Business

plan
1.0 Executive Summary

- Problem
- Solution
- Market
- Competition
- Financial Highlights

2.0 Products and Services

- Roadmap/Future Plans

3.0 Market Analysis Summary

- Market Segmentation
- Target Market Segment Strategy
Market Needs
Market Trends
Market Growth
- Key Customers
- Future Markets
- Competition
Competitors and Alternatives
Our Advantages

4.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary

- Marketing Plan
- Basic Customer Experience
- Location and Facilities
- Technology
- Equipment and Tools
- Milestones

5.0 Company and Management Summary

- Organizational Structure
- Personnel Plan
- Company History and Ownership

6.0 Financial Plan

- Capex
- Opex
- Income
- Weekly Plan

7.0 Appendix

 Executive Summery

Problem:

University students, teens, and book lovers, always need a place to go, a place to feel comfortable.
But with most cafes and libraries today there is always something going on, that and it can be too
much of a crowd for people handle. Studying in the student life is one of the most important and
common past times, however there are only so few places where others can go if they need the
resources, food, and a comfortable environment. Individual places for one of these factors can be
found but all together is exceedingly rare in Singapore.

Solution:

I propose that, in order to meet all of these needs, we open a book caf known as Booked Out. This
caf will provide good food and drinks at a decent cost, a comfortable environment, and book
resources needed for those school assignments. But studying and student life isnt all we are focused
on, providing a safe space for anyone to relax and enjoy themselves in is important. This is why my
caf offers a large variety of books (fiction and non-fiction), free internet, and cheap movies for
anyone to enjoy during their weekend nights.

Market:

Booked Out is mostly focused on University and teenage students as our main market, however
there are also more. By placing our caf in Harbour Front/West Coast, then people everywhere can
access it without too many problems (with the right amount of advertising of course). And based on
our survey to our target market we can see that people are generally very interesting in the idea of a
book caf.

Competition:

There are many cafes in Singapore, some of them are also book cafes like my own such as the
Reading Room and The Book Caf. The each have their own qualities that help them draw in
business but with the new trend of caf hopping this can really break their customer loyalty. While
these cafes have the same general basis as my caf, we have a more direct target market and an
easy location for them to get to. Plus the addition of some extra features such as cheap movie nights
on the weekends that everyone can enjoy themselves.

Financial Highlights:

On a weekly basis, once I have a steady customer flow, I should be earning around $10,619.00. This
is a great start and as the more customers Booked Out gets, the higher the profit will be. This money
will be saved for future cafes however, for the money that isnt used for natural living costs, the rest
will go to this current caf. It will be used to buy many things to help improve its reputation and
provide more comfort for our customers.

Products and Services

Booked Out is a caf that will provide customers with the opportunity to relax, study, and
enjoy their time in an environment that is safe and welcoming (look to Appendix 2). This caf will
give customers high quality food, ranging from 8-17 dollars that will suit everyones tastes. While
this is a higher price than our average competitor, we do have a higher customer flow due to our
positioning in the West Coast area, located near the universities and Sentosa. University students
will have this space to study for their classes while being able to find materials that they need for
their work. And unlike the average library, food and drink will be sold and consumed within the
store. This will also allow students to have easy access to the MRT station, however, not as many bus
stations will be as close. The caf will also provide free internet since this is a very important detail
that people look for when finding a nice place to relax, especially university students. The methods
of payment are presented in the Basic Customer Experience section of this document.

Our company has three unique qualities that it will be introducing in the caf. In order to
draw in a larger customer flow, such as families, couples, group gatherings, etc., every Friday night
the caf will be playing a movie. The caf section will still be open, so people can order drinks, and
the movie will be played on the second floor of the caf. This will be a huge advertising opportunity
that will increase sales and allow us to receive a higher reputation. Unlike cinemas, these will be
significantly less expensive and much more relaxing for people with anxiety towards large crowded
spaces.

The next addition to the caf will be themed book days, celebrating the creation of a
successful and popular book (i.e. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Narnia, Pride and
Prejudice, Frankenstein, The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, etc.). This will be an exciting event
that allows book lovers to have fun and communicate with other fans, making bonds of friendship
that they will always remember. The power of a book lover is extremely strong, so it is best that my
caf uses this to its fullest potential. During these days there will be special drinks and food from
these series that will be sold (i.e., butterbeer, blue cookies, Turkish delight, Wesley treats, scones,
bread, etc.) and while it will be slightly more expensive, book lovers are extremely dedicated. When
engaged in these kinds of events they will buy more than they normally would.

Finally, the books collected for the caf will not only be bought. Our plan is to have around
half of our books donated from old schools libraries, book stores, donation runs, personal gifts, etc.
This will give books a home and a larger group to be used by, and it will save a lot more money that
buying everything. For the books that are bought, an agreement has been formed between different
publishing companies and book stores that pays to have their books represented in the caf. This
will give the companies the attention and advertisement that they desire and it will fill my caf up
with more resources for customers to use.

In the future, my business aims to spread across to another country such as Australia. Once
my company has reached a high enough profit (estimated at around $1,550,000) then this will
become a bigger possibility. This caf will also be located near a university area, for example, in
Sydney a good location would be Randwick since it has the University of New South Wales.
Regardless of location, our goal is to open another shop within 4-5 years time. This will promote the
shop and draw in more customers, allowing us to create a bigger profit (if this works well enough).

 Market Analysis Summary:

Market Segmentation:

Singapore, West University and Comfortable with Variety of sweet

coast/Harbour Teenage students good food; books; and savoury;
Front region close location fiction and study

Universities: 13-27 years old Beneficial Personality: hard

Duke-NUS Med studying working, tired,
Male and
School, Sing. relaxing area quiet, book
Female
Management, lovers
etc. Relatively loyal
Student
Lifestyle:
Urban area Highly likely to
Mid-class educational but
buy
harsh


Target Market Segment Strategy
- Market Needs:
In Singapore, the demand for easy service is quite high. If we look at other companies such as
Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Food Panda, we can see that people will pay more money for lower quality
food just so that it can be delivered. This is important however, I do not plan to use this format of
food deliver since it is expensive to join and my target market are university students. Instead, I will
have, inside the caf, pre made food for people to quickly buy and move along since all customers
are important as well as their needs. However, when it comes to my target market, they require a
comfortable and relatively cheap place to stay to relax or study. So I will be focusing on these areas
rather than a speedy delivery system. Other needs for the customers include:
- Close location
- Friendly environments
- Variety in food and beverage

- Market Trends:
A major trend in my target market right now is a relatively new phenomenon called caf hopping.
This was a thing inspired by the food blogs and posts on social media in the US which has carried on
over to Singapore. Caf hopping is when people, mostly students, go to different cafes or
restaurants and takes pictures of the product they are consuming and uploading to platforms such
as Instagram or Facebook. This rise in customers allows cafes, such as my own, to gain more
business and earn a reputation that will draw in more people if the food looks and tastes amazing.
However, since this is an adventurous endeavour, these customers wont remain as loyal since
they are going to different places. This is a slight problem but the fact that even more business will
be drawn in by it means more of a profit to gain.

- Market Growth:
As more people move to Singapore for either business, studies, or better family life, there is a
general increase in its population. Because of the raise in students at schools and Universities, there
are more people that fit into my target market, thus allowing it to expand. This increase in my target
market will allow me to advertise even more since more people will see it.

Key Customers:

Customers Age Range Visiting days

University students 17 27 years Tuesdays-Sundays

Students 13 -17 years Weekends
Book Eccentrics 12+ years (all ages) Special book dates
Couples 25+ years Friday- Sunday
Families 9 40+ years Weekend

Future Markets:
A simple trade that I would have between my caf and another market would be aimed towards the
coffee business. Buying good quality coffee beans for my customers to enjoy for their beverages
would improve the reputation of the caf and draw in more profit. However, this wouldnt be looked
into too much since this is centred on the book caf not a barista/kiosk.
Another business that I would have future trades with are sales between book stores, buying their
products at a discounted price. This would allow us to fill Booked Out with more resources for
customers to choose from and at an earlier date than other book cafes. Two businesses I have
already looked into are called A World between Pages and Kinokunya, book stores that are easily
accessible and provide a large range of material.

Competition
List of Top Competitors:

- The Reading Room

- The Book Caf
- The Mind Caf
- Selfish Genre Caf

Competitive Analysis

- The Competitors

All of these cafes have a couple things in common, they aim to serve good food to their customers,
they have built a steady reputation, and they are in relatively reachable places. I will be honest in
stating that trying to beat our competitors in the first one or two years will be difficult since we will
be starting from nothing. They already have a steady customer flow and if it werent for the caf
hopping phase Booked out would have a much more difficult time advertising and drawing in
customers. While each space is different in its own way, these cafes all have a comfortable area set
up for their customers. So while we do have our own special features, we must always keep in mind
that our competitors are nothing to forget. We must acknowledge them, accept their presence on
this plane of existence, and try our best to (crush them) achieve the best we can.

- Our Advantages
My business provides a spacious and comfortable environment that is deeply desired by book lovers,
students, and young adults. Compared to my competitors, this increase in space will give customers
the space they need during their stressful lives. However, this will mean that more money will have
to be spent on the rent of the building, decreasing the pay earned. Despite this, the larger number
customers will help push back up our pay. And while this will be a new business, connections to
other companies that allow us to use their products and resources, and because of this business
alliance my company will be advertised in a way my competitors are not. Then, due to our
positioning, our reputation will be built up by university students, people that will live in the same
area for around 4 years. This will give us a steady customer flow however, it will also slightly cut us
off from other communities meaning less customers. Despite this, we can still draw in a variety of
communities with the Movie Nights presented by the caf every Friday and Saturday. The lower
prices will give other families, couples, friends, teenagers, and students a chance to relax and watch
a movie provided by the caf. This will increase the orders and the customer flow, giving us a higher
pay.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

Marketing Plan:

Marketing research: Despite the care put into this idea, there is still a major opinion required in
order to make this business as successful as possible. The view of the customers, their preferences
and dislikes, needs to be heard and figuring out what kind of customers the caf will draw in is also
important. While the above focused on the human aspect of the caf, we must also do research on
the amount of books that book stores can donate, how many books a donation run can collect, and
the average amount of reading material that needs to be bought. Another area to uncover would be
the cooking and baking materials (i.e. ingredients, kitchenware, recipes, etc.) since this is a caf.
However, through this section of the business plan we will address all of these questions and
concerns.
Here are the results:





Basic Customer Experience:

In order to clarify the treatment of our customers, this section should prove useful. When the
customer first arrives to Booked Out they will have to enter the first part of the caf, this will request
the removal of shoes and outline some of the rules there (Appendix 4). Then, before entering the
main section of the caf, they must pay these prices below for the amount of time desired:
Timing Payments
1 hours - $12
2 hours - $15
2 hours - $18
3+ hours - $21
Once these fees are paid then they can enter the main part of the caf to order food and drinks,
then sit down and read/study. If they desire to stay a longer time then they already paid for then
they can just add 3 dollars to their bill. During this time, they can enjoy the services of the caf.
However, if any damage comes to the books then the customer must pay for the book (the same
amount they were bought for). The opening and closing times are listed below:
Hours
Mondays-Thursdays 2:30pm-7:30pm
Fridays-Saturdays 10am-9pm
Sundays 10am-8:30pm

For the menu we have the basic prices listed below as well as the movie tickets:
Food average price:
$8-$17

Drinks average price:
$3.50-$7

Movie Nights Tickets price:
Child - $7
Adult - $15
Student - $10

So, keeping this in mind, we have four staff (not including me) at a time. Two of these people will be
servers and the other two will be cooks. Once the customers are greeted and entry payments are
collected then their orders will be taken and they can enjoy themselves. The staff breaks last for
around half an hour since we are mostly open during the afternoon.


Location and Facilities:

Proposed Location: An exact location has not been found yet, but the best place for my business to
be is near the West Coast Plaza area. This is close to a major university and is located nearby
Sentosa. As I stated previously, this would be the best place for the caf since it is convenient for
university students to stop by and easily go to another destination since public transport is very
close. The benefits of being nearby by Sentosa is that we have a large amount of customers to draw
in. Sentosa is a very touristy place and this would allow people to find the caf much more easily
than if it was in Bukit Timah. It is also convenient for the workers since public transport is nearby and
easy places to eat are everywhere. However it isnt so close that the caf would have to pay the
large rent ($500,000 per month) and instead we would only have to pay around $7,000 per month.

Weekly rent: $1000.00

Required Facilities:

- Two story building

- Kitchen area

- Serving and ordering counter

- Indoor space (60sq meters)

- Lots of shelves

- Easy pathway to second floor

Technology:
Since social media has become such a big part of society and an even bigger part of my target
market, I find it necessary to have a social media page for Booked Out. This would have to be on
more than one platform since everyone has different preferences when it comes to these things, so
its wiser to spread out as much as possible. Through this and some advertising, the reputation of my
caf would grow and let everyone know that we exist. This is very important as people in this
generation are often influenced by things they see on social media, so having notifications there will
draw more people. As a wise man once said, curiosity killed the cat but in this case we dont want
the cat dead we want them well feed for and happy.

Equipment and Tools:

Capex:
Equipment Amount Price
Oven X1 $10,000.00
Grill and stove X1 $15,000.00
 Tins and Baking Equipment $1,000.00
Mixer X2 $1,000.00
Tables X20 $2,500.00
Chairs X20 $2,500.00
Decoration $3,000.00
Signage $2,000.00
Cooler X1 $4,000.00
Coffee Machine X1 $500.00

Overall amount: $41,500.00

Life: 5 years (261 weeks)

Weekly Amortized Capex: $101.53

Interest: 5% per year

Milestones:
In my business there are three major milestones that will be our key to success:
Establishing a Business Model
Developing a Marketing Strategy
Maintaining Customer Loyalty
All of these are highly important when starting a small business like mine, and with this caf
especially, maintaining customer loyalty is one of the top priorities. Each of these are still important
to have and as I have explained throughout this business plan, customer satisfaction is necessary.
However, with the caf hopping phase right now this will be difficult to achieve so the best thing
my caf can do is build a reputation from our customers to have more people visit.





































Company and Management Summary

Organizational Structure:

Owner

Head
Head Cook
waitress

Cook Intern Waitress Intern

Personnel Plan:

My plan for this caf, when it has become stable enough to make a steady flow of profit (by the third
year) is to earn around the average of 1 million dollars yearly. During the set up years, the estimated
gross profit should be around 500,000, however this depends on if the caf is run sufficiently. I plan
on working in this caf as a part timer however I will be fully in charge of the finances and any
planning required (i.e. special book days, celebrations, movie nights, etc.). As time passes, I will
become a full time worker, if the pay is sufficient, since I am the sole creator of this caf. Once this
caf has reached a secure and stable state, I will take a proportion of the savings from profits and
open another caf in Australia Sydney. I will visit this other caf for the first year of its creation and if
it goes well I may live half a year in Sydney and the other half in Singapore, swapping the two in
order to keep an eye on them.

Company History and Ownership:

This company belongs to me since I was the one to create it, however, since there are other
connections such as the bank and other companies, part of the ownership will belong to the bank.
This will help keep the caf steady and provide the support needed for the first two years of Booked
Outs existence. After this, the caf will become a stand-alone business that will provide for itself if
the company is run efficiently.

Financial Plan
Capex:

Opex:

Income:

Weekly Plan:

Appendix

Appendix 1 - logo:

Appendix 2 the reading area:


Appendix 3 the caf: