How to open a snack bar?
There's no doubt that starting a snack bar requires a lot of work, but with expert planning, you'll be well on your way to creating a profitable business venture.
This guide will give you a low down on all of the major steps involved, from choosing a legal structure to creating a financial forecast and registering your business.
We will also walk you through the process of checking whether or not your idea can be viable given market conditions.
Let's embark on this exciting journey together!
Understanding how a snack bar works
The very first step when exploring a business idea such as starting a snack bar is to make sure you understand how the business operates and makes money (which is what we call the business model).
This will not only give you an initial idea of how profitable the business can be, but it will also enable you to make sure that this is the right business idea for you, given your skills, start-up capital and family or personal lifestyle, in particular.
The best ways to get to grips with the snack bar's business model are to:
- Talk to snack bar owners with experience
- Work a few months in a snack bar already in operation
- Take a training course
Talk to snack bar owners with experience
Experienced snack bar owners have valuable insights and can provide practical advice based on their firsthand experiences.
They've likely encountered and overcome challenges that a newcomer might not anticipate. Learning from other’s mistakes can save you both time and money and potentially increase your venture’s chances of succeeding.
Work a few months in a snack bar already in operation
Obtaining work experience in the industry can be a crucial factor in confirming whether you truly want to start a snack bar, as it provides insight into the day-to-day activities.
For instance, if the working hours are longer than expected or if other business requirements don't align with your personal lifestyle or preferences, you might reconsider your entrepreneurial goals.
Even if you've decided that this business idea is a good fit for you, gaining work experience will still be valuable. It helps you better understand your target market and customer needs, which is likely to be beneficial when launching your own snack bar.
Take a training course
Obtaining training within your chosen industry is another way to get a feel for how a snack bar works before deciding to pursue a new venture.
Whatever approach you choose to familiarise yourself with the business, before going any further with your plans to open a snack bar, make sure you understand:
- What skills are required to run the business (compare this with your own skills)
- What a typical week in the business is like (compare this with your personal or family life)
- What is the potential turnover of a snack bar and the long-term growth prospects (compare this with your level of ambition)
- Your options once you decide to sell the business or retire (it's never too early to consider your exit)
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Assemble your snack bar's founding team
The next step to start your snack bar is to think about the ideal founding team, or to go in alone (which is always an option).
Setting up a business with several partners is a way of reducing the (high) risk of launching a snack bar since it allows the financial risk of the project to be shared between the co-founders.
This also allows the company to benefit from a greater diversity of profiles in the management team and to spread the burden of decision-making over several shoulders.
But, running a business with multiple co-founders brings its own challenges. Disagreements between co-founders are quite common, and these can pose risks to the business. That's why it's crucial to consider all aspects before starting your business.
To make an informed decision, we suggest asking yourself these questions:
- How many co-founders would increase the project's chances of success?
- Do you and your potential partners share the same aspirations for the project?
- What is your plan B in case of failure?
Let's examine each of these questions in detail.
How many co-founders would increase the project's chances of success?
The answer to this question will depend on a number of factors, including:
- Your savings compared with the amount of initial capital needed to launch the snack bar
- The skills you have compared with those needed to make a success of such a project
- How you want key decisions to be taken in the business (an odd number of partners or a majority partner is generally recommended to avoid deadlock)
Put simply, your partners contribute money and/or skills, and increasing the number of partners is often a good idea when one of these resources is in short supply.
Do you and your potential partners share the same aspirations for the project?
One of the key questions when selecting your potential partners will be their expectations. Do you want to create a small or large business? What are your ambitions for the next 10 or 15 years?
It's better to agree from the outset on what you want to create to avoid disagreements, and to check that you stay on the same wavelength as the project progresses to avoid frustration.
What is your plan B in case of failure?
Of course, we wish you every success, but it's wise to have a plan B when setting up a business.
How you handle the possibility of things not working out can depend a lot on the kind of relationship you have with your co-founders (like being a close friend, spouse, former colleague, etc.) and each person's individual situation.
Take, for instance, launching a business with your spouse. It may seem like a great plan, but if the business doesn't succeed, you could find yourself losing the entire household income at once, and that could be quite a nerve-wracking situation.
Similarly, starting a business partnership with a friend has its challenges. If the business doesn't work out or if tough decisions need to be made, it could strain the friendship.
It's essential to carefully evaluate your options before starting up to ensure you're well-prepared for any potential outcomes.
Conducting market research for a snack bar
The next step in launching a snack bar is to carry out market research. Let's take a look at what this involves.
The objectives of market research
The objective here is very simple: to assess the level of demand for your business and whether there is an opportunity for it to thrive in your chosen location.
The first step will be to check that the market is not saturated with competing offers and that there is room for a new player: your snack bar.
Your market analysis will also help you identify a concept and market positioning that has every chance of being successful in your target market, thereby helping increase your business's chances of success.
Carrying out market research for your snack bar will also enable you to better understand the expectations of your future customers and the most effective ways to communicate with them in your marketing plan.
Analyse key trends in the industry
Your market research should start with an industry analysis in order to gain a good understanding of the main players and current trends in your sector.
Once you've delved into the current state of the market, it will be time to assess what proportion of your target market can be seized by your snack bar. To do this, you will need to consider both the demand and supply side of the market.
Assess the demand
After checking out the industry, let's shift our focus to figuring out what your potential customers want and how they like to buy.
A classic mistake made by first-time entrepreneurs is to assess demand on the global or national market instead of concentrating on their target market. Only the market share that can be captured by your company in the short term matters.
Your demand analysis should seek to find answers to the following questions:
- Who are your target customers?
- How many are there?
- What are their expectations?
- What are their buying habits?
- How much budget do they have?
- What are the different customer segments and their characteristics?
- What are the main distribution channels and means of communication for reaching each segment?
The aim of the demand analysis is to identify the customer segments that could be targeted by your snack bar and what products and services you need to offer to meet their expectations.
Analyse the supply side
You will also have to familiarize yourself with the competing snack bars on the market targeted by your future business.
Amongst other things, you’ll need to ask yourself:
- Who are the main competitors?
- How many competitors are already present?
- Where are they located?
- How many people do they employ?
- What is their turnover?
- How do they set their prices?
- Are they small independent businesses or national players?
- Do they seem to be in difficulty or are they flourishing?
- What is their market positioning?
- What types of products and services do they offer?
- What do customers seem to like about them?
The aim of the competitive analysis is to identify who your competitors will be and to gather information that will help you find a differentiating commercial positioning (more on that later in this guide).
Regulations
Conducting market research is also an opportunity to look at the regulations and conditions required to do business.
You should ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you need to have a specific degree to open a snack bar?
- Do you need specific licences or permits?
- What are the main regulations applicable to your future business?
Given that your project is at an early stage, your focus should be to clear that there are no roadblocks from a regulatory standpoint before you deep dive into the planning process.
Once your project is more advanced, you will have the opportunity to talk about regulation more in-depth with your lawyer.
Concluding your market research
By the time your market research is completed, you should have either:
- Pinpointed an untapped business opportunity
- Or arrived at the realisation that the market is saturated, prompting the search for alternative business ideas or models.
If the conclusion is that there is an opportunity in the market to cater to one or more customer segments currently overlooked by competitors, that's great!
Conversely, if you come to the conclusion that the market is already saturated, don’t panic! The good news is that you won’t spend several years working hard on a project that has little chance of success. There is no shortage of business ideas either - at The Business Plan Shop, we have identified more than 1,300 potential business ideas!
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Choose the right concept and position your snack bar on the market
The next step to start a snack bar is to choose the company's market positioning.
Market positioning refers to the place your product and service offering occupies in customers' minds and how it differs from how competitors are perceived. Being perceived as a high-end solution, for example.
To do this, you need to take the following considerations into account:
- How can you make your business stand out from your competitors?
- Can you consider joining a franchise as a way to lower the risks involved?
- Is it better to start a new snack bar or acquire one that is already up and running?
- How to make sure your concept meets customer needs?
Let's look at each of these in a little more detail.
How can you make your business stand out from your competitors?
When you decide to start your own snack bar, you're facing an upward challenge because your competitors are already ahead. They have a good reputation, loyal customers, and a strong team, while you're just getting started.
Opening a snack bar offering exactly the same thing as your competitors is risky and potentially doomed to fail: why would customers take the risk of choosing a newcomer rather than a company with a proven track record?
This is why it is advisable to avoid direct confrontation by adopting a differentiated market positioning wherever possible: in other words, by offering something different or complementary to what is available on the market.
To find a market positioning that has every chance of success, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- Can you negate direct competition by serving a customer profile that is currently poorly addressed by your competitors?
- Can your business provide something different or complementary to what is already available on the market?
- Why will customers choose your snack bar over the competition?
- How will your competitors react to your entry into their market?
- Is the market sufficiently large and fragmented (i.e. not dominated by a few large chains) to allow you to set up an independent business, or is it better to consider another avenue (see below)?
Can you consider joining a franchise as a way to lower the risks involved?
A good way of getting a market positioning that is guaranteed to seduce customers is to join a group with a proven concept.
Admittedly, joining a franchise is not necessarily as exciting as opening a snack bar with a clean slate, everything to invent and total freedom to do so, but it is a proven way of reducing the risk of entering the market.
By joining a franchise, you will benefit from a concept that is successful with customers, the brand recognition of a large network, and operational support with regard to supplier relations, processes and operating standards, etc.
In return, you will have to pay an entry fee and an annual royalty (on your company's sales).
Joining a franchise is a trade-off where you need additional capital and get less freedom in exchange for a lot less risk. It's not for everyone, and it's not possible everywhere (franchise opportunities vary from region to region), but it is nevertheless an option you should explore.
Is it better to start a new snack bar or acquire one that is already up and running?
Another way to benefit from a proven concept and reduce the risk of your project is to take over a snack bar.
Buying a snack bar allows you to get a team, a customer base, and above all to preserve the balance on the market by avoiding creating a new player. For these reasons, taking over a business is a lot less risky than creating one from scratch.
Taking over a business also gives you greater freedom than franchising, because you have the freedom to change the positioning and operations of the business as you see fit.
However, as you can imagine, the cost of taking over a business is higher than that of opening a snack bar because you will have to finance the purchase.
How to make sure your concept meets customer needs?
Once you have decided on your concept and the market positioning of your future snack bar, you will need to check that it meets the needs, expectations and desires of your future customers.
To do this, you need to present it to some of your target customers to gather their impressions.
Where should I base my snack bar?
The next step in our guide on starting a snack bar involves making a key choice about where you want your business to be located.
Picking the ideal location for your business is like selecting the perfect canvas for a painting. Without it, your business might not showcase its true colors.
We recommend that you take the following factors into account when making your decision:
- Visibility and foot traffic: This is important for a snack bar as it will attract customers and increase sales. A location with high visibility and foot traffic will ensure that the snack bar is easily noticed and accessible to potential customers.
- Parking space, road and public transport accessibility: A location with ample parking space and easy access to roads and public transport will make it convenient for customers to visit the snack bar.
- Proximity to target customers: It is important for a snack bar to be located near its target customers, such as office buildings, schools, or shopping centers, to increase the likelihood of customers stopping by for a quick snack.
- Competitor presence: While some competition can be healthy, too many competitors in close proximity can negatively impact the success of a snack bar. It is important to consider the number and type of competitors in the area before choosing a location.
- Efficient logistics: For an industrial snack bar, efficient logistics are crucial for sourcing ingredients and supplies, as well as managing inventory and distribution.
- Storage space: A snack bar will require space for storing ingredients, supplies, and equipment. It is important to consider the availability of storage space in a potential location.
- Availability of skilled labor: In order to provide high-quality service and products, a snack bar may require skilled labor such as chefs or baristas. It is important to consider the availability of such labor in a potential location.
- Easy access to main roads: This is important for a construction business as it will make it easier to transport equipment and materials to and from the site.
- Climate and soil quality: For an agricultural snack bar, climate and soil quality are important factors to consider as they directly impact the growth and quality of ingredients.
- Adequate infrastructure: An agricultural snack bar will require adequate infrastructure such as irrigation systems and storage facilities. It is important to consider the availability of these in a potential location.
- Premises layout: For a hospitality business, the layout of the premises is crucial for creating a welcoming and efficient space for customers and employees.
- Space to grow: For an e-commerce or online business, it is important to have space for expansion and growth as the business scales.
- Demographic of local population: This is important for a transportation business as it will help determine the demand for transportation services in the area.
This list is not comprehensive and will have to be adjusted based on the details of your project.
The parameters to be taken into account will also depend on whether you opt to rent premises or buy them. If you are a tenant, you will need to consider the conditions attached to the lease: duration, rent increase, renewal conditions, etc.
Lease agreements differ widely from country to country, so it's essential to review the terms that apply to your situation. Before putting pen to paper, consider having your lawyer look carefully at the lease.
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What legal form should I choose for my snack bar?
The next step to start a snack bar is to choose the legal form of your business.
The legal form of a business simply means the legal structure it operates under. This structure outlines how the business is set up and defines its legal obligations and responsibilities.
Why is your snack bar's legal form important?
Choosing the right legal form for your snack bar is important because this will affect:
- Taxation: your tax obligations depend on the legal structure you choose, and this principle applies to both personal income tax and business taxes.
- Risk exposure: some legal structures have a legal personality (also known as corporate personality) and limited liability, which separates them from the owners running the business. This means that the business would be liable rather than the owners if things were to go wrong (lawsuit, debt owed in case of bankruptcy, etc.).
- Decision-making and governance: how you make key decisions varies based on the legal form of your business. In some cases you might need to have a board of directors and organise general assemblies to enable shareholders to influence major decisions with their voting rights.
- Financing: securing funding from investors requires you to have a company and they will expect limited liability and corporate personality to protect them legally.
- Paperwork and legal formalities: the legal structure you select determines whether certain obligations are necessary, such as producing annual accounts, or getting your books audited.
Popular business legal forms
The specific names of legal structures vary from country to country, but they usually fall within the two main categories below:
- Individual businesses
- Companies
Individual businesses
Individual businesses, like sole traders or sole proprietorships, are made for self-employed entrepreneurs and freelancers rather than businesses which employ staff.
They benefit from straightforward administrative requirements, minimal paperwork to start, simpler tax calculations, and streamlined accounting procedures.
However, the downside is that there's typically no legal distinction between the business and the person responsible for day-to-day operations. This means the owner's personal assets are at risk if the business faces problems or goes bankrupt.
There is also no share capital in such a structure, meaning that individual businesses cannot raise equity from investors which seriously limits funding options.
Companies
Companies are versatile structures suited to projects of all sizes in terms of number of founders, number of employees and amount of capital.
They are a bit more complex to operate than individual businesses with more formalities, stringent accounting requirements, more complex tax implications, etc.
In return, they offer stronger protections to their shareholders. They usually benefit from having their own legal identity and limited liability, meaning co-founders and investors can only ever lose the amount of money they have put into the company.
For instance, if things were to go south (the company files for bankruptcy or there is a legal issue), the company would take the hit, safeguarding the personal assets of the founders and investors.
How should I choose my snack bar's legal structure?
Deciding on a legal form is easy once you've estimated your sales, decided whether or not you need employees and figured out the number of co-founders joining you.
It's essential to remember that a solid business idea will succeed no matter which legal structure you pick. Tax laws change regularly, so you can't rely on specific tax advantages tied to a particular structure when starting a business.
A proven approach is to look at what legal structures your top competitors are using, and go with the most common option as a working assumption. Once your idea is mature enough, and you're getting closer to officially registering your business, you can get advice from a lawyer and an accountant to confirm your choice.
Can I switch my snack bar's legal structure if I get it wrong?
Yes, changing your legal structure later is possible, though it may involve selling the old entity to a new entity in some cases, which adds further expenses. If you want to save on such costs, it makes sense to pick the correct legal form for your business the first time around.
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How much money do I need to start a snack bar?
To answer this key question, we first need to look at the resources you'll need to launch your snack bar and keep it running on a daily basis. Let's take a look at what that entails.
Since each venture is distinct, providing an average budget for starting a snack bar is impossible.
We strongly advise careful consideration when reading estimates on the web. It’s best to ask yourself the following questions:
- Is my project similar (location, concept, planned size, etc.)?
- Can I trust where this information is coming from?
- Is the data fresh or stale?
Your thinking behind the investments and human resources required to launch and operate the business will then enable you to cost each item and include them in your financial forecast (which we'll look at later in this guide).
Once complete, the forecast will give you a precise idea of the initial investment required and profitability potential for your business idea.
Startup costs and investments to start a snack bar
Let's start with the investments. To set up a snack bar, initial working capital and investments can include the following items:
- Equipment: This includes items such as blenders, ovens, refrigerators, and other appliances that are necessary for preparing and storing food in a snack bar.
- Furniture and Fixtures: This category includes tables, chairs, counter tops, and other furniture and fixtures that are needed to provide a comfortable and functional dining experience for customers.
- Point of Sale System: A modern point of sale system is essential for keeping track of sales, inventory, and other important financial data in a snack bar. This may include a cash register, credit card machine, and software for managing transactions and inventory.
- Signage: Eye-catching and informative signage is crucial for attracting customers to your snack bar. This may include a large outdoor sign, menu boards, and other promotional materials.
- Kitchen Supplies: These are essential items for food preparation and storage, such as utensils, pots and pans, storage containers, and cleaning supplies.
Of course, you will need to adapt this list to your company's specific needs.
Staffing requirements to operate a snack bar
You'll also need to think about the staff required to run the business on a day-to-day basis.
The human resources required will vary according to the size of your company.
Once again, this list is only indicative and will need to be adjusted according to the specifics of your snack bar.
Operating expenses of a snack bar
The final point to consider when analyzing the resources required is the question of operating costs.
Operating expenses for a snack bar may include:
- Staff Costs: This includes wages, salaries, and benefits for your employees. This can also include training and development costs.
- Accountancy Fees: You may need to hire an accountant to help with your financial records and tax filings.
- Insurance Costs: This includes liability insurance, workers' compensation, and property insurance to protect your business and employees.
- Software Licences: You may need to purchase licenses for software programs used in your snack bar, such as point-of-sale systems or inventory management software.
- Banking Fees: This includes fees for business bank accounts, credit card processing, and ATM transactions.
- Food and Beverage Costs: This includes the cost of ingredients and supplies used to make and serve your menu items.
- Rent: If you are leasing a space for your snack bar, this is the cost of rent per month or year.
- Utilities: This includes electricity, gas, water, and any other utility bills for your snack bar.
- Marketing and Advertising: You may need to spend money on marketing and advertising efforts to attract customers to your snack bar.
- Cleaning and Maintenance: This includes the cost of cleaning supplies and services, as well as any maintenance and repairs for your equipment.
- Licenses and Permits: You may need to obtain various licenses and permits to legally operate your snack bar.
- Office Supplies: This includes the cost of paper, printer ink, pens, and other office supplies used in your snack bar.
- Waste Disposal: You may need to pay for waste disposal services to properly dispose of food and other waste from your snack bar.
- Music Licensing: If you plan to play music in your snack bar, you may need to obtain a license to do so.
- Bank Loan Interest: If you have taken out a loan to start or expand your snack bar, you will need to pay interest on that loan.
Here also, this list will need to be tailored to the specifics of your snack bar but should be a good starting point for your budget.
How will I promote my snack bar's?
The next step to starting a snack bar is to think about strategies that will help you attract and retain clients.
Consider the following questions:
- How will you attract as many customers as possible?
- How will you build customer loyalty?
- Who will be responsible for advertising and promotion? What budget can be allocated to these activities?
- How many sales and how much revenue can that generate?
Once again, the resources required will depend on your ambitions and the size of your company. But you could potentially action the initiatives below.
Your snack bar's sales plan will also be affected by variations in consumer demand, like changes in activity during peak holiday seasons, and the dynamics within your competitive environment.
Can your business idea be profitable?
Just enter your data and let The Business Plan Shop crunch the numbers. We will tell if your business idea can generate profits and cash flows, and how much you need to get started.
Build your snack bar's financial forecast
The next step to start your snack bar: putting your financial projections together.
What is the financial forecast for a snack bar?
A forecast is a quantified decision-making document that shows the initial investment required to open a snack bar and the company's potential profitability and cash flow generation over the next 3 to 5 years.
As you think about your snack bar idea, the main role of financial projections will be to help you decide whether it makes sense to create the company.
Building a financial forecast helps determine the amount of initial financing required to start your snack bar.
In fact, creating financial projections is the only way to assess the amount of initial financing you'll need to open your snack bar, and to make sure your project makes economic and financial sense.
Keep in mind that very few business ideas are financially viable. At The Business Plan Shop, we've seen nearly a million business start-up ideas, and we estimate that less than one in four is economically viable.
Your forecast will therefore require your full attention and constant revision, as your project matures. It's also a good idea to simulate different scenarios to anticipate several possibilities (what happens if your sales take longer than expected to ramp up, for example), so you're ready for all eventualities.
When seeking financing, your forecast will be incorporated into your business plan, which is the document you will use to present your business idea to financial partners. We'll come back to the business plan in more detail later in this guide.
Creating and updating your snack bar's forecast is an ongoing process. Indeed, having up-to-date financial projections is the only way to maintain visibility over your company's future cash flow and cash position.
Forecasting is, therefore, the financial management tool that will be with you throughout the life of your company. Once you've started trading, you'll need to regularly compare the difference between your actual accounts and your forecasts, and then adjust them to maintain visibility over your future cash flows.
What does a financial projection look like?
The following financial tables will be used to present your snack bar's financial forecast.
The projected P&L statement
Your snack bar's forecasted P&L statement will enable you to visualise your snack bar's expected growth and profitability over the next three to five years.
The projected balance sheet of your snack bar
The projected balance sheet gives an overview of your snack bar's financial structure at the end of the financial year.
The cash flow projection
A cash flow forecast for a snack bar shows the projected inflows and outflows of cash over a specific period, providing insights into liquidity and financial health.
Which solution should you use to make a financial forecast for your snack bar?
The easiest and safest way to create your snack bar forecasts is to use an online financial forecasting software, like the one we offer at The Business Plan Shop.
There are several advantages to using professional software:
- You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
- You have access to complete financial forecast templates
- You get a complete financial forecast ready to be sent to your bank or investors
- The software helps you identify and correct any inconsistencies in your figures
- You can create scenarios to stress-test your forecast's main assumptions to stress-test the robustness of your business model
- After you start trading, you can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast, and recalibrate your forecast to maintain visibility on your future cash flows
- You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck
If you are interested in this type of solution, you can try our forecasting software for free by signing up here.
Finding a name and registering your snack bar
The next step in starting a snack bar is to decide on a name for your entity.
For starters, you cannot take a name similar to a name already registered by a competitor or protected by a trademark without inevitably risking getting sued. So you’ll need to find a name available, and reserve it before others can.
In addition, you will probably want to use the same name for:
- Your company’s legal name - Example LTD or Example Inc
- Your trading name - Example
- A trademark - Example ®
- Your company’s domain name - Example.com
The issue is that you’ll need to register your name in three different places almost simultaneously, but with each place having its own timeframes:
- Registering a domain name is instantaneous
- Registering a trademark takes at least 3 months (if your application is accepted)
- Registering a company depends on the country, but it's generally fairly quick
You will therefore be faced with the choice of either registering everything at once in the hope that your name will be accepted everywhere, or proceeding step by step in order to minimise costs, but taking the risk that someone else will register one of the names you wanted in the meantime.
Our advice is to discuss the strategy with your legal counsel (see further down in this guide) and to give priority to your domain names and your registered trademark. You'll always have the option of using a trading name that's different from your company's legal name, and that's not a big deal.
To check that the name you want is not already in use, you should consult:
- Your country's business register
- The register of trademarks where you wish to obtain protection
- Your preferred search engine
- A domain name reservation company (such as GoDaddy)
If the name you want is available, you can go ahead and register it.
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Deciding upon the corporate identity of your snack bar
The next step in opening a snack bar is to look at your company's visual identity.
Your company's “visual identity” plays a crucial role in shaping your brand image. It helps you to be recognizable and to stand out from your competitors.
Although you can define your visual identity yourself, it is generally advisable to call on the services of a designer or marketing agency to achieve a professional result.
At a minimum, you will need to define the following elements:
- Logo
- Brand guidelines
- Business cards
- Website theme
Logo
Your snack bar's logo allows others to quickly identify your company. It will be used on all your communication media (website, social networks, business cards, etc.) and official documents (invoices, contracts, etc.).
In addition to its design, it's important that your logo is available in a variety of colors, so that it can be seen on all media (white, dark background, etc.).
Brand guidelines
Having brand guidelines enables you to maintain consistency in formatting across all your communications media and official documents.
Brand guidelines define the font (family and size), design and colours used by your brand.
In terms of fonts, for example, you may use Roboto in size 20 for your titles and Lato in size 14 for your texts.
The colours used to represent your brand should generally be limited to five:
- The main colour,
- A secondary colour (the accent),
- A dark background colour (blue or black),
- A grey background colour (to vary from white),
- Possibly another secondary colour.
Business cards
Designing business cards for your snack bar is a must, as they will allow you to communicate your contact details to your customers, suppliers, partners, potential recruits, etc.
In principle, they will include your logo and the brand guidelines that we mentioned above.
Website theme
In the same way, the theme of your snack bar website will be based on your logo and the brand guidelines we mentioned above.
This involves defining the look and feel of your site's main graphic elements:
- Buttons,
- Menus,
- Forms,
- Banners,
- Etc.
Understanding the legal and regulatory steps involved in opening a snack bar
The next step in opening a snack bar is to take the necessary legal and regulatory steps.
We recommend that you be accompanied by a law firm for all of the steps outlined below.
Registering a trademark and protecting the intellectual property of your snack bar
The first step is to protect your company's intellectual property.
As mentioned earlier in this guide, you have the option to register a trademark. Your lawyer can assist you with a thorough search to ensure your chosen trademark is unique and doesn't conflict with existing ones and help select the classes (economic activities) and jurisdictions in which to register your trademark.
Your lawyer will also be able to advise you on other steps you could take to protect your company's other intellectual property assets.
Drafting the contractual documents for your snack bar
Your snack bar will rely on a set of contracts and legal documents for day-to-day operations.
Once again, we strongly recommend that you have these documents drawn up by a lawyer.
Your exact needs will depend on the country in which you are launching your snack bar and the size of the company you are planning.
However, you may wish to consider the following documents at a minimum:
- Employment contracts
- General terms and conditions of sale
- General terms and conditions of use for your website
- Privacy Policy for your website
- Cookie Policy for your website
- Invoices
- Etc.
Applying for licences and permits and registering for various taxes
The licenses and permits needed for your business will depend on the country where you are establishing it. Your lawyer can guide you on the regulations relevant to your activity.
Similarly, your chartered accountant will be able to help you register for taxes and take the necessary steps to comply with the tax authorities.
Need a convincing business plan?
The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast and write a business plan to help convince investors that your business idea can be profitable.
How do I write a business plan for a snack bar?
Once you've completed all the above steps, you can start writing the business plan for your snack bar.
What is a snack bar's business plan?
The business plan is a document containing:
- The financial forecast (discussed earlier in this guide), highlighting the project's financing requirements and profitability potential,
- A written presentation, which presents your project in detail and provides the necessary context for the reader to assess the relevance and coherence of your forecast.
The business plan is particularly important: it will help you validate your business idea and ensure its coherence and financial viability.
But it's also the document you'll send to your bank and potential investors to present your plan to open a snack bar and make them want to support you.
So it's best to draw up a professional, reliable and error-free business plan.
How to write a business plan for my snack bar?
If you're not used to writing business plans, or if you want to save time, a good solution is to use an online business plan software for startups like the one we offer at The Business Plan Shop.
Using The Business Plan Shop to create a business plan for a snack bar has several advantages:
- You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
- You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
- You can access a library of dozens of complete startup business plan samples and templates for inspiration
- You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
- You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
- You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast by importing accounting data
- You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
- You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck
Interested? If so, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here.
Need a convincing business plan?
The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast and write a business plan to help convince investors that your business idea can be profitable.
Raise the financing needed to launch your snack bar
With your business plan in hand, you can tackle one of the final steps to open a snack bar business: the search for financing.
Raising the capital needed to launch your business will probably require a combination of equity and debt, which are the two types of financing available to companies.
Equity funding
Equity is the sum of money invested in a snack bar by both founders and investors.
Equity is a key factor in business start-ups. Should the project fail, the sums invested in equity are likely to be lost; these sums therefore enable the founders to send a strong signal to their commercial and financial partners as to their conviction in the project's chances of success.
In terms of return on investment, equity investors can either receive dividends from the company (provided it is profitable) or realize capital gains by selling their shares (provided a buyer is interested in the company).
Equity providers are therefore in a very risky position. They can lose everything in the event of bankruptcy, and will only see a return on their investment if the company is profitable or resold. On the other hand, they can generate a very high return if the project is a success.
Given their position, equity investors look for start-up projects with sufficient growth and profitability potential to offset their risk.
From a technical standpoint, equity includes:
- Share capital and premiums: which represent the amount invested by the shareholders. This capital is considered permanent as it is non-refundable. In return for their investment, shareholders receive shares that entitle them to information, decision-making power (voting in general assembly), and the potential to receive a portion of any dividends distributed by the company.
- Director loans: these are examples of non-permanent capital advanced to the company by the shareholders. This is a more flexible way of injecting some liquidity into your company as you can repay director loans at any time.
- Reserves: these represent the share of profits set aside to strengthen the company's equity. Allocating a percentage of your profits to the reserves can be mandatory in certain cases (legal or statutory requirement depending on the legal form of your company). Once allocated in reserves, these profits can no longer be distributed as dividends.
- Investment grants: which represent any non-refundable amounts received by the company to help it invest in long-term assets.
- Other equity: which includes the equity items which don't fit in the other categories. Mostly convertible or derivative instruments. For a small business, it is likely that you won't have any other equity items.
The main sources of equity are as follows:
- Contributions made by the owners.
- Private investors: business angels, friends and family.
- Crowdfunding: raising funds by involving a group of people through campaigns where they contribute money or make donations, often getting something in return for their support.
- Start-up aid, e.g. government loans to help founders build up their start-up capital.
Debt financing
Debt is the other way of financing companies. Unlike equity, debt offers lenders a limited, contractually guaranteed return on their investment.
Your snack bar undertakes to pay lenders' interest and repay the capital borrowed according to a pre-agreed schedule. Lenders are therefore making money whether or not your company makes a profit.
As a result, the only risk lenders take is that of your snack bar going bankrupt, so they're extremely conservative and will want to see prudent, hands-on management of the company's finances.
From the point of view of the company and all its stakeholders (workforce, customers, suppliers, etc.), the company's contractual obligation to repay lenders increases the risk for all. As a result, there is a certain caution towards companies which are too heavily indebted.
Businesses can borrow debt in two main ways:
- Against assets: this is the most common way of borrowing. The bank funds a percentage of the price of an asset (a vehicle or a building, for example) and takes the asset as collateral. If the business cannot repay the loan, the bank takes the asset and sells it to reduce losses.
- Against cash flows: the bank looks at how much profit and cash flow the business expects to make in the future. Based on these projections, it assigns a credit risk to the business and decides how much the business can borrow and under what terms (amount, interest rate, and duration of the loan).
It's difficult to borrow against future cash flows when you're starting a snack bar, because the business doesn't yet have historical data to reassure about the credibility of cash flow forecast.
Borrowing to finance a portion of equipment purchases is therefore often the only option available to founders. The assets that can be financed with this option must also be easy to resell, in the unfortunate event that the bank is forced to seize them, which could limit your options even further.
As far as possible sources of borrowing are concerned, the main ones here are banks and credit institutions. Bear in mind, however, that each institution is different, in terms of the risk it is prepared to accept, what it is willing to finance, and how the risk of your project will be perceived.
In some countries, it is also possible to borrow from private investors (directly or via crowdfunding platforms) or other companies, but not everywhere.
Key points about financing your snack bar
Multiple solutions are available to help you raise the initial financing you need to open your snack bar. A minimum amount of equity will be needed to give the project credibility, and bank financing can be sought to complete the financing.
Track your actuals against your forecast
You've reached the end of the road and are ready to launch your snack bar.
Congratulations and welcome to the fantastic world of entrepreneurship! Celebrate the work you've done so far, and get back to work quickly, because this is where the real work begins.
Your first priority will be to do everything you can to make your business sustainable (and thus avoid being one of the 50% of start-ups that fail within five years of launching).
Your business plan will be your best ally to ensure that you're on track to achieve your objectives, or to help rectify the situation if necessary.
The key to financial management is to regularly compare your actual accounting data with your snack bar forecasts, in order to be able to :
- Quantify the gaps between what you planned and what you achieved
- Adjust your financial forecasts as the year progresses to maintain visibility over your future cash flow
No one can predict the future with certainty, but by closely monitoring the variances between actuals and forecasts, regularly adjusting your forecasts and simulating several scenarios, you can prepare your snack bar for the worst while hoping for the best.
It's the only way to keep an eye on your cash flow and actively manage the development of your snack bar, ultimately reducing the risk to your company.
There's nothing worse than waiting for your company's annual accounts to close, which can be many months after the end of your financial year (up to nine months in the UK for example), only to realize that you've fallen far short of your forecasts for the past year, and that your snack bar urgently needs a cash injection to keep going.
That's why it's strongly recommended to use a financial planning and analysis solution that integrates forecasting, scenario analysis, and actuals vs. forecast tracking, like we do at The Business Plan Shop with our financial dashboards.
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Key takeaways
- To open a snack bar you need to go through each of the 15 steps we have outlined in this guide.
- The financial forecast is the tool that will enable you to check that your project can be profitable and to estimate the investment and initial financing requirements.
- The business plan is the document that your financial partners will ask you to produce when seeking finance.
- Once you have started trading, it will be essential to keep your financial forecasts up to date in order to maintain visibility of the future cash flow of your snack bar.
- Leveraging a financial planning and analysis platform that seamlessly integrates forecasts, business plans, and real-time performance monitoring — like The Business Plan Shop — simplifies the process and mitigates risks associated with launching a business.
We hope this practical guide has given you a better understanding of how to open a snack bar. Please do not hesitate to contact our team if you have any questions or if you would like to share your experience of setting up your own business.
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Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd
