Food Truck of Covte - Business Plan Example

Business Plan Executive Summary This report intends to draw a business plan for Covte in establishing a food truck business in the US marketplace. The fundamental factors that have been taken into concern for the proposed business include its key success factors, mission, marketing strategy, industry analysis, competitive comparison and finance among others. It is projected that the start-up food truck business may attain satisfactory results in the initial years of its operations through considering the above discussed important factors effectively. Objectives In order to establish a business efficiently, there lays the requirement of identifying its short or long-term objectives. In this similar context, the prime objective of Covte will be delivering exceptional quality of foods and/or services to the US customers, resulting in enhancing their customer satisfaction level at large. Apart from this, the other objective of the start-up business will be to raise brand loyalty and maintain long-term sustainability in this competitive business setting (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). Mission The mission of Covte will be to become one of the preferred choices of the street-food lovers in terms of offering them with quality and fresh food items at affordable price. Keys to Success There often lay certain key factors that require to be taken into concern by any start-up business in order to attain success for long-term. It is worth mentioning in this similar concern that the key factors comprise identifying the targeted customers as well as business markets, determining the nature of the respective products and/or services, adopting effective strategies in developing products and/or services and mitigating business risks among others (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). These factors will also be considered as key success criteria for the start-up food truck business of Covte. Company Summary Generally, company summary includes the history of a firm and number as well as quality of its human, financial and physical resources. Apart from this, it also signifies determining organizational and management structure along with evaluating current and past performance of a firm. In relation to Covte, it will perform varied operational functions in food beverage segment. Specially mentioning, in order to perform its diverse operational functions, the business will need certain amount of larger vehicles through which it serve huge figure of US consumers or the street-food lovers. In addition, the business will also need sufficient manpower and financial strength in order to attain maximum profitability in the form of attracting customers (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). Company Location and Facility In order to establish a business, it is required to select a location from the available various alternatives. In this regard, Covte will need to choose such a location wherein there exist numerous potential buyers. These locations can be office parks, shopping malls, sports venues and popular tourist locations among others. Apart from this, it may select its location according to the availability of the valuable resources. While performing the operational functions, the business will require considering whether the vehicle will operate throughout the metropolitan area wherein parking is allowed by the responsible legal authority of the nation (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). Company Ownership/Management In order to execute a business properly, the aspects like ownership and management might play an imperative role. In terms of ownership, the legal structure of Covte will be based on sole proprietorship. It is worth mentioning that the prime management responsibilities will be mainly handled by the sole proprietor himself/herself along with employing other staff members who will be held liable towards performing other business operations like serving food items to the consumers and maintaining stocks among others (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). Product and/or Service Description With regards to prepare a business plan for Covte, it is necessary to focus on maintaining quality, taste and standard of varied food items that will be served to the street-food lovers. This might aid the business to gain extensive level of profitability and attain superior competitive position as compared to others. It will be vital to mention in this similar concern that the food truck business will offer certain fresh and popular food items including coriander-braised duck, mint, pickled cucumbers and baby beets. Apart from these, Covte will also serve certain economical dishes such as maple-braised pork belly, cornmeal waffle, fried egg and braising jus among others. Moreover, in terms of service, the business will focus on offering the above stated food items with maintaining the hygiene factor (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). Competitive Comparison This is regarded as one of the imperative factors required to be considered at the time of starting any sort of business. In relation to Covte, it will need to analyse the competitive position prevailing in the similar industry, which would in turn will help the business to determine its strengths along with weaknesses. It can be apparently observed that the number of street-food lovers and the mobile food trucks along with non-mechanised carts are rising rapidly in the US that clearly demonstrates the competitive scenario prevailing in this sector. Thus, Covte will need to analyse this competitive setting and adopt strategies accordingly to sustain in this competitive business setting (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). Use of Technology Technology can play an imperative role for Covte to enlarge its customer base and gain maximum profitability. Specially mentioning, an effective integration of advanced technological tools will enable to streamline communication system of the business and gain a large number of potential buyers across different target locations. In order to strengthen the number of potential customers’ group, the business will incorporate an advanced technology based internet facility for acquiring information about different events taking place in the target locations. Moreover, the deployment of internet facility will also facilitate the business to communicate the target groups about the newly developed products and/or services and boost sales across the predetermined business locations (Weber, 2012). In this regard, it is projected that incorporating certain social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn among others may enhance the communication practice of Covte at large. The strategy of involving social media networks may also enable the business to promote wide range of food items to the potential buyers. Future Services or Products At the initial or start-up stage, the primary focus of Covte will be attracting children and young adults through providing them with quality food items including snacks, baked foods and tastier desserts. These food items will certainly generate a greater interest to the potential customers, resulting in facilitating the business to enlarge its customer base at large. After obtaining the predetermined business goals at the start-up stage, the food truck business will include diverse group of targeted consumers irrespective of demographics. In this regard, the future products and/or services of the start-up food truck business will include the offering of wide variety of food items including soft drinks, fruit juices along with burgers, hotdogs, fries and other related food items (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). Market Analysis Summary In order to establish a strong brand position in the US food truck business sector, the selection of target market is one of the primary considerations for any entrepreneur while setting up a new business. In this regard, New York City (NYC) will be selected as the potential target market for Covte. According to the recent statistics, there lays the presence of more than 110 numbers of mobile food vendors in NYC, which can be viewed to be considerably lower than the other US cities. Moreover, the density of population in response to the number of mobile food vendors in NYC can also be taken into concern as a major influential factor for the proposed food truck business (Willett, 2014). The following table depicts the recent statistics of the mobile food vendors persisting within different cities of the US. Source: (Willett, 2014) Industry Analysis It can be apparently observed that NYC includes a number of mobile food vendors operating by different food processing companies. It is worth mentioning in this similar concern that in excess of 91% of revenue is earned by the industry from the food items offered by the street vendors. In relation to the present business scenario prevailing within NYC, the street vendors are likely to offer 3-4 items in different high traffic locations. Therefore, the strategy of selling a wide variety of food items in different locations such as shopping centres, parking lots and daily markets can enable Covte to get reach to extensive potential group of consumers (Ehrlich, 2014). Marketing Strategy The marketing strategy of Covte will include a major set of attributes, enable it to increase greater customer awareness while offering different food items to the customers. In this regard, an effective marketing strategy has been developed for the start-up food truck business by taking into concern the aspects including pricing, promotion and distribution decisions. The diverse variables associated with the marketing strategy for start-up food truck business have been discussed in the following. Price A value based pricing strategy will be implemented for the products that are to be served to the customers. This pricing strategy will certainly enable Covte to gain value by offering products in accordance with maintaining quality level. It is anticipated that the aforesaid pricing strategy will help the business to attract huge figure of potential consumers. Promotion In order to build a sustainable position, the start-up food truck business i.e. Covte need to incorporate certain effective promotional tools that can enable it towards rapidly capturing the targeted business markets. In this regard, the use of varied social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace among others would generate greater customer awareness regarding varied offerings of the business. Distribution In relation to the proposed start-up food truck business of Covte, the distribution process will mainly entail a direct selling technique targeting locations including shopping centres, educational institutions, parks and tourist venues across NYC. The distribution strategy will prove to be quite noteworthy in terms of generating interests about the varied food items into the minds of the consumers. An appropriate selection of spots and locations in the city will further enable the food truck business to obtain huge figure of potential buyers and help it to attain superior competitive position. In addition to the aforesaid marketing strategies for the proposed plan of Covte, ensuring the deliverance of quality based services to each individual consumer can make the business to attain its predetermined goals. Specially mentioning, the services to be delivered to the customers will also focus on building effective customer relationship by analysing their changing food habits and respective preferred choices. Service/Product Support The primary supports required for the product and/or service of the start-up food truck business i.e. Covte will be characterised into few major categories including finance, technology, research and development and human resource. In the context of finance, the business of food-truck will be funded in accordance with the demand and changing trend of the business market. The competitive environment along with changing taste and preferences of the customers will also be considered while providing primary support to the proposed business. In this similar context, the process of deploying advanced technological tools in the context of product development or promotion of products in the target market can also be a major support for food truck business towards stimulating growth from its start-up stage. Nevertheless, the strategy of conducting effective research and development (R&D) of products along with the delivery process would also be a major support for the business. In this context, the process of conducting R&D with respect to quality along with tastes and preferences of the target consumers can be a major support for the business (Entrepreneur Media Inc, 2012). Sales Strategy The sales plan of Covte will basically focus on performing direct sales. The strategy of conducting direct sales in terms of transporting food items will enable the proposed business of food-truck to provide quality based food s and services to each individual or group of consumers. Moreover, the sales strategy of the proposed business will also emphasise generating greater customer awareness within the marketplaces of NYC. In this process, the involvement of social media and local media will play a decisive role for the start-up food truck business to successfully boost its annual sales figures (Myrick, 2012). Financial Plan The projected profit and loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow and business ratios along with benchmarks for 1st year of the operations with respect to Covte have been portrayed in the following. Projected Profit & Loss Statement for the 1st Year Projected Balance Sheet for the 1st Year Projected Cash Flow for the 1st Year Projected Business Ratios and Benchmarks for the 1st Year References Ehrlich, T. (2014). Mobile food vendors. Retrieved from http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/sbdcnet-connections-issue-55-mobile-food-vendors Entrepreneur Media Inc. (2012). Food truck business. United States of America: Entrepreneur Press. Myrick, M. (2012). Running a food truck. Canada: John Willey & Sons. Weber, D. (2012). The food truck handbook: Start, grow, and succeed in the mobile food business. Canada: John Willey & Sons. Willett, M. (2014). Step aside, New York - Orlando Is Americas food truck capital. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.in/Step-Aside-New-York--Orlando-Is-Americas-Food-Truck-Capital/articleshow/35220415.cms Read More