Why Bother Making One?
A dog bakery business plan? You may be tempted to skip this step, especially if you are starting a business from home. But a start-up business plan will make or break your bakery business.
Your start-up business plan will help get your bakery business organized and off to a good start. It will serve as a kind of road map that gives you direction and makes sure that you get to where you want to go—reaching your goals and enjoying success.
And a business plan keeps you focused and forces you to make important decisions about your dog bakery business. Decisions that will make a big difference in whether your dog bakery succeeds…or fails.
Incidentally, if you will be borrowing money to get your bakery started, the lender will require a copy of your business plan, to show them that you are seriously starting a real business.
Having a good business plan will show others that you are professional.
However, most importantly, it gives you a road map to follow for your dog bakery.
When you take the time to do it right, you’ll end up with your own personal check list.
If You Fail to PLAN…You Plan to FAIL
In business, doing your homework (research) and mapping out a plan for your business, are everything! We call the plan a business plan.
Make no mistake about this – a dog bakery business is a real business.
In order to succeed, you need to be able to compete in the business world, against established bakeries and retail stores. Having a business plan will help you create a true business—not just a hobby business.
Your dog bakery business plan
will help you make important decisions!
Making a business plan will help you get organized and it also helps you sort out what’s important and what is not.
How to Write a Business Plan For Your Dog Bakery
Writing a plan for your bakery is not hard. You don’t have to have a college degree to do this.
All you have to do is put your ideas and plans down on paper in an organized fashion. You will end up with a business plan that is now your plan for action. If you follow it closely, you will get everything important done, at just the right time!
Think of your business plan as a checklist, to help you start your business.
When I started Natural Pet Bakery, my husband Steve (who is a CPA and business consultant) made me write a business plan. I reluctantly agreed–it sounded like a lot of work. But, it really helped me get organized! I think it will help you get organized, too!
Start your Dog Bakery Business right!
Take advantage of the expertise of those who have already started a dog bakery.
This professional guide was written specifically for starting a Dog Bakery, by top professionals in the Pet Industry. Make your life easy…
Your Start-up Business Plan
Description of Your Business
What is your vision? If you were to describe how your business will look, what do you see? Is it a small business from your home? A shop with employees? Will it start small and end up big? What makes your business different or better than the competition? Where, exactly, do you want to go with it? Be as specific as you can.
Your Products
How do you know which dog treats will sell best? Should you sell natural dog bones or biscuits? Decorated dog cookies? Dog Cakes? Vegetarian dog treats?
Should you try to reach the high end gourmet customer? Or a larger group of pet parents who want safe natural dog treats?
What dog treat recipes will you use? Develop a product line that you can easily handle—not too many products (you’ll go crazy trying to keep up with orders) and not too few (Your “ product line” won’t be interesting to customers).
Marketing your Dog Treats
What will you do to advertise and find your customers? What specific ways will you use to introduce your business to new customers?
Marketing your dog treat business will be an important part of getting and keeping customers.
Your Dog Bakery Location
Deciding where your dog bakery will be (home, retail shop, virtual online) will also determine how much money you will need to spend. If you need to rent or buy a building, this will make your costs considerably more.
Your Competition
Who is the competition and what products do they offer? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What can you do to make your business better?
Employees
Will you start the bakery yourself or will you hire employees? Employee salaries are often the greatest expense for a business. Consider this carefully before you commit to this expense—especially in the beginning stages of your business. It doesn’t take too many employee paychecks to quickly use up your savings!
How Much Money will You Need?
I’ll give you some ideas to help you get your business started very inexpensively. If your plans will require you to raise a lot of money, where will that money come from?
To write your dog bakery business plan, consider each of the above points carefully. Write down details about each, and be very specific.
How will you know you’ve done it right?
Here’s the test…When you are done, you should be able to show your plan to someone else, and they should be able to visualize how your business will look—and what you will do to make that happen!
Writing your dog bakery business plan is a very important part of your bakery start up process.
To short cut all the research that you’ll need to do before writing your plan, take advantage of this guide, Bake a Dog a Bone. I’ve done a review of this start-up guide for dog bakeries, here.
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