When writing the executive summary for a restaurant business plan, it is important to remember these key points:
Be preventive: “Did you know that 8 out of 10 new businesses fail?” This is a marvelous opening line to an executive summary. You wouldn’t think you wanted to reinforce this fact in the mind of your prospective lender or investor. ever, much less in the first line. However, if you are going to a lender or investor, I can guarantee that to know how is the restaurant industry. If you let them know in advance that you are fully aware of the potential obstacles you face, they will immediately respect you much more and take you and your business much more seriously.
NoBS: Get to the point. This is your hook; This is the ‘salesperson’ on the first line of your plan. In short, don’t fill this up with a lot of nonsense and BS You need to grab this person’s attention now if you want them to read one more page. Tell the prospective lender or investor exactly who you are, what you are proposing, and why.
Person to person: Your lender or investor is a person. When writing your restaurant business plan, you should always remember that there is a place for fundamental facts and there is a place for You. In the world of small businesses, are the business. This means that ultimately the lender or investor is investing in You. Use a restaurant business plan template or sample, but make sure you’re writing your plan and not just filling in the blanks.
Call to action: If you’ve ever blinked in the direction of a marketing plan, you’ve heard the term “call to action.” Because your executive summary is the ‘seller’ of your business plan, it must include a call to action. Preferably, this should be the last sentence of your executive summary. Should literally tell your lender or investor to continue reading your plan. The Ideal Call-to-Action also contains a small teaser that will further draw the reader to to wish Read more.
Save the best for last: Most people make the mistake of trying to write the executive summary first. Most business plan software programs also ask you to follow this path. If you write the Executive Summary first, it forces you to mentally write the rest of the business plan to fit the Executive Summary, instead of getting it right and writing the Executive Summary to fit the business plan.