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Meal prep business plan for starting your own cooking service
Are you curious to know about a business in which you will be constantly interacting with people, helping them in their lives while generating a large amount of profit? You can start that dream business by opening a food preparation center.
To know how to start a meal prep business, read this document thoroughly in which we have provided a sample business plan of food preparation business startup named, ‘Cooking Court.’
Executive Summary
2.1 The Business
Jolie Swinton will be starting a meal prep business in Denver, named as Cooking Court. Cooking Court will be a food preparation service in which people can cook by themselves, or with the help of our chefs or can also purchase cooked food.
2.2 Management
If you are starting your business by renting a space or if you are starting in your own house, you will need to plan very carefully in both cases. So, if you are looking for how to start a meal prep business from home or outside you have to devise management plan first. As food preparation business is a business in which you have to take care of many details such as providing fresh material to your customers timely and managing the place where they will have to cook.
2.3 Customers
We are fortunate in a way that we have a very large group of people who can prove to be our long term customers. Our customers will be young, men and women who have to manage home tasks along-with jobs and senior citizens who want to have a good social interaction while doing work for themselves.
2.4 Target of the Company
Our target is to serve our customers with the best. If they want to cook by themselves then we’ll be a source of continuous help for them, otherwise, we’ll be serving them by putting in time and effort to make according to what they want.
Company Summary
3.1 Company Owner
Jolie Swinton will be the owner of the company. Jolie is an educated landlady, famous as an effective woman in her area. She has six years’ experience in managing resorts as well and a two-year experience while being a chef.
3.2 Why the meal prep business is being started
Jolie is the owner of a large piece of land and lives with just her husband and two children in that home. To indulge her in a socializing and interesting activity whilst using the space in her home, she has decided to open up a meal prepping business. This will be a great platform for her to use her intellect, resources, and experience to benefit herself and others.
3.3 How the meal prep business will be started
Jolie will hire chefs and assistants to prepare food for the customers, to bring the required things needed by customers, and to manage the dining lists and schedules, and lastly to clean the facility. To be organized, and deciding the strategy, Jolie has decided to study various personal chef business plans before actually making one for her.
The detailed start-up requirements, start-up funding, start-up expenses, total assets, total funding required, total liabilities, total planned investment, total capital and liabilities as forecasted by company’s analysts, is given below:
| Start-up Expenses | |
| Legal | $55,300 |
| Consultants | $0 |
| Insurance | $32,750 |
| Rent | $32,500 |
| Research and Development | $32,750 |
| Expensed Equipment | $32,750 |
| Signs | $1,250 |
| TOTAL START-UP EXPENSES | $187,300 |
| Start-up Assets | $0 |
| Cash Required | $332,500 |
| Start-up Inventory | $32,625 |
| Other Current Assets | $232,500 |
| Long-term Assets | $235,000 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $121,875 |
| Total Requirements | $245,000 |
| START-UP FUNDING | $0 |
| START-UP FUNDING | $273,125 |
| Start-up Expenses to Fund | $11,875 |
| Start-up Assets to Fund | $15,000 |
| TOTAL FUNDING REQUIRED | $0 |
| Assets | $23,125 |
| Non-cash Assets from Start-up | $18,750 |
| Cash Requirements from Start-up | $0 |
| Additional Cash Raised | $18,750 |
| Cash Balance on Starting Date | $21,875 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $0 |
| Liabilities and Capital | $0 |
| Liabilities | $0 |
| Current Borrowing | $0 |
| Long-term Liabilities | $0 |
| Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills) | $0 |
| Other Current Liabilities (interest-free) | $0 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | $0 |
| Capital | $0 |
| Planned Investment | $0 |
| Investor 1 | $332,500 |
| Investor 2 | $0 |
| Other | $0 |
| Additional Investment Requirement | $0 |
| TOTAL PLANNED INVESTMENT | $695,000 |
| Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) | $313,125 |
| TOTAL CAPITAL | $251,875 |
| TOTAL CAPITAL AND LIABILITIES | $251,875 |
| Total Funding | $255,000 |
Products
Before looking for how to start a food prep business, you have to decide several important things one of which is the range of services you’ll provide. The products and services decided by Jolie to be provided to her customers are:
- Kitchen equipment: Facility of kitchen equipment, kitchen utensils, menus and ingredients according to the order of customers for if they want to prepare their food by themselves
- Assistant chefs: Assistant Chef to help if one hasn’t much experience of cooking
- Homemade foods: Prepared delicious homemade traditional and American foods
- Desserts and drinks
By providing these facilities we’ll be saving our customers from the worry of buying grocery and cleaning the kitchen equipment. Moreover, we’ll be offering packaging facilities for those who want to take food home.
Marketing Analysis of Food Preparation Business
Before starting a food prep business, do quick research on the market in which you are starting your home based cooking business to know whether that market needs your services or not.
Note
In a very well-off society no one will come to your house to prepare food for themselves, and in an area where there are a lot of resorts, no one will come to buy your homemade foods. This shows that how much important it is to do accurate marketing analysis in your food service business plan.
5.1 Marketing Segmentation
After identifying the people who can serve as their potential customers, Cooking Court has divided them into groups of three to focus on their expectations out of this business separately. The marketing segmentation done by Cooking Court is given in this personal chef business plan sample.
5.1.1 Family Households: Our major customers will be the families living near to our business area. They will find it convenient to cook the food they want with the help of an assistant without the worry of buying groceries and cleaning kitchen equipment. We also expect them to buy our prepared homemade foods.
5.1.2 Senior Citizens: This category will include the elderly people who will have a chance to socialize with people while preparing quality food for themselves by themselves. It is difficult for elders to prepare food for themselves from scratch i.e. buying ingredients, cleaning them, cooking them and then cleaning the utensils especially when they don’t have any helper.
5.1.3 Young & Adults: Last group of our target customers will comprise of the young people who have a tough routine doing jobs. Through us, they will be saved from the strain of such a tedious task of preparing a meal.
The detailed market analysis of our potential customers is given in the following table:
| Market Analysis | |||||||
| Potential Customers | Growth | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | CAGR |
| Young & Adults | 32% | 11,433 | 13,344 | 16,553 | 18,745 | 20,545 | 13.43% |
| Family Households | 48% | 22,334 | 32,344 | 43,665 | 52,544 | 66,432 | 10.00% |
| Senior Citizens | 20% | 12,867 | 14,433 | 15,999 | 17,565 | 19,131 | 15.32% |
| Total | 100% | 46,634 | 60,121 | 76,217 | 88,854 | 106,108 | 9.54% |
Franchise Business Planning
5.2 Business Target
Our target is to serve our customers either by providing prepared food or by helping them in preparing theirs. Besides, the financial target which we want to achieve is:
- To achieve the net profit margin of $10k per month by the end of the first year, $15k per month by the end of the second year, and $25k per month by the end of the third year
5.3 Product Pricing
The price of our products and services is neither very high nor too low. We want our customers to have a perfect experience and that is only possible when we don’t have to compromise on prices of selling food from home.
Strategy
Great service
Great service. Good turnaround time and quality work. Thanks!
Your strategy for business to start and run your business successfully is also an important part of your meal prep business plan. In this sample food business plan, we are presenting a way to plan your business, specifically in this part we will be focusing on the methods to advertise your food preparation business.
6.1 Competitive Analysis
Our biggest competitive advantage is that we don’t have any direct competitor near to our business area. The area in which we are starting our business is more of residential than commercial, so we have a very bright chance to attract the category which we identified as our target customers. Secondly, we will not only provide our customers with space but also with fresh and cleaned vegetables, meat, dairy and whatever they order us.
Another thing that counts in our competitive edge is Jolie’s social relationships with the residents and community groups. Lastly, we will make a website through which our customers will be able to read the schedules and order the required things if they want some change in the menu we have made.
6.2 Sales Strategy
We will adopt the following methods for the advertisement of the business.
- We’ll advertise our services and products through the local newspaper
- We’ll arrange a free dinner party on the inauguration day to let people know about the taste and quality of our products
- We’ll give free service for the first three days of launch
6.3 Sales Monthly
6.4 Sales Yearly
6.5 Sales Forecast
We believe that due to our unique idea, the opportunity to socialize with groups and the facility of preparing and buying homemade foods will eventually result in increased profits day by days. Our sales on a yearly basis as forecasted by marketing analyst is summarized in the following column chart.
The detailed information about sales forecast, total unit sales, total sales is given in the following table:
| Sales Forecast | |||
| Unit Sales | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Homemade foods | 1,887,030 | 2,680,320 | 2,588,240 |
| Desserts and drinks | 802,370 | 815,430 | 823,540 |
| Kitchen equipment | 539,320 | 770230 | 1,002,310 |
| Assistant chef | 265,450 | 322,390 | 393,320 |
| TOTAL UNIT SALES | 3,494,170 | 4,588,370 | 4,807,410 |
| Unit Prices | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Homemade foods | $140.00 | $150.00 | $160.00 |
| Desserts and drinks | $600.00 | $800.00 | $1,000.00 |
| Kitchen equipment | $700.00 | $800.00 | $900.00 |
| Assistant chef | $650.00 | $750.00 | $850.00 |
| Sales | |||
| Homemade foods | $2,149,800 | $2,784,000 | $3,383,200 |
| Desserts and drinks | $120,050 | $194,500 | $268,500 |
| Kitchen equipment | $50,110 | $71,600 | $93,000 |
| Assistant chef | $139,350 | $194,600 | $249,850 |
| TOTAL SALES | |||
| Direct Unit Costs | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Homemade foods | $0.70 | $0.80 | $0.90 |
| Desserts and drinks | $0.40 | $0.45 | $0.50 |
| Kitchen equipment | $0.30 | $0.35 | $0.40 |
| Assistant chef | $3.00 | $3.50 | $4.00 |
| Direct Cost of Sales | |||
| Homemade foods | $989,300 | $1,839,000 | $2,679,700 |
| Desserts and drinks | $66,600 | $119,900 | $173,200 |
| Kitchen equipment | $17,900 | $35,000 | $52,100 |
| Assistant chef | $19,400 | $67,600 | $115,800 |
| Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales | $1,294,100 | $1,699,400 | $2,104,700 |
Personnel plan
You don’t need very large manpower to run meal preparation business, even if you are starting in your home you need just three to four persons for your help.
It is not the number of employees that is important, it is their dedication, customer care-oriented behavior and sense of responsibility which will be playing a part in making your reputation. So, you have to hire your staff by carefully testing their skills.
7.1 Company Staff
Jolie will supervise the customers by herself however, she will hire the following staff:
- 1 General Assistant for bringing grocery, and performing packaging and salesman services
- 4 Chefs to prepare food and help customers preparing theirs
- 2 Cleaners for cleaning the facility continuously
- 1 Accountant for receiving cash and managing financial accounts
7.2 Average Salary of Employees
The following table shows the forecasted data about employees and their salaries for the next three years.
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| General Manager | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Chefs | $245,000 | $252,000 | $259,000 |
| Cleaners | $145,000 | $152,000 | $159,000 |
| Accountant | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Total Salaries | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
Financial Plan
Now, when you have gone through all the steps to start your own business the last decisive thing is your financial plan. Your financial plan must include the ways to balance your advertisement and startup costs with the profits earned and the amount you have to put in reserve for if you will be unable to earn your expected profits. It is the only part of your business plan for food products in which you will need to make business continuity plan sample revisions and alterations according to the revenues you are generating.
In this meal prep business plan template, we are providing the financial plan of Cooking Court, you can take help from it, but it is advised to get this important task done by an expert financial analyst according to your finances and investments.
8.1 Important Assumptions
The company’s financial projections are forecasted on the basis of the following assumptions.
| General Assumptions | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Plan Month | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Current Interest Rate | 10.00% | 11.00% | 12.00% |
| Long-term Interest Rate | 10.00% | 10.00% | 10.00% |
| Tax Rate | 26.42% | 27.76% | 28.12% |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 |
8.2 Brake-even Analysis
| Brake-Even Analysis | |
| Monthly Units Break-even | 5530 |
| Monthly Revenue Break-even | $159,740 |
| Assumptions: | |
| Average Per-Unit Revenue | $260.87 |
| Average Per-Unit Variable Cost | $0.89 |
| Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost | $196,410 |
8.3 Projected Profit and Loss
| Pro Forma Profit And Loss | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Sales | $309,069 | $385,934 | $462,799 |
| Direct Cost of Sales | $15,100 | $19,153 | $23,206 |
| Other | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| TOTAL COST OF SALES | $15,100 | $19,153 | $23,206 |
| Gross Margin | $293,969 | $366,781 | $439,593 |
| Gross Margin % | 94.98% | 94.72% | 94.46% |
| Expenses | |||
| Payroll | $138,036 | $162,898 | $187,760 |
| Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses | $1,850 | $2,000 | $2,150 |
| Depreciation | $2,070 | $2,070 | $2,070 |
| Leased Equipment | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Utilities | $4,000 | $4,250 | $4,500 |
| Insurance | $1,800 | $1,800 | $1,800 |
| Rent | $6,500 | $7,000 | $7,500 |
| Payroll Taxes | $34,510 | $40,726 | $46,942 |
| Other | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total Operating Expenses | $188,766 | $220,744 | $252,722 |
| Profit Before Interest and Taxes | $105,205 | $146,040 | $186,875 |
| EBITDA | $107,275 | $148,110 | $188,945 |
| Interest Expense | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Taxes Incurred | $26,838 | $37,315 | $47,792 |
| Net Profit | $78,367 | $108,725 | $139,083 |
| Net Profit/Sales | 30.00% | 39.32% | 48.64% |
8.3.1 Profit Monthly
8.3.2 Profit Yearly
8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly
8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly
8.4 Projected Cash Flow
| Pro Forma Cash Flow | |||
| Cash Received | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Cash from Operations | |||
| Cash Sales | $40,124 | $45,046 | $50,068 |
| Cash from Receivables | $7,023 | $8,610 | $9,297 |
| SUBTOTAL CASH FROM OPERATIONS | $47,143 | $53,651 | $59,359 |
| Additional Cash Received | |||
| Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| New Current Borrowing | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| New Other Liabilities (interest-free) | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| New Long-term Liabilities | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Sales of Other Current Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Sales of Long-term Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| New Investment Received | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| SUBTOTAL CASH RECEIVED | $47,143 | $53,651 | $55,359 |
| Expenditures | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Expenditures from Operations | |||
| Cash Spending | $21,647 | $24,204 | $26,951 |
| Bill Payments | $13,539 | $15,385 | $170,631 |
| SUBTOTAL SPENT ON OPERATIONS | $35,296 | $39,549 | $43,582 |
| Additional Cash Spent | |||
| Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Other Liabilities Principal Repayment | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Purchase Other Current Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Purchase Long-term Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Dividends | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| SUBTOTAL CASH SPENT | $35,296 | $35,489 | $43,882 |
| Net Cash Flow | $11,551 | $13,167 | $15,683 |
| Cash Balance | $21,823 | $22,381 | $28,239 |
8.5 Projected Balance Sheet
| Pro Forma Balance Sheet | |||
| Assets | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Current Assets | |||
| Cash | $184,666 | $218,525 | $252,384 |
| Accounts Receivable | $12,613 | $14,493 | $16,373 |
| Inventory | $2,980 | $3,450 | $3,920 |
| Other Current Assets | $1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS | $201,259 | $237,468 | $273,677 |
| Long-term Assets | |||
| Long-term Assets | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 |
| Accumulated Depreciation | $12,420 | $14,490 | $16,560 |
| TOTAL LONG-TERM ASSETS | $980 | $610 | $240 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $198,839 | $232,978 | $267,117 |
| Liabilities and Capital | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
| Current Liabilities | |||
| Accounts Payable | $9,482 | $10,792 | $12,102 |
| Current Borrowing | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Other Current Liabilities | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| SUBTOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES | $9,482 | $10,792 | $12,102 |
| Long-term Liabilities | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | $9,482 | $10,792 | $12,102 |
| Paid-in Capital | $30,000 | $30,000 | $30,000 |
| Retained Earnings | $48,651 | $72,636 | $96,621 |
| Earnings | $100,709 | $119,555 | $138,401 |
| TOTAL CAPITAL | $189,360 | $222,190 | $255,020 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND CAPITAL | $198,839 | $232,978 | $267,117 |
| Net Worth | $182,060 | $226,240 | $270,420 |
8.6 Business Ratios
| Ratio Analysis | ||||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Industry Profile | |
| Sales Growth | 4.35% | 30.82% | 63.29% | 4.00% |
| Percent of Total Assets | 4.35% | 4.71% | 5.80% | 9.80% |
| Accounts Receivable | 5.61% | 4.71% | 3.81% | 9.70% |
| Inventory | 1.85% | 1.82% | 1.79% | 9.80% |
| Other Current Assets | 1.75% | 2.02% | 2.29% | 27.40% |
| Total Current Assets | 138.53% | 150.99% | 163.45% | 54.60% |
| Long-term Assets | -9.47% | -21.01% | -32.55% | 58.40% |
| TOTAL ASSETS | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Current Liabilities | 4.68% | 3.04% | 2.76% | 27.30% |
| Long-term Liabilities | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 25.80% |
| Total Liabilities | 4.68% | 3.04% | 2.76% | 54.10% |
| NET WORTH | 99.32% | 101.04% | 102.76% | 44.90% |
| Percent of Sales | ||||
| Sales | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Gross Margin | 94.18% | 93.85% | 93.52% | 0.00% |
| Selling, General & Administrative Expenses | 74.29% | 71.83% | 69.37% | 65.20% |
| Advertising Expenses | 2.06% | 1.11% | 0.28% | 1.40% |
| Profit Before Interest and Taxes | 26.47% | 29.30% | 32.13% | 2.86% |
| Main Ratios | ||||
| Current | 25.86 | 29.39 | 32.92 | 1.63 |
| Quick | 25.4 | 28.88 | 32.36 | 0.84 |
| Total Debt to Total Assets | 2.68% | 1.04% | 0.76% | 67.10% |
| Pre-tax Return on Net Worth | 66.83% | 71.26% | 75.69% | 4.40% |
| Pre-tax Return on Assets | 64.88% | 69.75% | 74.62% | 9.00% |
| Additional Ratios | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Net Profit Margin | 19.20% | 21.16% | 23.12% | N.A. |
| Return on Equity | 47.79% | 50.53% | 53.27% | N.A. |
| Activity Ratios | ||||
| Accounts Receivable Turnover | 4.56 | 4.56 | 4.56 | N.A. |
| Collection Days | 92 | 99 | 106 | N.A. |
| Inventory Turnover | 19.7 | 22.55 | 25.4 | N.A. |
| Accounts Payable Turnover | 14.17 | 14.67 | 15.17 | N.A. |
| Payment Days | 27 | 27 | 27 | N.A. |
| Total Asset Turnover | 1.84 | 1.55 | 1.26 | N.A. |
| Debt Ratios | ||||
| Debt to Net Worth | 0 | -0.02 | -0.04 | N.A. |
| Current Liab. to Liab. | 1 | 1 | 1 | N.A. |
| Liquidity Ratios | ||||
| Net Working Capital | $120,943 | $140,664 | $160,385 | N.A. |
| Interest Coverage | 0 | 0 | 0 | N.A. |
| Additional Ratios | ||||
| Assets to Sales | 0.45 | 0.48 | 0.51 | N.A. |
| Current Debt/Total Assets | 4% | 3% | 2% | N.A. |
| Acid Test | 23.66 | 27.01 | 30.36 | N.A. |
| Sales/Net Worth | 1.68 | 1.29 | 0.9 | N.A. |
| Dividend Payout | 0 | 0 | 0 | N.A. |
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