Diner Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory
The Diner Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a Diner business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.
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Diners are one of the most popular types of eateries within the United States. Their expansive menus couple coupled with the fact that they are usually open 24 hours a day allow these businesses to maintain substantial profitability in any economic climate. The food that is often served diners is usually considered to have a low pricing point, and as such – their cuisine and fare is considered of affordable even during times of economic recession. Additionally, many diners strategically placed their location on major traffic highways to ensure that travelers and passersby will stop into the facility in order to get something to eat. One of the nice things about owning and operating a diner is that the margins associated with this type of cuisine are typically much higher than that of a traditional restaurant. This is primarily due to the fact that these businesses specialize in serving a number of breakfast cuisines as well as burgers, chops, and other high inventory turnover foods. As such, these businesses typically have gross margins of approximately 65% to 80% depending on the type of food being offered. Also, popular beverages such as coffee carry significant gross margins which allow these businesses to fully satisfy any underlying financial or debt obligation is associated with this type of eatery. Diners have been extremely popular over the past 75 years, and it will continue to be in the foreseeable future. These eateries are often popular meeting places for younger people who frequently stay out late.
Given the high gross margins, substantial tangible asset base, and highly predictable streams of revenue – almost all financial institutions are willing to put up at least 80% of the needed capital in order to launch this type of business. It should be expected that the entrepreneur starting a new diner will be required to make a 10% to 20% capital injection which will primarily be used for working capital purposes as well as for inventory. Of course, a diner business plan is going to be required and this document should feature a three year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, and business ratios page. Industry-standard numbers regarding the restaurant industry should be included as well.
As it relates to industry research, diners and restaurants generate approximately $720 billion of revenue per year and provide jobs to nearly 15 million Americans. Last year alone, more than $150 billion of payroll was issued to employees in the industry.
Beyond the anticipated financial results of the business, the business plan should include a full demographic analysis outlining the population size, population density, annual household income, annual median family income, and have an additional specific focus on the number of cars that passed by the anticipated facility on a day-to-day basis. If the diner is located in a area where there is a lot of tourism traffic, and an analysis of how many people come to the area on a yearly basis should be included as well. This will help determine the anticipated revenues will be generated on a monthly basis. If this is a seasonal business than a specific consideration should be included as well as to how the diner will handle any decline in revenue during off-peak seasons.
A diner marketing plan should be developed and included as part of the overall business planning package. This marketing plan should take a multipronged approach given that many people will one see the signage of the diner from the road and to be required to have an online presence in order to properly allow individuals to quickly find the eatery. An online presence is of special importance to the diner given that many people use their phones and other mobile devices while traveling to locate local and regional eateries. As such, the diner is going to need to have an expansive website that showcases the menu, pricing, location information, hours of operation, and how to quickly find the diner while traveling.
Some diners and restaurant owners have gone as far as developing individual mobile applications allow people to find the location from a specific mobile based application. This is a popular trend among major restaurant chains and it may not always be fully applicable to a small scale independently owned and operated diner. Beyond an online marketing campaign, a broad-based print advertising campaign should be developed as well. This includes distribution of print flyers, newspaper ads, and hosting local events at the diner so that people become familiar with the location and its offerings. Approximately 2% to 3% of the aggregate revenues generated by this type of restaurant will be allocated towards marketing and advertising expenditures. Once established, the diner entrepreneur may decline these expenditures somewhat as people within the local and regional market become familiar with the location. One of the most important aspects to a diners marketing operations is to have substantial roadside signage so that people are aware of the location as they passed by.
Many diners will also maintain a strong presence on social media platforms such as FaceBook, twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google+ in order to generate interest about the business and its offerings. It should be noted that many social media platforms have functionality that allows people to have reviews on their page. As such, over a significant period of time these reviews can drastically help a business increase the conversion rate from people seeing the page to people actually go into the diner. This is going to be one of the common trends that is going to be applied to most restaurants and eateries moving forward – and so it’s important to maintain and update these social media pages on a frequent basis. Additionally, once a large following his has been developed and the owner of the diner can easily disseminate specialized deals and discounts as early exhibits operations. This is especially true for diner offers alcoholic beverages and happy hours given that many people look for these special deals on a regular basis.
A diner SWOT analysis should be developed as well. As it relates to strengths, these businesses are almost always able to remain profitable and their gross profits are significantly higher than that of a traditional sit down restaurant. The startup costs are considerably moderate and usually have a range of anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million depending on whether or not real estate is going to be acquired or developed in conjunction with this business.
For weaknesses, the underlying operating expenses of a diner – especially one that operates on a 24 hour basis – are significantly high. Utility cost as well as employee costs need to be maintained at all times in order to ensure that the business remains profitable even during down hours. However, this risk is somewhat ameliorated by the fact that most diners operate with very high inventory turnover. As such, issues like inventory spoilage or related matters do not necessarily have a drastic impact on the operating expenses of this business.
For opportunities, one of the common opportunities for these types of businesses is that they are able to establish multiple locations especially if their first diner location has become extremely popular. This is typically the only way that these companies expand their operations over a significant period of time. However, some diners have taken to offering grab-and-go style breakfast and lunch so that people can come in and receive a meal without having to sit down at the restaurant facility.
For threats, outside of a major economic recession and competitive issues there is really nothing that impacts the way that a diner conducts business. Although automation and certain related technologies may change the way the restaurant industry conducts business – people are always going want to go to a diner for a quick and inexpensive meal.
A diner can be an outstanding small business investment as it relates to the food and beverage industry. The moderately high gross margins, moderate barriers to entry, and modest startup costs can make these highly lucrative investments that provide a significant return on investment as it relates to the equity from the owner or investors. These businesses will always remain popular, especially among young people, and they will always be able to find an audience in any market in which they operate whether it’s a small city, major metropolitan area, rural area.