Business plan - Need opinions

[alexqc]

Hey guys,

I tought i could share with you a part of my buisness plan, since there is alot of great people around here that could probably give me some great advice.

First of all, i live in the province of Québec (btw sorry for my English).

Here in Québec, we have small restaurents in pretty much every town. These small restaurents mostly sell burgers, poutine, french fries... but none of them sell pulled pork, or any smoked meat.

Since meat smoking is getting more and more popular, i tought i could start a small buisness and provide those restaurents with pulled pork, ribs, and that kind of smoked meat.

Since those restaurents needs to serve the food quite fast, i was thinking about selling the pulled pork in small package of 5 or 6 oz. So they could reheat it quite fast in hot water.

Th pulled pork will cost me about 2$/lb to make. I was planning on selling it 6,99$/lb, would you think this is too much?

Also, i was planning on selling the pulled pork "plain". By that, i mean to sell it without any sauce. I would vacuum pack it with only the foiling juice. So the small restaurents could use their own sauce.

I already cheked with the health department of Québec to see what would be the requirement. It will need some big investments, but i think its Worth it since no one is offering this product around here.

What are your tought about my small business plan?

Thanks for your help!

Alex

 

[bbqbrett]

Alex, the basics sound good but there is a lot to consider.

First off let me say I don't own a business myself but I would think before you set a price you would want to consider what other costs you might have other than just the prep costs for you. You would need to decide on how much you would need to spend on things such as travel\gas to get the product to the restaurants, liability insurance and or personal insurance. Costs of any license you might need, any marketing costs if you might need to go that route.

I am sure there are other people on here who could be a lot more helpful for your situation but those are just a few things that come to mind. Not trying to shoot you down as I really like the idea...sounds like it could fill a need for some Q there.

Also have you considered opening up your own place as opposed to just providing other places with your food?

 

[416bigbore]

Alex, the basics sound good but there is a lot to consider.

First off let me say I don't own a business myself but I would think before you set a price you would want to consider what other costs you might have other than just the prep costs for you. You would need to decide on how much you would need to spend on things such as travel\gas to get the product to the restaurants, liability insurance and or personal insurance. Costs of any license you might need, any marketing costs if you might need to go that route.

I am sure there are other people on here who could be a lot more helpful for your situation but those are just a few things that come to mind. Not trying to shoot you down as I really like the idea...sounds like it could fill a need for some Q there.

Also have you considered opening up your own place as opposed to just providing other places with your food?

Brett is spot on, LOTS to consider.

  I would definitely do my homework first, supply and demand is a big part of it. Depending on your area? maybe start out with a small portable food cart and or mobile truck or trailer? Start by testing the water before jumping in head first and realizing the water was only 2" deep!

I would definitely check into what your Province has as far as Food and Health regulation on what you are wanting to do. I would almost guess there would be some type of guide lines you would have to follow? It is food products and the risk of people getting sick if things are not right is a possibility?    

Nothing ventured, Nothing Gained!  Good Luck and keep us posted. Mike 

 

[alexqc]

Alex, the basics sound good but there is a lot to consider.

First off let me say I don't own a business myself but I would think before you set a price you would want to consider what other costs you might have other than just the prep costs for you. You would need to decide on how much you would need to spend on things such as travel\gas to get the product to the restaurants, liability insurance and or personal insurance. Costs of any license you might need, any marketing costs if you might need to go that route.

I am sure there are other people on here who could be a lot more helpful for your situation but those are just a few things that come to mind. Not trying to shoot you down as I really like the idea...sounds like it could fill a need for some Q there.

Also have you considered opening up your own place as opposed to just providing other places with your food?

Thank you for your reply!

About the travel/gas to deliver the product to the restaurant, i tought i could charge additionnal fee to the customer to deliver, to cover gas and car fee. Should i just add the delivery fee directly to the price of my product?

I've already found the price of the licence..still waiting on some reply of insurance company to know what is the cost for that.

For all those things above, i was thinking about not considering them in the price of my product. I tought i would just deduct it from my profit at the end of the month. Does that sound right?

I didnt consider opening my own place, because the main reason i want to do it the way i want, is that i could keep my main job, and do this smoking thing as a side-job at the beginning. So i would still have a good salary, and could slowly develop my buisness without beeing too much stressed about the money income.

 
Brett is spot on, LOTS to consider.

  I would definitely do my homework first, supply and demand is a big part of it. Depending on your area? maybe start out with a small portable food cart and or mobile truck or trailer? Start by testing the water before jumping in head first and realizing the water was only 2" deep!

I would definitely check into what your Province has as far as Food and Health regulation on what you are wanting to do. I would almost guess there would be some type of guide lines you would have to follow? It is food products and the risk of people getting sick if things are not right is a possibility?  

Nothing ventured, Nothing Gained!  Good Luck and keep us posted. Mike

Thank you for your reply!

The idea of having my small portable food cart or mobile truck is a pretty good idea. The main reason i didnt really think about doing this is that it would need pretty much as many investments as a commercial kitchen. I would need the buy a pretty huge truck, there would be maintenance fee, etc.

But, like i said above, at first, i would start this buisness as a side job, i would only product smoked food on command, i think it would be more safe like that.

But you said the most important thing, i need to do my homework about the supply and demand. About the supply, i already cheked with a company that could provide me pork at a pretty good price! About the demand, thats the next step i should do. I think i will need to contact every single restaurant around here and ask them if they would be interested about that kind of product. Does that sound right?

About the Health and food departement of my province, i already had a few talk with those. I know pretty much what to get as licence and everything. They actually sent me by email, some guide lines about how to build my kitchen.

Thanks again guys for your replies :)

 

[pumpkinseed]

How would you take orders and when would you deliver? 

How much lead time do they need to give you?  They won't want a lot on hand and will want to refill quickly depending on how the day's sales were.

How far in advance do you need to order your supplies? Don't forget the cost of wood, packaging, gloves/towels, cleaning supplies. Wear and tear on the smoker (depreciation) allocate money towards a new one or service parts. (Not sure what kind you have)  What if your smoker goes up in flames/dies, what is your contingency plan?

How 'automated' can you make the smoking/prep so you can turn product around quickly?  Your time is worth money.

Will you charge sliding scale prices - the larger the order the less per weight?

Do you have enough storage to keep a buffer?

Is your vehicle equipped to transport, how will you keep it cold?

Do you need a commercial vehicle license or insurance?

Would you give them terms (bill them and they pay later)? If so, how would you collect if they don't pay on time? Would you give a discount if they pay early? Net 30 but 10% if they pay in 10 days? Take credit cards?

What is the shelf life, both in your storage and at their site? 

How would you label? Handwriting labels would take time and you have to worry about reading it accurately. Labels don't stick to plastic as well and you need to make sure the ink doesn't come off.  

For competition, are there some large distributors that offer prepared meat? It will be tough to compete on price and convenience. 

Are you accounting for trimmings and cooking shrinkage in your per weight cost/price?

Do you need/want to incorporate?

Who would do the books?  What records do you need to keep and for how long?  

Do you need to make estimated tax payments?

Have you met with a business lawyer and/or financial planner yet?  I highly recommend it.  You will also want some sort of written terms and conditions that customers can sign and/or refer to.

 

[gr0uch0]

Here in the U.S., there is a non-profit organization called SCORE--Service Corps of Retired Executives. This organization provides the exact type of assistance you're seeking at little to no expense. Whether or not they extend into Canada is an unknown to me. However, you can go to their website and look around and/or contact them to find out. www.score.org is the site. Good luck.

 

[416bigbore]

How about throwing a little BBQ at your place and inviting all the local restaurant owners in your area to come over and have a sample and see what kind of interest that generates?

 Then when asked what's the special sauce is? Now you have your foot in the DOOR!