Coffee Shop Business Plan: Plan Your Own Successful Business Today!

Coffee shops are a great option for entrepreneurs looking to break into the hospitality industry. Compared to a restaurant or a bar, a coffee business is relatively easy to set up and manage. This simplicity is a large part of why coffee shops can be found serving office workers their daily gulp of happiness across the world.

Behind every great coffee shop is an airtight coffee shop business plan. Business plans form the bedrock upon which a business is built. It's essential that you get your business plan right, as it will set the tone and the direction of your business during its all-important first few years.

If you have no experience writing a business plan, it can seem like an intimidating process.  While writing a great coffee shop business plan takes time and effort, it is a surprisingly simple document. The most difficult part of the process is keeping track of all the little steps and expenses that come with opening a business.

To help you get started with your coffee shop business plan, we've compiled everything you need to know about planning and writing your document. By properly plotting out your business plan, you'll be able to set your coffee shop exactly the way you want it.

How do business plans help coffee shops?

Opening any hospitality business comes with various costs and processes that can quickly stack up. Keeping track of what's been done, what needs doing, and how much it will cost to do is incredibly difficult for one person to manage. With a well-thought-out coffee shop business plan, you can ensure you know what's happening as it happens with an appropriate budget.

You can think of business plans as a map leading to the type of coffee shop you want to be in. By following the map as closely as possible, you'll put yourself in a position where you can survive and thrive in the coffee industry. Your business plan deeply informs your cafe or coffee shop concept so you must get it right.

Your coffee shop business plan should give you the opportunity to define what you want your business to be and the target market you want to reach. This means that you need to think through every aspect of your business and clarify your concept.

Your business plan should include your decor, location, local customer base, market research, cash flow projections, and sales and marketing plan.

How to write a coffee shop business plan

For most coffee shop owners, thinking about the various varieties of coffee beans is more interesting than writing a business plan. With this being said, a business plan is so much more than a simple balance sheet. The coffee business is full of eager entrepreneurs trying to make their own coffee house stand out from the general milieu. A good business plan will help you get ahead of all the would-be Starbucks in your area.

There are a few different ways to write a coffee shop business plan. Each requires a different level of input from the owner, and it's important that you choose the one that's right for you and your business.

Some businesses will hire a hospitality business consultant to write their business plan for them. While this is almost certainly the easiest way to prepare a business plan, as it only requires the barest level of input. With this being said, hiring a consultant can be expensive and means you lose some control of the final product.

There are also services available that will give you a coffee shop business plan template. Using a coffee shop business plan template is as simple as typing in your information into the relevant fields. While this is a very simple method, a coffee shop business plan template doesn't allow for much nuance.

Coffee shop owners also have the option of writing their own business plan from scratch. While this isn't the easiest or most time-efficient option, it does allow you complete control over your vision for your coffee shop. The nuances you include in your coffee shop business plan can go a long way to ensuring its future success.

Whether you choose to hire a consultant, use a coffee shop business plan template, or write a plan yourself, there are tips and tricks you can use to make the process easier.

Coffee shop business plan outline

Below, we've provided a basic outline of a business plan and laid out what should be included in each section. Our outline will help you build the perfect business plan for your coffee shop.

Cover page

This section is quite self-explanatory. Your cover page should feature your coffee shop's proposed name, your name, the names of your business partners, and your contact information. While you don't need to include a cover page, it can make your business plan look more professional to other business people and potential investors.

Executive summary

In layman's terms, an executive summary is a brief section explaining your coffee shop's concept.This is one of the most important sections of your business plan as it will be the first thing investors see when you submit your proposal. Your executive summary should outline your budget, business description, startup costs, business mission, and target market research.

Many coffee shops are set up as cafes with counter service and a few tables. These businesses will generally inform their plans by using generic cafe branding and cafe marketing. If your coffee shop is set up differently, such as with drive-thrus or kiosks, your business plan needs to reflect that.

Your executive summary is your primary way of grabbing a potential investor's opinion. When you write it, ensure that your ideas are well-represented and engaging to your audience. Your coffee shop's identity is a large part of what makes it interesting to your target customers, so make sure you get your vision across to the reader.

Company overview

At first glance, your company overview seems like a repeat of your executive summary. However, some differences set them apart. While an executive summary is more about the concept of your coffee shop, your company overview is concerned with the practical aspects of the business.

The overview should have all the information about the type of business you're operating (coffee shop in this case), ownership structure, and customer experience. Basically, include all the information about your coffee and food products, your location, labor practices, and hiring protocol for part-time employees and full-time employees.

The company overview is also the last place in your coffee shop business plan that will feature any conceptual information. With this in mind, you may want to include items like your company logo,  color scheme, and how you'll achieve your intended vibe.

Team and management team

Before you start hiring your team, you need a clear idea of who you need and what their roles will be. Coffee shops and cafe management require a specialized and highly trained team. Your business plan's team and management section allows you to plot out who you need and how you'll effectively harness their skills. 

Small businesses like coffee shops rely on their team, so it's important to outline the roles within the company. Ask yourself questions like, will our staff be responsible for both transactions and making the coffee? Will you need kitchen staff? Who will take responsibility for your marketing strategy, and how will they implement it? Answering these questions in your business plan will save you endless headaches in the long run.

You may also consider including information about your hiring practices, the hierarchy of the staff and management team, and any benefits you plan to offer your employees. Your staff is the lifeblood of your coffee shop, and this section in your business plan will ensure you're providing a great, well-managed place to work.

Sample menu

A sample menu section is unique to businesses that sell food and drinks. Your menu is what will ultimately bring in regular customers, so you need to spend some time perfecting this section. If you plan to sell an expanded food menu, you should bring in your chef to help draft the menu.

Traditionally, coffee shops have depended on drink sales, and even then, the menu would have been quite small. Nowadays, coffee shops have come to offer a full cafe service, including an expanded list of brewed coffee drinks, other beverages, and food such as baked goods.

Planning your menu will allow you to get an early estimate of your monthly food costs. It will also inform what equipment you buy for the business, such as a coffee roaster and espresso machine. It will also make you consider where you're buying your supplies. For instance, buying from a local market may yield better quality ingredients than what a wholesaler offers, but it will also be more expensive.

Food costs are one of the main contributors to your monthly operating costs. Getting a better understanding of your expected expenses will give you a better start when you open the coffee shop.

Market analysis

The coffee business is full of owners and entrepreneurs looking to beat out the competition. With a good understanding of other coffee shops in your area, you can give yourself a better chance of success. When you try to secure funding, your investors will often ask if there is an existing coffee shop (or shops) in your area and what your plan is to "win."

Market analysis gives you a better understanding of your local market and shows you if there are any niches your coffee shop could inhabit. Using market research, you can identify your main competition and work out a strategy to beat them.

It also shows you where to direct your attention. For instance, If you're serving a premium blend, the 24-hour diner next door isn't your concern. Your attention should instead be focused on the artisanal cafe two roads over.

Before they get into the coffee business, many entrepreneurs ask the question: are coffee shops profitable? Your market analysis You should also use your market analysis section to explore your pricing strategy and how you improve your sales forecasts. Think of it as a prelude to your full financial plan.

Marketing plan

Opening up a coffee shop is all well and good, but if your customers don't hear about you, then you'll most likely fail. That's why it's important to include a marketing strategy in your coffee shop business plan. You need to know how to express your unique selling proposition to your customers and bring them into the coffee house.

Many businesses in the coffee industry depend on word of mouth and digital marketing. This means that a well-designed website is a must, as it will be what potential customers see when they search for the coffee shop online after hearing about it.

Many coffee shops integrate social media into their marketing plan and build a good following across various platforms. As many social media platforms are informal in tone, some coffee shops use their profiles to espouse various political and social causes. This is a good way to foster a specific customer base that agrees with their mission and statements.

Business operations

The business operations in your business plan cover all the day-to-day operations of your coffee shop. This includes customer service, your choice of point of sale (POS) system, sales forecasting, accounting services, and supply chain management. These are essential processes and define how smoothly your business runs and how you interact with your customers.

This section will allow you to plan out how you approach these processes in the business. For instance, certain cafe POS systems have evolved to handle admin jobs like accountancy and inventory management. You cut your admin time in half by choosing a system like the Epos Now Complete solution. 

Choose the POS system that's right for you

Now that you have a good idea of what goes into a coffee shop business plan, it's time to invest in a POS system that will help you drive success. The Epos Now Complete Solution gives small business owners the tools they need to build their coffee shop.

Epos Now offers both retail and hospitality POS. Whether you're looking for a barber shop or restaurant POS, they'll have a system that suits you. Their systems are full of hundreds of useful features, including payment processing services, inventory management tools, and a suite of award-winning apps.

If you're interested in hearing more about Epos Now, get in touch with our team of experts below.