Business Plan

Taking advice from Bobby Flay and Steve Ells, judges on NBC's new show America's Next Great Restaurant, having a strong business concept is vitally important. The main concept of my business plan for my company, H. H. Horror, is to solely focus on the Halloween holiday. One of the strongest points that Ells made through his company is to focus on one thing and do it well.

Ells’ restaurant, Chipotle, focuses on burritos and they have some of the best burritos compared to the other Mexican oriented restaurants around. “For example, a bar-b-que jointneeds to remain focused on bar-b-que and not stray from the concept to grilledmeats.” It is important for consumers not to be confused on what is the purpose/product/service of your company.

Another important point to consider when starting a business is your logo. It needs to actually portray your product or service. Color and word combination needs to be clean, but it also needs to pop on digital and print marketing. Flay suggests that being too wordy with both your logo and company slogan will turn people off to what your company has to offer. It is a large market out there and your business needs to stand out.

Taking this into consideration and applying it to the nature of my company, I believe it is important to keep the image of horror, our company persona, nothing more than a shadowy figure.  With a Halloween focused business, it is important to illustrate to investors how your business will stand out compared to others and how consumers will remember you.

I believe the financial section of a business plan is the most important especially when taking into consideration the nature of my own business. I have to be able to prove to investors that a holiday oriented company can make enough profit within one season to support the company throughout the entire year.

Links used:

http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_04/winners/ells.html

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/53/07celebrities_Bobby-Flay_LS13.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/02/americas-next-great-restaurant-winner-soul-daddy_n_856324.html

Food with Integrity

Have you ever walked into a Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. around noon? You may see a scene similar to this one.  Chipotle filled with hungry workers and college students on their lunch break.

Steve Ells founded the company in 1993 as a small Mexican grill in Denver, Colorado. After working in Stars restaurant in San Francisco, he decided to try out his own food visions. In 17 years, Chipotle has not only expanded to over 1,000 restaurants, but also has strived to make good tasting food that comes from responsibly raised livestock and grown produce.  Ells has made it one of his goals to change the way American food is grown and raised.

To have good tasting food, it needs to come from people who care about their product. The entire concept behind the Chipotle brand is to have good tasting food that is affordable and time convenient. Ells states to achieve these goals “[he] meet with ranchers and farmers dedicated to raising livestock and growing produce using responsible, respectful, and sustainable techniques.” Ells has become a large influencer on working with local farmers to produce better food.

This concept has flourished into our local area influencing “gastropubs” in the Winter Park and Downtown Orlando. They too only use the finest ingredients that are grown and raised responsibly in the local area. You can even see the similarities in design between these restaurants and Chipotle.  The Ravenous Pig. The Rusty Spoon. 

Steve Ells’ calls it “food with integrity” which is what was the foundation of the success of Chipotle. Chipotle serves more naturally raised meats than any other company and pushes for more improvements in the food industry. Ells speaks of the importance of leadership and keeping the integrity of your brand as two good ways to make a business plan into a successful business. Ells was appointed Chairman in 2005 and is the Co-Chief Officer. He is also the largest share-holder of the company.

Links used:

http://people.forbes.com/profile/steve-ells/19160

http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/chipotle_story/steves_story/steves_story.aspx

http://www.rd.com/money/dreamers-chipotle-founder-steve-ells/

http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/