SUMMARY We will open a pasta restaurant in the centre of Bath that specialises in selling delicious, freshly made, and quick pasta dishes at affordable prices. THE PROBLEM In Bath, people are bored with the lunches on offer. There is the usual uninspiring mix found in any city and town centre. Where delicious hot food is available, customers have to sit down and often wait and often prices are much higher. OUR SOLUTION A fresh pasta restaurant that prepares its pasta daily on the premises. Because pasta is quick to cook and because sauces will be pre made, we can create each order in less than 5 minutes while also offering the highest quality lunch.
We are a team of 3 university students at the University of Bath. Food is our passion and we have all spent long summers travelling in Italy where we fell in love with fresh pasta. We also have experience of the food industry. John worked in the kitchen of successful Italian restaurant during his gap year. Anne ran a pop up in her local market selling baked goods. And Peter has worked as a waiter across a range of successful restaurants during his holidays and weekends. We will be graduating in 5 months and our plan is to launch Pasta Box and work full time in the business after university.
We have done a range of testing, focusing on our critical assumptions. We have focused testing around our customers, our value proposition and the restaurant space. So far we have validated 3/4 of our critical assumptions.
| Critical Hypothesis | Completed Tests | Status | Conclusion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cost hypothesis: | Restaurant refit will be 50000.0 Once | 0 | ||
Get Keep Grow hypothesis: | Menus distributed to local offices | 1 | Invalid | Did not work ... no one bothered to distribute them internally |
Cost hypothesis: | Restaurant rent will be 5000.0 Monthly | 1 | Valid | We successfully found several good options of available leases to open the restaurant meeting all key criteria |
Customer Segment hypothesis: | Office Workers | 4 | Valid | Interviews and observation proved that there is an unmet among office workers for our pasta restaurant. Add more here. Type here. |
Sustainability hypothesis: | Recycle all food waste for compost | 0 | ||
Key Activity hypothesis: | Design branding and create signage | 0 | ||
Get Keep Grow hypothesis: | Clean and well presented store with options for pasta and sauces displayed clearly | 0 | ||
Value Proposition hypothesis: | Freshly made Italian pasta with a choice of delicious sauces ready in just 5 minutes | 2 | Valid | Taste tests and an 8 week stint selling our product in a local market proved the demand for our pasta |
Customer Segment hypothesis: | Tourists | 0 | Unknown | We have planned tests, but not yet completed any so this hypothesis is still unknown |
We will target two key customer segments as described below. Tourists and Office Workers.
We will beat the competition by offering a superior product, at an equivalent price.
| Competitor Name | What they do well? | What they do badly? |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor Name | What they do well? | What they do badly? |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor Name | What they do well? | What they do badly? |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor Name | What they do well? | What they do badly? |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor Name | What they do well? | What they do badly? |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor Name | What they do well? | What they do badly? |
|---|---|---|
| The Bath Sandwich (local sandwich shop) | Freshly made good tasting sandwiches with a unique Bath twist at reasonable prices | Variety is limited to different types of hot and cold sandwiches |
| Pret a Manger | Healthy fast food with good variety | Limited choices of hot food and chain store means that no excitement of tasting something new |
| Little Sardinia (local Italian restaurant) | Delicious food freshly cooked | Sit down environment means eating can be slow (up to 60 minutes) and the prices are high |
The restaurant, as our premises for producing and selling the food, is critical to the success of this venture. We will rely mainly on foot traffic and passers by. Therefore having a well located, attractive and welcoming space.
We have split the operations of our business into 3 sections, Development, Engagement, and Delivery. In Development, our work is focused on setting up the restaurant. Engagement will be focused on creating demand among office workers and tourists to visit Pasta Bowl through an attractive brand, and networks. For Delivery, the key will be sourcing the raw ingredients and preparing delicious food.
| Development | Engagement | Delivery | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key Activities | Rent and renovate the restaurant Design menu and recipes | Distribute menus to local businesses Design branding and create signage | Prepare and serve food daily Source ingredients |
| Key Resources | Startup funding | Local business networks Well designed and attractive restaurant | Italian chef Contracts with key suppliers |
| Key Partners | Builders | Design agency | Recruiters Suppliers |
Our major startup costs are the restaurant rent and refit. We need to raise £45,000 to make this venture possible. Based on our projections, the business will break even in month 5 and by month 12 our monthly profit will be £42,833. Having proven this business model we will look to franchise it across the UK.
Cash In | ||||||||||||
| Small pasta | 4000 | 8000 | 16000 | 32000 | 32000 | 32000 | 48000 | 50000 | 52000 | 54000 | 56000 | 58000 |
| Large pasta | 2500 | 4000 | 7500 | 12500 | 17500 | 20000 | 20000 | 20000 | 20000 | 20000 | 20000 | 20000 |
| medium box | 600 | 600 | 600 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total Cash In | 7100 | 12600 | 24100 | 44500 | 49500 | 52000 | 68000 | 70000 | 72000 | 74000 | 76000 | 78000 |
Cash Out | ||||||||||||
Fixed | ||||||||||||
| Restaurant refit | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 | 4167 |
| Restaurant rent | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Wages | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 |
| Utilities | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Insurance | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 |
| Rates (Tax) | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
| Property Tax | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 |
| New Cost - Advertising | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 |
Variable | ||||||||||||
| Small pasta | 2000 | 4000 | 8000 | 16000 | 16000 | 16000 | 24000 | 25000 | 26000 | 27000 | 28000 | 29000 |
| Large pasta | 1000 | 1600 | 3000 | 5000 | 7000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 | 8000 |
| medium box | 400 | 400 | 400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total Cash Out | 23917 | 26517 | 31917 | 41517 | 43517 | 44517 | 52517 | 53517 | 54517 | 55517 | 56517 | 57517 |
Monthly Cash In/Out | -16817 | -13917 | -7817 | 2983 | 5983 | 7483 | 15483 | 16483 | 17483 | 18483 | 19483 | 20483 |
Cumulative Balance | -16817 | -30733 | -38550 | -35567 | -29583 | -22100 | -6617 | 9867 | 27350 | 45833 | 65317 | 85800 |
| Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 | Month 5 | Month 6 | Month 7 | Month 8 | Month 9 | Month 10 | Month 11 | Month 12 |
As a team, running a business that is financially as well as socially and environmentally sustainable is very important to us. Therefore we will pay all staff a living wage and a secure job. Environmentally, we know that the food industry creates huge waste. Therefore we will minimise this impact from startup. We will not use any disposable plastic in our business. And we will recycle all food waste and donate to local gardening projects. Furthermore, at the end of each day we will donate all edible food to local homeless shelters.