Coffee Truck Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

coffee truck business plan

Coffee Truck Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 500 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their coffee truck companies. 

If you’re unfamiliar with creating a coffee truck business plan, you may think creating one will be a time-consuming and frustrating process. For most entrepreneurs it is, but for you, it won’t be since we’re here to help. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a coffee truck business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your coffee truck business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

 

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a coffee truck business or grow your existing coffee truck company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your coffee truck business to improve your chances of success. Your coffee truck business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

 

Sources of Funding for Coffee Truck Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a coffee truck business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan (hand it to them in person or email to them as a PDF file) and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for coffee truck companies.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

If you’d like to quickly and easily complete your business plan, download Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template and complete your plan and financial model in hours.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Coffee Truck Business

If you want to start a coffee truck business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The guide and sample below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your coffee truck business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of coffee truck business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a coffee truck business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of coffee truck businesses?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. 

  • Give a brief overview of the coffee truck industry. 
  • Discuss the type of coffee truck business you are operating. 
  • Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. 
  • Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team. 
  • Offer an overview of your financial plan.

 

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of coffee truck business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of coffee truck businesses:

  1. Coffee & More Truck:This type of coffee truck offers a full menu of coffee and espresso drinks, in addition to a number of grab and go items. Grab and go items include muffins, croissants, turnovers, and danishes.
  2. Coffee Bar Truck: This type of coffee truck offers a full service coffee and espresso bar. Offerings includes everything from cappuccinos to lattes to drip coffee. They also offer hot, cold and blended drinks.
  3. Coffee Cart: This type of coffee truck business operates within a mobile trailer or cart. This type of business offers mobility, flexibility and has much lower entry costs than purchasing a truck.

In addition to explaining the type of coffee truck business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

  • When and why did you start the business?
  • What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, reach X profit within two years, serving additional locations, etc.
  • Your legal business structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.
Quickly and easily complete your Coffee Truck business plan with Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template and complete your plan and financial model in just hours.


Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the coffee truck industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the coffee truck industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating. 

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your coffee truck business plan:

  • How big is the coffee truck industry (in dollars)?
  • Is the market declining or increasing?
  • Who are the key competitors in the market?
  • Who are the key suppliers in the market?
  • What trends are affecting the industry?
  • What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
  • What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your coffee truck business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

 

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your coffee truck business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, families and friends, special events, and corporations.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of coffee truck business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than corporations, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers. Ideally you can speak with a sample of your target customers before writing your plan to better understand their needs.

Finish Your Coffee Truck Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Click here to finish your Coffee Truck business plan today.


Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other coffee truck businesses. 

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes coffee shops, restaurants, or company offices. You need to mention direct competition, as well.

For each direct competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

  • What types of customers do they serve?
  • What type of coffee truck business are they?
  • What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
  • What are they good at?
  • What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

  • Will you provide options for customers to order custom coffee beverages?
  • Will you offer specialty snacks or desserts that your competition doesn’t?
  • Will you provide better customer service?
  • Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

 

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a coffee truck business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product: In the product section, you should reiterate the type of coffee truck company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide comfortable seating for your coffee bar, express coffee service, organic coffee choices, or the coffee-of-the-day at a discount?

Price: Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.

Place: Place refers to the site of your coffee truck company. Document where your coffee truck travels and the sites where it is most popular with customers. Mention how those sites will impact your success. For example, is your coffee truck business located in a busy retail district, a business district, a beachfront area or at a wedding reception? Discuss how your sites are the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions: The final part of your coffee truck marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

  • Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
  • Reach out to websites 
  • Distribute flyers
  • Engage in email marketing
  • Advertise on social media platforms
  • Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

If you’d like to quickly and easily complete your business plan, download Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template and complete your plan and financial model in hours.


 

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your coffee truck business, including stocking and maintaining your coffee truck, buying supplies, taking coffee orders, and driving to optimal locations. 

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to serve your Xth customer, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your coffee truck business to additional locations.

 

Management Team

To demonstrate your coffee truck business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company. 

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing coffee truck businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a coffee truck business or successfully running a coffee shop or restaurant.

 

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you serve 100 customers per day or begin serving in 3 additional locations? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your coffee truck business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt. 

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a coffee truck business:

  • Cost of vehicles, coffee-making equipment and food supplies 
  • Payroll or salaries paid to staff
  • Business insurance
  • Taxes
  • Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

 

Appendix

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office location lease or a list of contracted events your coffee truck will serve.

 

Summary

Writing a business plan for your coffee truck business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the coffee truck industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful coffee truck business.

If you starting a coffee truck in conjunction with starting a coffee shop or growing your existing coffee shop, use this coffee shop business plan template to help.

 

Coffee Truck Business Plan FAQs

Starting a coffee truck business is easy with these 14 steps:

  1. Choose the Name for Your Coffee Truck Business
  2. Create Your Coffee Truck Business Plan
  3. Choose the Legal Structure for Your Coffee Truck Business
  4. Secure Startup Funding for Your Coffee Truck Business (If Needed)
  5. Secure a Location for Your Business
  6. Register Your Coffee Truck Business with the IRS
  7. Open a Business Bank Account
  8. Get a Business Credit Card
  9. Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
  10. Get Business Insurance for Your Coffee Truck Business
  11. Buy or Lease the Right Coffee Truck Business Equipment
  12. Develop Your Coffee Truck Business Marketing Materials
  13. Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Coffee Truck Business
  14. Open for Business

Click here to download the coffee shop business plan PDF.

Our coffee shop business plan sample pdf allows you to see the key sections to complete in your own business plan and the key questions that each must answer. This can be used to create a business plan for a coffee truck, a coffee cart business plan or a mobile coffee shop business plan.



Finish Your Coffee Truck Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Coffee Truck business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Click here to finish your Coffee Truck business plan today.

 

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.
 
Click here to see how Growthink’s business plan writers can create your business plan for you.

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates