wait for delivery of the food. We are very careful in providing a quick service online food delivery business that offers the best food and best dining experience.

Henny Penny offers a variety of foods whether for lunch or dinner based on the health of the customer. There are foods for several categories of customers such as those who want lower fat or those who want to add weight. We also provide nutritional information and enlightenment for our customers so they can make informed choices about the type of food they want.

The reason for starting this business is to serve this new generation with a completely different and competitive style of food delivery. The main purpose is to generate income by providing good and efficient services. Also, to add convenience to the lives of people who like fast food and are too busy to go get it.

The vision of Henny Penny is a multi-faceted success that includes the financial wellbeing of the business. In achieving our vision, we are to consider the following:

• the impact of our business including the decisions we make on the environment.
• the effect of our product on consumers’ wellbeing and health.
• the relationship between the management, staff, vendors, and customers.

All these will give the business a sense of purpose that goes beyond the financial state and profit of the business.

Henny Penny is willing to offer several varieties of products to customers and effective and efficient customer care to increase the level of patronage.

Among the products to be offered are chicken, salads, sandwiches, cheese, egg, Coke, Burger, Fanta among others.

As proposed, the business is to operate on a sole proprietorship basis but might later extend to partnership if new products are added to the existing business setup.

Though the food delivery industry is very competitive, it remains thriving and successful due to the compatibility of the business system to the modern way of living. The number of people who have time and resources to cook by themselves reduces day by day which is the main reason why the food delivery business continues to grow and succeed.

The food industry is one of the largest industries in the country and even in the world. The number of food delivery systems has been increasing for the past few years. More than 600 food restaurants are opened every month, therefore every restaurant keeps struggling to be at the top and keep pace with increasing demand.

The target market of Henny Penny does not focus on a particular age group, gender, or interest. It considers both adults and youngsters who are fast food lovers and are ready to order their food online for home delivery.

Henny Penny has decided to attract three categories of customers which are:

(1) Students (2) Any health-conscious person (3) Curious and open-minded people

One of the strategies used for this business is the free access given to restaurants to join our site so we can have more than enough restaurants to work with. Within the first fiscal year, our system will be positioned in such a way that negotiations will be done with restaurants to offer discounts on online orders and if possible, give free coupons to regular and loyal customers.

We will advertise to consumers via subscribed restaurants, social sites, and delivery outfits. Henny Penny is looking at basic ways to have an advantage over other competitors and those basic ways are:

• Innovative service options
• Product identity and quality
• Good employees’ attitude and motivation

What do you think of this food delivery business plan?

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• Business Templates
• Sample Plans

FREE 9+ Delivery Service Business Plan Samples [ Food, Home, Partner ]

One of the most popular form of delivery or courier service back in the day was through our local post delivered by the mailman. But of course bigger industry players has been around for years and is known worldwide such as FEDEX, DHL and UPS. Yet presently, at the height of the internet, with the increase of online shopping more and more delivery service players have started popping up to benefit from the demand in the market. And it has gain its full momentum during the height of the pandemic were people from around the globe who are unable to go out had no choice but to turn to delivery service. Also, to keep up, almost every business has turned to selling online, so the increase in demand for delivery services is distinctive. So, whether you’re starting a business dealing in same-day delivery, or if your customers are in another area of the delivery industry, you may need a delivery service business plan. Read more about this in our article below and scroll down as well and check out our free delivery service business plan samples to help you create one.

Delivery Service Business Plan

9+ delivery service business plan samples, 1. delivery service business plan template, 2. project delivery service business plan, 3. delivery service business plan, 4. delivery service business operations plan, 5. sample delivery service business plan, 6. restaurant delivery service business plan, 7. standard delivery service business plan, 8. basic delivery service business plan, 9. it delivery service business plan, 10. food delivery service business plan, what is a delivery service business plan, how to create a delivery service business plan, 1. industry overview, 2. executive summary, 3. company profile and mission statement, 4. marketing and advertising plan, 5. management and operational plan, 6. target market, 7. financials, is a delivery service a good business venture, what are the advantages of delivery services in other business, what is globalization.

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The world of courier and delivery service is  fast-paced and competitive. It has been dominated by bigger international players over the years, but as more and more people are looking for other cheaper ways to move goods, newer delivery service companies has been slowly emerging. Delivery services may also have various scope of work , like focusing on local deliveries within cities, nationwide or if their capital permits venturing internationally. A lot of things must be considered once you decide to open up a delivery or courier service company. With that being said, a business plan for delivery service companies is essential for success. This document will help you go through the different factors that will affect your delivery service company, how you can work through them and eventually moving forward to successfully running one.

Small and medium scale businesses has been venturing into the delivery service industry therefore the need for delivery businesses that would ensure that customers of small, medium and even large scale businesses got what they ordered for, regardless of where they lived. As you begin with your business plan, you must consider first what areas you want to focus on. Since the delivery service as a wide scope of services, perhaps do you plan on focusing your delivery service on grocery and food meals only? Or do you want to operate in local areas only? Whatever your choice may be, make sure you think this through thoroughly. To start, the following factors will guide you about what to work on when you are preparing a delivery service business plan.

You will need to understand and identify how the delivery service industry has been faring over the years and how opening or expanding your business will contribute to the current demand, and what sets it apart from other industry players.

Summarize the key points of your delivery service company in your executive summary .

Outline your company’s history/background, your team and the services you intend to offer or are currently offering. Alongside with your company’s mission statement which will describes the organization’s purpose and its overall intention. The mission statement supports the vision and serves to communicate purpose and direction to employees, customers, vendors and other stakeholders.

Even seasoned delivery service companies still need to extensively market their services. As long there is the threat of other companies, your company will still need an advertising and marketing plan . This plans would consist of various marketing strategies that will increase your client base, help reach a wider clientele and retain old ones. Also securing tie ups with other online businesses is one of the best ways to guarantee a steady flow of income.

Define who will be part of your overall management, their job responsibilities and roles in the company. You will also need to write up a the operational process of running your delivery service. Include any equipment to be used, intended number of employees and the business structure.

Identifying your target market will help maximize how you are to shape your operational and marketing plans. By doing market research , you will begin to understand who your clients are, where to find them and their needs.

As this is one of the most important section of the business plan, especially if you need to attract investors, this should include an overview of your start-up costs, an  income statement , projected  cash flow , a  balance sheet  and a break-even analysis.

Taking advantage of the rise in e-commerce, the delivery service business has presently become a fundamental part of the online business industry. Both internationally and locally. As long as you have the capital to start your delivery service and the eagerness to pursue this venture, then yes it is good choice.

Adopting a delivery services has a number of benefits to a business such as convenience for your clients to receive your products anytime or anywhere, affordability, reach a more wider clientele, gives clients more option and many more.

This is the is the process of the increasing integration of markets in the world economy. The world in which has become increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange.

For the past decade, globalization has been on the steady rise more so now thanks to the ecommerce sector. So, this is one of the best time to start or expand your delivery service company. A well-crafted delivery service business plan will ensure that your company will stay on the right track, and help open up to better opportunities.

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Don't bother with copy and paste.

Get this complete sample business plan as a free text document.

Food Preparation Business Plan

Start your own food preparation business plan

What's For Dinner?

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

What’s For Dinner? is an exciting, new business with a unique approach to helping people enjoy home cooked meals with their families. Customers will come to our Plano, TX location and prepare 12 meals that they pre-select from a menu in a party atmosphere. In two hours, they will have a month’s worth of meals to put in their freezer.

By focusing on our competitive edge (no direct competitors in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area), our customers, and their needs, What’s For Dinner? will increase sales to a point that exceeds $1.3M in three years.

What’s For Dinner? is owned jointly by Alan and Kim Kirby as an S Corporation. Alan and Kim have 15 years of experience in the food service and entertainment industries, as a party planner and personal chef, respectively. They know the kinds of food preparation available in the Collin County area. With two teenaged children, have experienced the frustration of trying to feed a whole family healthy food both cheaply and quickly. Alan’s existing contacts with local social and community groups, and Kim’s ongoing relationships with food distributors, specialty grocers, and high-end clients will all help to generate high sales from early in the first year.

What’s For Dinner offers several advantages to its target market:

• Relatively inexpensive meal preparation: ~$15 for a four-person meal.
• Fun, social, party atmosphere.
• Convenient: eat your prepared meals in your home, when you want.
• Saves time: no shopping, no prep, no clean up.
• For seniors, special menus and transportation assistance make meals easy.
• And, best of all, not having to decide “What’s For Dinner?”

The purpose of this plan is two-fold. The first is to acquire funding of $259,708. The second is to lay the foundations of the company’s vision, philosophy, and strategy, to ensure that we know where we are going and how to get there.

1.1 Mission

What’s For Dinner? is a specialized business that provides a variety of people with the opportunity to prepare health conscious, yet savory meals that can be frozen to take home and eat at a later time.  The purpose of this process is to both optimize the time investment needed to prepare the quality of meals that What’s For Dinner? will become known for, within the clients’ current schedules, and also for them to practice the proper health conscious behavior that has become the target lifestyle of a health deficient society.

What’s For Dinner? will provide a unique and distinctive service that will unite a party-like atmosphere with professional food preparation that will attract a growing repeat customer base.  What’s For Dinner? will allow families and busy professionals the ability to prepare a variety of meals quickly in a fun atmosphere, away from home, thus giving people more of what they are looking for – time.

Our goal is to be a self-sustaining corporate enterprise within 3 years from the company’s inception to begin expanding our menu offerings within 3 months and its location offerings within 4 years.  What’s For Dinner? will employ 4 individuals full time within 3 years, and will hit net profit goals of $100,000 by the end of its second year of existence.

In short, we will be in the business of helping our customers to relieve their daily stresses of what to fix their families for dinner by providing them with a great menu choice of meals that they will prepare.

1.2 Keys to Success

The keys to success in this business are:

• Creating a high level of customer satisfaction in our service and products, which will lead to customer retention each month. 
• Marketing: getting our name out to the public, primarily through an intensive marketing campaign driven by our customers (word of mouth) with a supplemental vehicle of standardized and conventional marketing tactics. 
• Great product quality and variety that will be used to aid in customer retention and growth. 
• Finances: as our customer base increases we will be better able to lower our supply costs by buying more in bulk through food service distributors.
• Variety of menus offered based on seasons, trends and customer preferences.
• Exceeding our customers’ expectations by offering them a higher quality of food for a competitive price.
• What’s For Dinner’s website will be an efficient and convenient place for customers to register and pay for parties.

1.3 Objectives

The objectives for What’s For Dinner? in the first three years of operation include:

• To exceed customers’ expectations for food service and food service products.
• To increase the number of clients served by 25% per year through superior service.
• To develop a sustainable start-up business that is profitable.
• To achieve an after tax net profit of $134K by year three.
• To achieve a net income of more than 10% of sales by the third year.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

What’s For Dinner? is a unique business where customers come to our Plano, TX location and prepare twelve pre-chosen meals that will be taken home and frozen until they are ready to cook and serve. All of the planning, shopping, food preparation and containers are provided with no worries to the customer. The meals will be prepared in a party like atmosphere where customers will have separate workstations to prepare their meals and have a good time with friends, both new and old.

Our goal is to provide our customers with home cooked meals that their families will enjoy, while saving them time and effort and relieve stress from that age-old question of What’s For Dinner?

The scheduling aspect of our company will be combination of a standard walk-up scheduling procedure, a phone messaging service and an intensive highly-interactive e-commerce website that will allow the customer to not only schedule parties but also to pay online, using standard secure technology.

2.1 Start-up Summary

The start-up expenses include:

• Rent expenses include a deposit and rent for one month at $28.75 per square foot for 1,854 square feet, in the total amount of $5,182.
• Utilities expenses for one month.
• Insurance deposit and first month.
• Sales & Marketing expenses including stationery, brochures, outdoor signage.
• Website development.
• Office, kitchen and janitorial supply expenses.
•  Leasehold improvements, including contractors fees and permits.

The required start-up assets of $50,000 include:

• Kitchen Equipment (long-term assets)
• Prep Tables (long-term assets)
• Cooking utensils
• Various Kitchen Utensils
• Computer and small business software

Please note that the long-term assets above will be depreciated using G.A.A.P. approved straight-line depreciation method.

The purpose of this business plan is to secure $259,708 in funding. This loan appears in the long-term liability row of the attached Start-up Funding table.

The following chart and table summarize the start-up assumptions.

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2.2 Company Ownership

What’s For Dinner? is a privately held Sub Chapter S-corporation. This allows for the protection allowed by the corporate legal structure combined with the “fall through” Generally Accepted Accounting Principals that will make personal financial sense to the corporations principle owners.  The principle owners of What’s For Dinner? are Alan and Kim Kirby; each owns a 50% stake in the company. This company operates under the jurisdiction of the State of Texas and the United States of America.

What’s For Dinner? will provide its customers with twelve home cooked meals that they will freeze until customers are ready to serve them. These meals will be chosen from a set menu designed weekly by us and the meals will be prepared in our location. All of the planning, shopping, food preparation, recipe directions and containers will be provided to help make it as easy as possible for our customers to enjoy their time at our establishment.

Our customers will prepare their meals in a fun, party-like atmosphere where they can relax, meet new friends or spend time with old friends while preparing dinners for their families for the next month.

The Key benefits our customers will receive from using What’s For Dinner? are:

• Spend less time in the kitchen
• Less money on groceries & eating out – it keeps you from being tempted to eat out
• Home style meals & better eating
• Able to sit down at the table together as a family – including conversation and socialization
• Clean up is easy, because prep is done outside the home, and all meals come in disposable containers
• Less time spent on grocery shopping
• In 2 hours you will have 12 dinners for you and your family
• We create the menus – order the ingredients – slice, dice, chop and prepare
• Social hour preparing dinners

Our menus and portion sizes are tailored for the group and individual customers. Seniors get added benefits, with diabetic, low-cholesterol, and low-sodium choices. Families can increase portion sizes for a small fee to accommodate more children or guests.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

The Dallas area’s meal preparation market is untapped. As a matter of fact, there is no other business of this kind in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  Though there are no exact replicas of our company there are some types of companies that we would have to consider to be indirect competitors.  These include such companies and service professionals as caterers and those that will come to your home and prepare meals for you to freeze.  What’s For Dinner?, at this time, has few direct competitors, with exception to area restaurants and your basic home cooking. At the inception of What’s For Dinner?, there will be no type of company like ours in the area, thus giving us the overwhelming competitive advantage of first entry. 

The What’s For Dinner? market is primarily in the Collin County area: Plano, Frisco, Allen and McKinney. We will be focusing on households in these areas that have more than one person. Primarily, those households whose income is over $50,000, with someone under the age of 18 living there.  As a secondary target market, we will market to the elderly population in the aforementioned areas. Initially, the greater portion of our customers will be busy, working class people and the growing group of single-parent families, but it will be of great benefit now and in the future to market our services to the highest growing population demographic – senior citizens.  

The following statistics were taken from Table DP-1 Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000 for Collin County.

4.1 Market Segmentation

What’s For Dinner? has three distinct target populations:

• Family households with children under 18 years old. This group of people is generally busier than other families with their time split between work, home and their children’s activities. This group may be single parent households, which only adds to the stress resulting from lack of time, coupled with the need for proper meals for their children.  This provides them with a desire to provide their families with good meals and free time to enjoy being together.
• Family households with no children living at their home. This group has a need for our services, as hectic schedules, professional careers, and daily demands on time come up against the need for tasty, healthy meals.  Depending on their work and home situations this demographic could use our service to enhance their selection of meals all the while minimizing their time in the kitchen. This group does recognize the benefits of our service and want to enjoy making meals for themselves and socializing through our business.
• Senior and Elderly Citizens. This group (65 and older) is the fastest growing portion of the population, and needs our services for several reasons:
• A good portion of this group is simply unable to cook nutritious meals and does not have the knowledge or skills to continue to effectively maneuver themselves in the kitchen. 
• Many seniors do not have the time, energy, or means to make it to the grocery store. 

We will market several menus designed for the diet needs of the senior populace (diabetic, low cholesterol, low sodium), with pick-up and drop-off coordinated with a local senior-transportation center. All prep and measuring will be done beforehand, so they will need only to stir and combine ingredients. In addition to meeting their practical needs, we will create the social experience that this group consistently hunts for, and help them to enhance their lifestyle through a higher quality of health.

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

These target market segments were chosen based on their greater need for our services. Families with children are very busy, and they can end up spending a great deal on fast food and junk food because they don’t have time to cook healthy meals at home. Busy working couples and individuals without children are also busy, and may not have the skills or desire to plan and cook entire meals at home just for themselves; they can spend a lot on going out to eat. Seniors have special challenges in obtaining and preparing quality ingredients to feed themselves, including the loneliness of cooking for oneself. Options like “Meals on Wheels” are generally last-resorts, and many would prefer alternate food preparation arrangements, if any were available at a reasonable price – fixed incomes can be hard on the palate.

Our marketing strategies for all groups will emphasize our relatively inexpensive, fun, and easy approach to preparing healthy meals. We will vary our serving sizes, menu options, and level of preparation for each group; the family-size entree just right for a family of four makes no sense for a single individual. Different sized families have different needs, and it will be our goal to look to accommodate most family sizes through our variations in serving size.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

Our service is unique among Dallas meal preparation options. There are no direct competitors for What’s For Dinner? The closest competitors are personal chefs, who will come to your home and prepare your chosen meals for you and freeze them, at a very high price. Our target market segments cannot afford personal chefs.

Our indirect competitors are area restaurants. These include family-oriented, inexpensive diners and casual restaurants, as well as fast food and takeout. We will generally not be competing with upscale, adult-oriented restaurants, since those are “special occasion” locations, and do not fulfill local residents’ daily meal needs.

Our competitor restaurants compete on price, perceived convenience, and atmosphere. They succeed when they convince customers that going out to eat is an affordable “treat” that is easier and more pleasant than preparing meals at home. In truth, the restaurants with the lowest prices also offer poor quality food and atmosphere, and the struggle to get children ready, out the door, and have them behave in a restaurant setting can make these choices less appealing in families’ realities than in their imagination. For all customers, the time it takes to get ready, travel to a restaurant, order dinner, eat, pay, and get home make going out to a eat a full-evening’s commitment – hardly the convenience it claims.

With the introduction of What’s For Dinner? to the Dallas market, we will revolutionize the way that the community looks at cooking convenience. Our prices really are much lower than restaurant meals, with much higher quality meals. In addition, our “convenience” comes in two ways – preparing meals at a set time, outside the daily routine, so they are ready in advance, and eating and minimal clean-up right in the customer’s own home, which saves time and energy at the end of a long day.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

Even though What’s For Dinner? has no direct competitors, we will set up our business as if we are entering an already aggressive and hostile market.  This is aimed at helping us to become successful through a constant drive for increased service model efficiencies and marketing effectiveness. We will strive to excel in customer service excellence, continuing our menu varieties and achieving the highest standards for our food products. As owners, we feel that word of mouth and customer retention are significant factors in our success. Our convenient locations, sanitary facilities, competitive pricing structure and honorable reputation will all play a part in satisfying our customers and increasing our clientele at an accelerating rate. What’s For Dinner? will focus on these factors and always strive to improve our business model and service offerings.  We will strive to be the very best in our industry and will not rest until we not only have the largest market share in our industry, but also have the most satisfied customers.

The buying patterns of our customer base will be affected by our initial meal prep party prices.  We have concluded through our exhaustive focus market groups that we could set our prices high, since there is no direct competitor, but we feel that to attract and retain customers and be able to steadily grow our customer base, so we should price ourselves at a lower level first. By setting ourselves at the lower end of our pricing range, we will not only gain the attention of the vast majority of our target markets, but we will also be able to start our revenue streams off with an upward growth pattern. The price that we will choose will be reasonable for our customers and be adequate for the business to maintain a gross margin around 25%.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

What’s For Dinner? will gradually gain market share in the four focal geographic markets (Plano, Frisco, Allen and McKinney) by leveraging its competitive edges. These edges are superior attention to detail in the local food service market, a revolutionary food-servicing outlook and excellent nutritional meals at competitive price. These advantages have been unavailable in this market for some time. We will market our services  with a targeted advertising campaign and networking.

5.1 Competitive Edge

What’s For Dinner? will begin with a critical competitive edge: we have no direct competitors in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  By being the first-mover and (for at least a while) the only service of our kind, we will have the initial market buzz that is normally reserved for the first company of its kind into a given market. Our positioning is very hard to match, but only if we maintain focus on our strategy, marketing, business development, and fulfillment of quality and customer service will we be able to continually grow and outpace the “copy-cat” businesses that are sure to follow our market lead. We are aware that the tendency to relax due to lack of competition could weaken our competitive edge. What’s For Dinner? will be operated as if our direct competitors were conducting the same service business that we are in and we will be looking for additional enhancements to our operating procedures from day one.

In addition to our unique positioning, we offer the following advantages to our customers:

• High quality meals
• Relatively low prices
• Time saving meal preparation
• Reducing mess in customers’ kitchens
• Reducing stress around meal prep
• Saving them from that perennial problem of deciding, “What’s for Dinner?”

5.2 Marketing Strategy

As a food service business, our main goal is to provide high quality food with excellent customer service.  Our challenge as a new company is to quickly establish a reputation for such quality among our potential markets. With this in mind, the initial focus of our marketing strategy will be to get our name and reputation out to the public to create “buzz.” Creating brand recognition for our new concept will be the first measurable milestone in our marketing strategy.

 This will be one of the most important factors when measuring success within the first couple of months after inception.  The basis for our ideology is simple; the more people that hear our name and become familiar with our services, the more people will use it. The marketing campaign will involve a targeted advertising campaign, different specials to entice the customers to try our business and a very intense networking campaign. All of these tactics will be used to help gain a loyal clientele aimed at fostering our happy customer base.

At start-up, we will begin a focused advertising campaign toward target segments in our geographical area. We will update our advertising campaign regularly to fill in gaps based on follow-up research: do people recognize our name? Do they know what we do? What is their impression of our services’ costs and quality?Marketing campaigns will work via:

• Local area newspapers that are viewed by our target market.
• Homeowner associations’, churches’ and specific groups’ newsletters.
• Direct mail advertisements/flyers to our target market purchased through a direct mailing company with lists specifically of our target market.
• Various flyers and pamphlets that will be available at many shopping centers and grocery stores throughout the area.
• Yellow pages advertisement.
• Dynamic website.
• Registered keyword searches that will lead to our website.
• Various Radio advertisements.
• Various event sponsorships.

What’s For Dinner? will also have a networking campaign that will start with the owner’s contacts and friends attending our first months’ meal prep parties. This will be the “word of mouth” campaign that will feature:

• Private parties with discounts for the host/hostess of the party. This will encourage them to invite 11 friends that will be introduced to our business and will be return customers.
• Special discounts to return customers when referring new customers.

5.3 Sales Strategy

In the food service business, as in any customer service intensive business, sales revenue is our lifeblood.  The way in which we present ourselves to our customers and deal with the public will determine the success of our business.  The food service industry is facilitated by repeat business and referrals. In order to continuously compete against other food providers, we need to enhance our repeat customer service business by making this our main sales focus. We cannot expect to have a satisfied customer by selling them one month’s of meals and then never seeing them again. We must make our sales strategy revolve around making the customer’s experience with us the best it possibly can, and further, making every effort to get our current customer base to visit us again.  It is much more expensive to get new customers than to keep the customers you already have. Our customers cannot stop eating, but they could stop using our services. We will be selling our service to our current customers each time they come, in order to have repeat business and new business through their word of mouth.

These are just a few of the ways we will sell to our customers to gain repeat business and word of mouth advertising:

• High levels of customer service; friendly, comforting and entertaining
• Good variety of menus from which to choose
• The best quality of foods and ingredients
• Creating a fun and social atmosphere for our customers, so they want to return
• Reminders at each party to sign up for the next month’s party, along with the next month’s menu and samples
• A follow up and reminder program for our current customers that will be done through email and mail.
• Focus a specific portion of our advertising campaign on getting our repeat customers to come back and visit us
• Allow our best repeat customers to get special quantity specific discounts.
• Enlist a comprehensive and highly interactive e-commerce initiative to help to accommodate our customer’s payment and scheduling options.

The What’s For Dinner? website will serve as a productive and consistent selling tool. Our website will be set up to explain what we offer and the many benefits customers will receive for using our meal prep services. The website will help “close the sale;” customers will be able to register for the meal prep party they would like to attend and accepting payments online. This will be our main source of registrations for parties. The ease of use allowed by the Internet will be key to driving our customer pipeline.  Our sales and marketing campaigns will help focus our customer traffic through our website, so that people can see how easy it will be to interact with our company. This element of efficiency will also help enhance our bottom line by allowing for a 24 hour customer service mechanism without having to keep a customer rep staffed all the time.

5.3.1 Sales Forecast

Through our research of other businesses like ours in Seattle, WA and Omaha, NE, we found that all of them quickly increased their sales over their first year. All of these researched companies went from their first month of 100 customers on average to over 1,000 customers within their first year of business. One company opened in Seattle against two other competitors and now has over 2,000 customers with three different locations.

We are optimistic that What’s For Dinner? will grow and prosper just as these other companies have, but we want to set reasonable forecasts for growth. We have therefore taken a conservative approach in preparing our Sales Forecast Table.

The following table and chart give a run-down on forecasted sales. We have forecasted that sales will increase each month with the exception of the summer months, when vacations and other seasonal activities may reduce purchases. Once we get our first few customers, our sales will increase through customer retention, and gaining new customers through networking. We expect sales to grow incrementally over the first year, reaching profitability by the fifth month of operation.

After the first year of operation, we expect sales to continue increasing, from 10% the first year up to 25% by the third year. As sales increase, we will make modifications to our facility and hire new employees to share in the work. Our proposed location allows room for expansion. Based on our research, and the size of our potential market, we expect to reach close to one million dollars in sales by the end of 2005.

Our direct costs of sales listed here are inventory used up in sales, including the meal ingredients and additional supplies, such as themed-party decorations, containers, napkins, and so on. Fixed operating expenses are listed in the Profit and Loss.

5.4 Milestones

The accompanying table lists important program milestones, with dates and budgets for each. The milestone schedule indicates our emphasis on planning for implementation.  What the table doesn’t show is the commitment behind it. Our business plan includes complete provisions for plan -vs. – actual analysis, and we will follow-up often to discover variances and course corrections.

What’s For Dinner? will have several milestones, including:

• Business plan completion. This will be done as a roadmap for the organization. This will be an indispensable tool for the ongoing performance and improvement of the company.
• Building set up.
• Our first meal prep party.
• Profitability.

Web Plan Summary

The What’s For Dinner? website will be the virtual business card, party scheduler and payment acceptance source all rolled into one. It will showcase our services and highlight the benefits of using our company.  The website will be a crucial portal for party scheduling, as well as having availability cross-referenced with party menus. Customers will also use this website to register for their parties and pay for them using PayPal, which accepts MasterCard, Discover Card, Visa, or e-checks.

6.1 Website Marketing Strategy

The What’s For Dinner? website will be a strategic and very important part of our marketing mix. It will be used as a marketing tool to attract new customers, and as a sales tool to schedule parties, select menus, and pay. We will be promoting our website in all marketing programs, including newspaper ads, yellow page ads, business cards and flyers. We will also purchase targeted key word searches to help potential customers find our website. In addition, our website will feature prominently on all napkins, packaging, and receipts which current customers bring home, making repeat business easy and convenient.

Our main internet strategy is to direct the majority of our potential clients to our website first, as the introduction to our services, prices, and availability. This will reduce the time necessary for staff to provide basic information over the phone, allowing them to answer customer questions and provide more details, once customers know who we are, what we do, and how we might help them.

To encourage customers to use the website, we will offering special discounts to those who register their parties with our website and pay online. Our website must be easy to access and navigate, and must answer every customer question we can anticipate. It must use a legitimate, well-respected security feature and a reliable payment method. If it is all these things, many of our repeat customers will be happy to save time by researching party options and scheduling them online.

Clearly, we expect website use to be highest among younger, internet-savvy customers. We anticipate that our senior customers will use phone and direct contacts for most scheduling and payment interactions.

6.2 Development Requirements

The What’s For Dinner? website will be developed with the technical resources of a local web design artist. He has designed websites for over 325 businesses, most with e-commerce capabilities. He is designing a database interface which will let us adjust the schedule and track click/sales ratios, and easily update menu offerings.

As the website development progresses, he will work with a local graphic artist we have hired to come up with the website logo and graphics. We are still researching hosting possibilities, but feel our needs will be best served by subcontracting out the hosting of the site and the technical back-end supporting.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

The What’s For Dinner? management team will initially consist of the founders/owners themselves, Alan and Kim Kirby. We do not anticipate the need to hire anyone else on a full time basis during the first year, because all of the services that a normal small business needs will be outsourced. These services include the e-commerce infrastructure, accounting, marketing, and legal services. We do plan to employ one part-time employee from the beginning to help with cleaning and dishwashing.

Alan and Kim have 15 years of experience in the food service and entertainment industries, as a party planner and personal chef, respectively. Until the second year, Kim will continue to work part-time as a personal chef for several couples in Plano, doing the prep work and menu planning for What’s for Dinner? in the mornings. Alan will host the majority of the parties, after having prepared test batches of every menu item with Kim. The owners anticipate possibly hiring local high-school students as sous-chefs in years 2 and 3; Kim’s experience with local restaurants has shown that these students can often do quite well, paid only minimally in exchange for professional restaurant and food preparation training. Alan’s existing contacts with local social and community groups, and Kim’s ongoing relationships with food distributors, specialty grocers, and high-end clients will all help to generate high sales from early in the first year.

Throughout the first two years we will conduct an aggressive cost analysis as to what our capabilities are as owners and with what activities we need assistance.

7.1 Personnel Plan

The following table summarizes our personnel expenditures for the first three years, with compensation increasing from $34K the first year to about $60K in the third. We believe this plan is a fair compromise between fairness and expedience, and meets the commitment of our mission statement. The detailed monthly personnel plan for the first year is included in the appendices.

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

What’s For Dinner expects strong sales, based on research into our target market, similar businesses in other parts of the country, lack of direct competition, and the experience, reputations, and know-how of its owners/managers. By steadily repaying our long-term loan and holding down costs, we will generate a net profit midway through the first year and increase net worth dramatically by year 3. Our major fixed expenses are payroll and rent.

8.1 Important Assumptions

The financial plan depends on important assumptions, most of which are shown in the following table as annual assumptions. The monthly assumptions are included in the appendices. 

Three of the more important underlying assumptions are: 

• We assume a relatively strong economy, without major new recessions. Although an ailing economy would not allow us the growth that we anticipate, we believe that it would not drastically hurt the business because the service is economically feasible. The $175 session fee breaks down to $14.58 per meal – a deal hard to beat at even a fast-food restaurant for a family of four to six.
• We assume that our market needs will be seasonal, with a decrease in sales during the summer months.

8.2 Break-even Analysis

The following chart and table summarize our break-even analysis. With fixed costs of $10,520 per month at the outset (to cover payroll and other operating costs), and variable costs (inventory) at 74% of sales, we need to bill $41,167 to cover our costs. We do not expect to reach break-even until the sixth month into the business operation.

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

What’s For Dinner?’s projected profit and loss is shown in the following table, with sales increasing from $10K the first month to close to $1.4M by the third year. We will reach profitability in the middle of our first year.

We are projecting very conservatively regarding cost of sales and gross margin. Our costs of sales are based on grocery store prices, which will decrease once we are to consistently able to buy our food in larger quantities from a food distributor. This will significantly lower our cost of sales, and increase our gross margin more than in this projection. We prefer to project conservatively so that we make sure we have enough cash.

The Sales and Marketing Expenses vary from the food preparation industry norms. Our Sales and Marketing Expenses will be to consistently maintain our advertising and promotions, while our biggest marketing will be word of mouth from our customers. We are budgeting for a high level of service from our website hosting company and payment processor, since the website is a key component of our Sales and Marketing Strategies.

 The detailed monthly projections are included in the appendices.

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

The following cash flow projections show the annual amounts only. Cash flow projections are critical to our success. The monthly cash flow is shown in the illustration, with one bar representing the cash flow per month, and the other the monthly cash balance. The annual cash flow figures are included here and the more important detailed monthly numbers are included in the appendices.

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

The balance sheet in the following table shows managed but sufficient growth of net worth, and a sufficiently healthy financial position. Our negative net worth, due to borrowed capital for start-up, makes a significant increase by the second year, and becomes positive in year three. It is common for start-up businesses to have a negative net worth their first few years.

The monthly estimates are included in the appendices.

8.6 Business Ratios

Business ratios for the years of this plan are shown below. Industry profile ratios based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 2099, Food Preparation, are shown for comparison.

The following table outlines some of the more important ratios from the Food Preparation industry. The final column, Industry Profile, details specific ratios based on the industry as it is classified by the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code, 2099.

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A SAMPLE BUSINESS PLAN FOR SMALL FOOD BUSINESSES

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