Customer Profile

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Customer Profile

While you may have already though about who you want your customer to be, the investors and others who are reading your business plan want to see your thinking on paper.

You need to create a profile of your target customer, allowing you to chose others that not only will you address their needs, but you will target your marketing to bring in this particular person.

Don’t worry if you have more than one customer group that you are targeting – this is a good thing.  You might find as you set up your business that you have different customers at different times of the day and week, so having different options for them will help to keep your business busy, even when different customers walk up.

For each group of customers you identity, list these qualities:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Location
  • Income level
  • Social class
  • Occupation
  • Eating style – i.e. vegan, gluten free, low fat, etc.

If you’re looking to target large groups, i.e. local business work pools, you will want to think about:

  • Company location
  • Industry
  • Meal time schedules
  • Size of company, or buying potential
  • Larger events that you might be able to support

This section will allow your business plan to show just how successful you will be in your area.  If you can bring in the type of customers that you want, and you are providing them with the foods they want, you will continue to grow your business for the long-term.

Showing growth potential not only allows your business plan to look realistic, but it also allows you to see whether you have chosen the right target market.  If you feel you have not, then you can adjust your plan until you are finding customers who have every reason to return to you.

In order to learn more about your customers, it can help to do more research.  This research and can be time an labor intensive, to be sure, but it’s essential when you’re planning the future of your business.

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