Creating Business: Food for Schools

We create healthy, real food for schools. Our meals are made from safe natural ingredients with love. No artificial flavours or preservatives are used in their preparation. You our customers, are our future hence you deserve nothing less than the best.

Legal Business Structure

The business will be under the framework of a limited liability company incorporated in the United States of America in accordance with American laws and regulations. I will be the majority shareholder with my wife husband and father as minor shareholders and partners in the business.

Business Goals

The aim of the business is to promote a healthy eating culture among school going children. This will be achieved by provision of a healthier alternative to fast foods which will come in the form of fresh fruits, cereals and vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals.

Uniqueness

The business is unique since it is aimed at providing a product that is different from most conventional school canteen meals. We will use exotic spices and dressings all of natural origin to make fresh fruits and vegetables not only appear as the healthy alternative but also as a cool way to live. The psychology of our target market is such that youngest children will make purchasing decisions based on what appears cool and we shall be at the forefront in pioneering the consumption of cool healthy foods for a productive lifestyle.

My Expertise

I am a dietician by profession and will thus channel my knowledge and training into making this business a success. I will be involved in making the choices for the ingredients that go into the recipe and for scouting for new and exciting spices and components into the meals we serve.

Expected Financial Needs at The beginning

Required financial resources at the start of the business are the salaries of the employees and the manager and myself at $ 7000.Business insurance will cost between $ 1800 and $5000.Premise acquisition and lease will be about $7000.The professional services of an accountant and a lawyer for startup registration as a business entity and for obtaining requisite licenses is approximately $2000.

Organizational Plan

The Grow Healthy Company will be located in Davis, California. The choice is due to the fact that I have lived there for a year and grew to know and love the town and its inhabitants.

The Kitchen Equipment

Product Systems: Air handling, Baking, Dough Dispensers, Drive Through, Paging Systems, Food Preparation

Equipment: Fryers, Ovens, Broilers, Parts, Accessories, Ranges, Griddles, Char-Broilers, Ranges, Induction Refrigerators, Freezers, Scrapping, Ware washing Equipment, Specialty Steam Equipment, Storage units, Handling, Tables, Sinks, Fabrication, Call systems, Warming, Holding, toasters.

I will need pots, pans and various cookware. However, a finer dining establishment will likely require more mixers, dicing equipment, cutlery and marinading pans for meats or steaks. Most restaurants will require stainless steel tables and cutting boards for meal preparation. Other types of restaurant equipment include meat grinders, dish washing machines, dough rollers, bread slicers, colanders and blenders.

Most restaurant food is cooked in ovens or on open ranges or stoves. I will also need fryers for preparing foods such as french fries, onion rings and other fried delicacies. At the front of the restaurant, heating stations will keep foods warm for short periods of time. In addition, we will need steam cabinets and a steam table if we will serve foods, such as tortillas, meats and hot sauces.

We will buy refrigerators and freezers for storing cold foods. For example, we will need to put foods, including ice cream and frozen meat, in a large freezer when shipments arrive. Milk, eggs and most meats will require refrigeration.We will also need a walk-in refrigerated unit for storing foods from the service line. Service line foods are those you have left over from the day, such as lettuce, cheese and green onions. Such items will be stored in tall shallow metal bins depending on how quickly you want them to cool.

Funding

The most important element in starting a business is funding, the intended funding sources are to be diverse but expectedly sufficient. The first source will be from my own personal savings and funds. The seed capital will also be sought from both my friends and family. Of particular mention are my husband and father who have pledged to support my work.

Human Resources

The workforce of any organization is a crucial resource that needs to be adequately considered. As we know, the success of any organization is heavily reliant on the talents and strengths of its employees. I will hire experienced professionals with excellent track records within their area of expertise to ensures that the mission and goals of the company will be carried out efficiently and competently.

Our team of professionals will utilize their expertise in food service, technology, and marketing to design and operate a business that is customized to meet our clients needs.

The greatest thing an entrepreneur can do when establishing a new business is to gain as much knowledge as possible. By understanding the competition and gaining a knowledge of our market, we believe we will be in position to make the right choices. To maintain employee productivity as well as keep them motivated, it is important for our company to have a support team that can give our employees inspiration and guidance.

As a dietitian in by profession, my role will be in food manufacturing. In these areas, I will analyze foods, prepare literature for distribution, or report on issues such as the nutritional content of recipes, dietary fiber or vitamin supplements. I will also hire, train and direct other dietitians and food service workers; budget for and purchase food, equipment, and supplies; enforce sanitary and safety regulations of the HASP system; and prepare records and reports.

Goals and Objectives

The main goal of this business will be to provide high quality food to students in schools. We believe that the students deserve access to best quality healthy meals at affordable prices. We target to serve a broad range of schools and educational programs. Our service is important because increased availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products as components of school meals may be an effective strategy to promote healthy eating behaviors among children. We will compete with federally funded school feeding programs to enhance the positive effects of school meal programs on student eating behavior.

Our programs objective is to improve the health of our students by providing palatable and nutritious foods while enhancing their nutritional education and food habits to enable them grow healthy and avoid nutritional related diseases.

We're committed to nourishing students with freshly-prepared and affordable meals that provide students the energy they need to excel throughout their day. After all, growing healthy minds begins with fueling healthy bodies.

Our aim is to offer each child an opportunity to purchase foods that will add to their physical well-being, to provide each child with the opportunity to purchase a meal that meets at least one-third of their daily nutritional requirements at a price the child can afford to pay. We also seek to offer important learning skills in health.

One of the most cited benefits of owning my own business is the flexibility that comes with it. When I have my own business, I will choose the people who i want to work with. This is because I get to make the decisions about who to hire. The independence that comes with making my own decisions will fuel my desire to learn how to properly run and manage my business.

Marketing Plan and Analysis

In the United States, there young generations of school going children are vibrant social media users. Our specifc target market is this generation because social media marketing to this category will be cheaper than other.

We are a fresh food company that will offer fresh, hand-prepared meals .Our service will be really healthy and use the freshness as a sellng point. Our chefs will prepare the meals fresh each day and stick to using natural ingredients. We believe meals should be made simply with healthy and fresh produce. Our pricing will be :

Student Breakfast

$3.00 Breakfast

Student Lunch

$4.75 Elementary School Lunch

$4.25 Middle/High School Lunch

$1 Milk (1/2 pint)

Adult Breakfast

$3.75 Breakfast

Adult Lunch

$5.50 Regular Lunch

Meals purchased without a PIN incur an additional charge $0.30 for breakfast and $0.60 for lunch.

Some people will find our pricing a tier higher but when they think that we serve healthy fresh food will recognize that we are a fresh food company doing the best to improve our health.

Our differences with other food businesses is that our programs and products support our customers unique needs. If there are cases when a customer is in need of some special food at a school we can make up that. For this case, we work with you to ensure a solution that is tilored to your goals. No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives will be used. No high fructose corn syrup. Neither nitrates or nitrites nor fillers will be employed. Just the best ingredients to build smarter kids. Because that we feel that the consumers should choose us. The specific methods chosen to market bussines will include:

Teacher encouragement

1. School posters with many pictures about heathy and fresh food. They shoud be creative yet simple to the young minds understanding.

2. Assemblies.

3. Peer nutrition educators.

4. Online games and challenges where the winners will win gift vouchers not only for themselves but also for their families.

5. Advertisements on school computer screensavers

6. Surveys about food preferences.

7. Articles in school newsletters.

Current Trends

Of late the market has been proliferated by fast food joints and companies that serve foods rich in fat content.Such foods are responsible for the rise in lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.It is worth mention that this has had adverse effects on the American Healthcare system as more public funds have been deployed to remedy this problem.

Obesity among young school going chldren is also at a steady increase due to he consumption of fatty foods and lack of fresh fruits,vegetableas and fibres.The lack of proper exercises is also a common occurence amng many American Children at the moment.

Financial Plan

I will start my business using $ 100,000 .Buying a restaurant franchise costs between $25,000 and $50,000 on the lower end. The important purchase I think is a food truck that will cost between $30,000 or more depending on whether you buy a new or a used truck and the number of bells and whistles added.

The food service will require contracts, the startup cost for professional services includes accountants and lawyers and will be $2,000. The figure covers filing papers with the various state authorities in regards to taxes, licensing or business formation. Bank records, tax forms, financial analysis and proforma statements are also part of this category of startup costs and I think the estimated amount for typical restaurant startup costs will be very high because it will include security deposits or down-payments made to utilize the premises site with initial estimates of over $7,000.

However, the initial labor cost...