Business Plan
Business Financial Plan for Sweet Tooth Treats
Baking has always been a major part of my family life, and for generations there has been infamous cookie recipes past down from one cook to the next. Every holiday season, my cookies are notorious for being the best any gift receivers have ever had. Finally, I believe it is time to make my baking hobby and actual money making enterprise. I know I have the recipe, the potential customers, and options for both retail space and an online presence. The only thing missing is the initial push to make this hobby an actual business -- Sweet Tooth Treats.
Business Start Up Plan
Product
The essentially product here is the various cookies, of different flavors and ingredients. I have several recipes for cookies, both permanent and seasonal variations. These products will be sold in both individual sales at a retail location, and in bulk for gifts online through our website. Cookies will be priced at $1.50 a cookie, with some variations in regards to size and flavors. Bulk and gift orders will receive a slight discount, making the average sale per cookie about $1.25, rather than the individual sales of $1.50.
2. Staffing Plan
To meet operational goals, several staff members will need to be available. There will need to be at least three people present in the retail location at all hours of operation. One will work the counter, with the other two supporting the orders by baking enough different flavors to cover both the retail and online orders. Finally, an office manager will need to oversee sales, deal with the accounting, and work on implementing marketing measures.
3. Business Form
The business will take on two major markets. A local retail shop will be set up that will be the basis of the operation. This will then be augmented with the operation of a full scale website that is capable of taking orders and shipping product all over the country. Websites are important not only for sales themselves, but also for an online marketing presence (Hub Pages, 2012). Together, these two elements will help generate business locally, which will focus on individual sales of cookies at about an average of $4.50 in average customer orders. The website will be more tailored to bulk and gift orders at an average of around $35 a customer.
4. Accounts
Accounts will be generated through several different strategies. Promotions are a huge part of the start up marketing campaigns. For in store locations, there will be promotions of buy 3 get 1 free, which will help promote the various flavors of the cookies, while still securing sales in house (). Online sales will focus on search engine marketing campaigns. However, there will also be online coupons. When a customer purchases on their first order, they will get an offer of $5 off their next order of $40 or more. This will help secure the goal of an average of $35 per customer for average online sales.
III. Accounting Practices
1. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
The accounting practices to be used throughout the launch and growth of the company will focus on the regulations stipulated by the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The research illustrates that these "are uniform minimum standards of and guidelines to financial accounting and reporting. GAAP establishes appropriate measurement and classification criteria for financial reporting" (Office of Financial Management, 2012). This is a standard for many service and manufacturing businesses here in the United States and can be understood easily based on several core principles that record balances, assets, and ongoing liabilities.
2. Incorporation of Changes to the Books
There are a number of incorporations that will be needed when changes to the books are made. For example, there needs to be changes to show the depreciation of assets as they age, which will prove important as the retail location begins to grow, and possibly expand into more locations (Office of Financial Management, 2012). Moreover,...
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