Five Tips for Building a Business Plan for a Successful Chicken Restaurant Franchise

When it comes to setting up a chicken restaurant franchise, creating a detailed business plan is a crucial part of the process. Planning and organisation are often the keys to success, and if you’re interested in running your own chicken business successfully, this article will tell you everything you need to know about building a viable business plan. 

Investing in a chicken restaurant franchise makes financial sense. The chicken industry is thriving and lucrative, with 60% of people recognising KFC as one of the most popular dining brands in the UK [Statista]. If you’re interested in franchising in this area and riding the chicken wave to profit, a sound business plan will help you on your way.

One of the most important activities you can do for your business to ensure you reap financial success is to plan. Planning gives your company a clear direction when mapping out your goals. You plan on the direction you would like the business to go, and the plan maps out how you will achieve those goals. 

– Melissa Houston, Forbes

Building a business plan for a chicken restaurant

1. Tailor your chicken restaurant business plan to your intended audience 

When you’re figuring out how to build a business plan, it’s important to bear in mind who will be reading it. Is this plan intended for the bank, and meant to help you secure funding? Is it for a franchisor, during the recruitment process? Or is it primarily for your eyes? 

Consider making adjustments based on the audience that you’re trying to appeal to, though key facts will stay the same. For instance, you could demonstrate proof of affordability for the bank, or explain why a planned cost/investment would generate a return for your franchisor.

Business plans are a very important part of setting up your franchise, even if the intended audience is simply yourself, as they help you to set out your priorities, make managing change more straightforward, and keep you accountable to your own plans, goals and vision. The key elements of any successful business plan, which will need to be included in yours regardless of audience, are:

• An executive summary 
• A company description
• Descriptions of products and/or services
• Market analysis
• Marketing and sales plans
• Financial projections 

>> Read more:

• 4 Reasons Why You Should Take the Time to Create a Business Plan For Your Franchise

2. Research the market, research your competitors, research location – just research as much as you can!

As stated, when you’re researching prior to creating your business plan, you’ll need to focus on three key areas – the market, your competitors, and the location that you’re intending to start your franchise in. Market knowledge is especially crucial, and knowing your sector well will increase your chances of success.

In the same vein, understanding your competitors is an advantage because once you know what they’re doing, you also know what they’re not doing, and you can position your franchise to fill those market gaps. You can also learn from what works for them and what doesn’t, from operational structure to marketing campaigns.

Location is an important consideration, as you’ll likely want your chicken restaurant to meet certain needs. You might also be looking for a certain amount of square footage, as per your franchisor’s guidance. 

Find an opportunity, research what location would best suit that style of franchise, and then create a list of criteria that any location would need to meet in order to be suitable. Does it need parking? Should it be on a high street? These are the kinds of questions you need to know the answers to.

3. Pay attention to the finer details

Obviously, some of the information in your business plan will need to be fairly general, but wherever you can, go into the finer details and allow your audience – whether that’s a bank, your franchisor, or you in two years’ time – to fully understand your meaning and intention. Your business plan should allow any reader to:

• Understand your intentions 
• Believe in your ability 
• Believe in your professionalism 
• Understand your experience 

Common mistakes to avoid making within your business plan, avoided by paying close attention to the task at hand, include:

• Unrealistic financial projections 
• Failure to define a target audience for your products/services
• Poor quality of research, or an evident lack of it
• Failure to understand your competitors 
• Failure to acknowledge weaknesses and areas for improvement
• Inconsistency – in plans, in tone, in ethos etc
• Overloading the plan with unnecessary, long-winded information 

4. Stand out in a saturated market by putting time and effort into advertising and marketing strategies

There are only three postcode districts in the UK (including remote Scottish islands) that don’t have a fast food restaurant [Financial Times], so it’s clear to see that there’s heavy competition in the quick service sector. To outperform others and thrive in a saturated marketplace, you’ll definitely need to consider marketing and advertising in your chicken restaurant business plan. 

Look into social media marketing (SMM) in particular, as this is something many franchisees have responsibility for in their roles. Around 3.96 billion people are on social media sites across the globe [Backlinko], and SMM will play a key role in the creation of a franchise business that enjoys a regular, steady flow of loyal customers. Other benefits are that it:

• Provides you with an opportunity to tell your franchise’s story to a wider audience
• Gives you the chance to promote new products 
• Is an effective, low-cost marketing option
• Connects you directly with customers 
• Helps you learn about your customers and their buying patterns 
• Gives valuable information about your competitors
• Increases brand awareness 
• Can be a useful recruitment tool

5. Seek additional professional opinions on your business plan and respond to suggestions

Make sure you seek opinions from trusted professionals on your business plan, particularly if you’re intending to take it to a bank. Gather independent, constructive feedback and discover whether or not you’re addressed everything you needed to address and covered everything you needed to cover.

The right outside specialist can give you an unbiased view of your business, identify problem areas and recommend strategies to keep your business on track. You can hire a consultant for almost any business need, from accounting management and marketing to better business writing and phone etiquette. 
– Carla Goodman, Entrepreneur

Why not start a franchise in the food service industry?

Hopefully, the path to building your chicken restaurant business plan is now clear. Choose a chicken franchise that’s right for you, put in the hard work, plan ahead, and you’ll soon find success as a franchisee. If you don’t have the budget to invest with a fast food giant like KFC, be sure to consider looking into smaller franchising opportunities within the chicken sub-sector, like Rooster Shack.