Business Plan Alexis Byrd, Michael Dean, Stephen Eanes, Lindsey Murad, and Cassie Pender
Page 2 Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3 Business Description 4 Products and Services 5 Marketing Plan 6 Promotion 8 Management and Organization 9 Start-Up Expenses 10 Financial Plan 11 Appendices 12
Page 3 Executive Summary
Whats missing from the Harrisonburg area? Xclusive is a new restaurant and nightclub that focuses on attracting college-aged students in the area of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Xclusive will be located less than one mile away from James Madison University and no more than 15 minutes away from the other colleges in the area. As of this moment, there are little to no businesses that offer what we can offer; a trendy, VIP, high society atmosphere at a low cost. Customers may dine in our five-star restaurant area or dance in our elite night club. It gives people a place to eat, mingle, dance, and have an all around good time in a safe environment. Recently, a commercial building has become available for sale, and our vision is to turn this space into Xclusive Restaurant and Nightclub.
We decided to research and survey our target market. We asked ten students at Bridgewater College what was missing from the Harrisonburg area that would make their college experience more exciting. 7 out of 10 students replied with nightlife for college students. There is a significant demand for a business like Xclusive to come to the area.
Our business will be located at 121 South Main Street, in downtown Harrisonburg, Virginia. This location is close to many of our customers and suppliers. There is plenty of parking located in the rear and side of the building, as well as across the street. The building has a flexible floor plan for the type of business we are looking to run and any changes and adjustments that need to be done are minor and inexpensive.
Page 4 Business Description Mission Statement Our mission at Xclusive is to provide a safe environment where people can socialize and have a good time. We are in the service industry, and here at Xclusive we will cater to the many aspects of entertainment and food service. Our company provides a full restaurant, bar, and nightclub. It is food and fun, all in one convenient location.
Goals and Objectives
We want to achieve a profit of a million dollars in 4 years. We want to maintain a controlled and safe environment for our customers.
Industry Analysis
Our form of business is in an industry that has potential for growth. In the Harrisonburg area, there is no other business like ours, which gives Xclusive major potential in becoming a hit. Our short term plans include bringing in customers from all over the Harrisonburg area and surrounding towns, and heavily appealing to local college students. In the future, we plan to expand to other college towns that lack nightlife, and other cities that need more businesses in the entertainment industry. As the years go by, the industry continues to grow, so we will see more competition, but the sooner we open, the more we can get a head start and get a firm foundation for our company.
Form of Ownership
Our form of ownership for Xclusive will be a partnership. There are a total of 5 partners in the company that will be putting in an equal amount of money into the business and will be receiving an equal amount in profits.
Page 5 Products and Services At Xclusive, we offer a wide variety of services. We have a full service restaurant located on the bottom floor that is open for lunch and dinner. On the second floor is the actual club and bar part of the establishment. A feature of our club that will give us an advantage over the competition is the fact that we include a restaurant, bar, and nightclub all in the same building. It is convenient for our customers, which will in turn attract more clients. Another advantage we have over competition is that we offer a free taxi service on Friday and Saturday nights to paying customers. This makes our establishment look like we are all about safety and responsible drinking. A disadvantage we may have is that other businesses may offer cheaper services. Our prices for the various goods we offer are relatively inexpensive, so it attracts our target market because there are prices that they can afford. A ticket to get into the nightclub is $10. Prices vary for the alcoholic beverages, depending on the type of drink you get, but can range anywhere between $3- $20. The food prices in the restaurant also vary depending on what type of meal you order, but prices range from $5- $15.
Page 6 Marketing Plan Geographic Market We will be marketing to Harrisonburg, Virginia, as well as the surrounding towns; such as, Bridgewater, Elkton, and Broadway, to name a few. We will also try to promote to bigger cities around the area such as Charlottesville.
Customer Profile Our target market consists of men and women, ages 18-27. We will have a strong focus on college-aged students.
Competitive Analysis
Competition
Establishment
Cleanliness
Services Offered Overall Rating (1: Lowest, 5: Highest) Brooklyn Caf Satisfactory Food and Drink, Alcohol, Hookah 3 Firetop Bar and Grill Average Food and Drink, Alcohol, Hookah, Dance floor
4 Bourbon St. on Main Average Food and Drink, Alcohol, Dance floor 4
Above Average Food and Drink, Alcohol, Dance floor, Taxi service
5
Page 7 Promotional Budget
To promote our business, we will spend a total of $13,000. A total of $5,000 will go towards advertising, and another $5,000 will go towards signage. For printed advertising, we will use a total of $3,000. We will continue to use this seem amount for every year our business is running. The total may fluctuate up and down a couple hundred depending on the prices of the products and services we would require.
Pricing
For our prices of the food and beverages we sell, they will be sold at the average price. We dont want people to think we are overpriced, even though our quality is good. We want our customers to see that they can get quality food and services for a reasonable price. To get into the nightclub, it is a bit more expensive than other clubs, but we will offer many promotional nights and deals where there will be times when the tickets are cheaper. We believe that price is not the main competitive factor when it comes to businesses like ours. Customers look for quality along with price. When they see how Xclusive caters to their many needs, they will not worry about the prices they pay.
Proposed Location
Location is very important in having the type of business we will be running. Since we are mainly pushing a nightclub here at Xclusive, it is essential that our business is in a convenient location that is within a close distance of our target market. Location is everything when starting a business. At our proposed location, there is convenient parking on site. This allows our customers to continue to have the feel that we have everything you could possibly need on site. This adds to our overall image, because it is our goal to have a place where people can come for their complete entertainment.
Distribution Channels
We sell our products through the retail distribution channel. Our products are sold directly to our customers.
Page 8 Promotion We will get the word out by having radio commercials, billboard advertisements, and flyers. We hope to permeate the market with the name Xclusive. As far as advertising goes, we will use methods like the radio at first, because it is cheaper and it will be projected to our target market, which are college age students. We will run our advertisements daily, but not so often that people get annoyed with our commercials. Some stations that we will broadcast our commercials on are, 100.7, 88.7, 93.7, and 93.1. Later we will move on into television commercials a couple months after opening, to broaden our potential customer outreach even more. At the proposed location for Xclusive in Harrisonburg, Virginia, we will purchase the building. It is located at 121 South Main Street, in downtown Harrisonburg. We want our customers to see our company as a safe place that they can go to have fun and meet new people. Our image should be one of quality and high class, but at an affordable price. Some of the competition that we will experience in the Harrisonburg area are hookah bars that have restaurants like the Brooklyn Caf and Lounge, and Isis Caf. Other competition we will face are the many local restaurants and bars, like the Bourbon St. on Main Restaurant and Firetop Bar and Grill, that may have longer hours than our business. It is better that the competition is not close to Xclusive because that gives our business the chance to stand alone and be the only option for customers when they come to our restaurant and nightclub.
Page 9
Management & Organization Since Xclusive is run by a partnership that includes 5 members, we have formed a board of directors that oversees the running and management of the business. Our managers will be in charge of the day to day business. They will oversee other employees including the hosts/hostesses, servers, cooks, bartenders, bouncers, and security personnel. The managers will bring their leadership and organizational skills along with creativity to Xclusive. We will have at least 3 managers that are capable of leading the task force.
Management Positions
Line Manager- They will take care of the financial aspects of the business. They will work around 40 hours a week. Staff Managers- They will be in charge of the other employees in the business including the servers, hosts, cooks, and busboys. They will work approximately 40 hours a week.
Owners Alexis Byrd , Lindsey Murad, Stephen Eanes, Michael Dean, Cassie Pender Line Manager Staff Managers Servers Bartenders Busboys Cooks Hosts/ Hostesses DJ
Page 10 Start-Up Expenses We came up with our starting expenses by researching other businesses that are set-up like ours. After looking at what they were paying for things such as utilities and construction fees, we projected what these totals would be for our business. Each of us put $40,000 into the total investment of $200,000, meaning each of us put forth 20% of the initial investment. Also, we have a $100,000 investment from our families. For more financial back-up, we took out a loan of $250,000 from BB&T. We aim to pay off this loan within no more than 4 years. For more of our start-up expenses, please refer to our Start-Up Expenses statement in Appendix A.
Page 11 Financial Plan The financial plan consists of projected income statement of three years, a projected cash flow statement of three years, and a projected balance sheet. Together, they create a reasonable estimate of our companys financial future.
Projected Income Statement For information on our income statement, please refer to our Income Statement in Appendix B.
Projected Cash Flow Statement For information on our cash flow statement, please refer to our Cash Flow of Operations in Appendix C.
Projected Balance Sheet For information on our balance sheet, please refer to our Balance Sheet in Appendix D.