The Abbreviated Business Plan

Before you start a catering business it is wise to put together a comprehensive business plan. A sound business plan may become essential if you have to show it to financiers or investors prior to getting the startup funds that you need. There are many ways to set out a business plan. Products or Services: Describe what you do, and how your solution fits into the market opportunity.

Your management team doesn’t necessarily need to be complete in order to have a complete business plan. Reference class forecasting has been developed to reduce the risks of cost overruns and revenue shortfalls and thus generate more accurate business plans. In essence, here is a great way to think of superior business planning.

Enlist your management team, or for a sole proprietor, trusted family and friends, to contribute to your plan using a checklist business plan template in Excel. This section distills the benefits, production process, and lifecycle of your product or service … and how what your business offers is better than your competitors.

These documents will be placed in the Appendix Section of your business plan. If you lack business or financial education, it is never a bad idea to enlist the help of an accountant to assist with the financial analysis portion of the plan. Looking at a sample plan’s financials section can be helpful because you can see what should be included, but take them with a grain of salt.

The most important aspect of business planning (the “What does it all come down to?” part), however, is spending the time to do your research (“due diligence”) and critically thinking about these various aspects of your business. Within a business plan, your company description contains three elements: (1) mission statement, (2) history, and (3) objectives.