Develop a business plan for a viable micro-business start-up
My business idea is a van that goes around a busy place, selling unique
flavours of brownies and cinnamon buns. By having a van, it means that I
can move to where there is high demand for my products, and the van
allows me to go to festivals/events.
I chose to have a van instead of opening a shop because there is less
risk/loss. If the business does not work, and I am losing money, then I
can easily sell the van. However, if I were to open a shop, then I would be
making a bigger loss, and it might be very difficult to sell the shop, which
could mean that I could go into debt.
However, I could go into partnership with someone, which would mean
that cost would be lower but wages would be higher. It would also mean
that there would be less competition, because we are working together.
Marketing:
Target market - The target market of my business is working women
and families. I chose this target market because my products appeal more
to these type of people, as the products are sweet and sugary, and
because I sell them from a van, it is convenient for people to just come to
the van to buy the product, instead of having to go to a shop and try and
find the product that they are after.
However, if I were to take the van to events and festivals, then the target
market would change depending on the event/festival. For example, if I
was asked to sell at a music festival, then the target market would
change to probably teenagers. This would mean that I would have to
make sure that my products would have to suit a wide audience, so that I
can adapt to the audience I am being asked to sell to.
Primary and secondary research - I have completed both primary and
secondary research on my business idea, to make sure that the idea will
work.
For primary research, I asked people what flavours they would be
interested in buying, and then, when I baked the products, I got people to
try the brownies and cinnamon buns, and they would give me feedback.
Once I had their feedback, I would then remake the products - changing
the things that people said I needed to change - and have the people try
them again. I would then repeat this until the people trying them were
happy with how they tasted. This is important that I did this because it
meant that I had products that people are willing to buy, as they are of a
good quality.
, For secondary research, I looked on social media to see what competitors
I have. I found that no-one sells unique flavours of brownies and
cinnamon buns from a van, on a daily basis. I found a couple of people
like:’ The Brownie Boss’- who sell brownies at events , ‘The Gourmet
Brownie Kitchen’ - they are a bakery that specializes in brownies and ‘
The Beeston Brownie Company’ - who set up stalls and sells brownies.
None of these companies sell brownies from a van on a daily basis.
I also looked into what supermarkets sell. Supermarkets only sell basic
flavoured brownies and cinnamon buns, which means that compared to
supermarkets, I have a unique product. It was important that I looked at
supermarkets as a competitor, because they have their own bakeries that
I would be competing against, and that I can’t compete with the prices
supermarkets offer. This means that, by having the unique flavours, I am
likely to get customers that would have gone to the supermarket to buy
their brownie or cinnamon buns.
The Business environment: Pestle and Porters.
PESTLE
Political:
● Because of Brexit, inflation is increasing, which means that it could
become more expensive to get the raw materials, which would
mean that the prices would have to increase to cover the cost. This
could put the customers of if the prices are too high
● Sugar tax: The sugar in the food will have to decrease to be able to
keep the products at a low price, overwise the prices will have to be
put up.
Economical:
● Recession: This means that people don’t have that much disposable
income to spend on luxury items. This could result in people not
buying the food because they don’t have money to spend on it.
Social:
● Lots of people are into fitness and dieting, so unhealthy food like
brownies and cinnamon aren’t what these people want.
● More and more people are becoming vegetarian/vegan, I need to
accomodate to these people, so that I can get more sales and I can
widen my target market.
○ More people are also needing gluten free foods, so I need to
also accommodate these people.
