Franchise Sandwich Shop Business Plan

We will offer a large variety of Submarine sandwiches, salads, soups, chili, chips, cookies, and sodas. The sandwiches are made with The Sub Shop’s unique sweet mustard sauce and each loaf of bread is made fresh daily. The bread is toasted for every order and the soups are made daily.

3.1 Product Description

All of our sandwiches are available for customization. In addition, customers will love the fresh, toasted bread, and the freshly sliced meats and cheeses. 

Below is a short list of some of the subs we will market, the rest of the products are broken down by unit sales in the sales forecast table:

German Snack: Italian Salami, Bologna, Roast Beef, Tomato, Onion, Bell Pepper, Cheese, Vinegar & Oil and Salt & Pepper upon request.

Swiss Delight: Cheeses (3), Tomato, Onion, Bell Pepper, Cheese, Vinegar & Oil and Salt & Pepper upon request.

Spanish Conqueror: Cheeses (2), White Meat Chicken, Jalapeno Sauce, Tomato, Onion, Bell Pepper, Conqueror & Oil and Salt & Pepper upon request.

American Suburban: PB&J.

American Urban: Tofu, Onions, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Carrot, and two Cheeses.

American Traditional: Angus Beef, American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, with a 1/4 slice Kosher Pickle.

3.2 Competitive Comparison

Our competition consists of on-campus sandwich shops, fast food restaurants, and downtown eateries. There are three SubSub Sandwich shops in the Ashland metro area, and 10 fast food restaurants. Our competition will be fierce, but our specialized sub sandwiches will set us apart from the competition, as will our focus on healthy, yet tasty fast food. SubSub has emphasized the benefits of their healthy sandwiches, yet their sandwich bread is often tasteless and stale, they don’t toast their bread, they don’t use a special sauce, and their production facilities are rarely clean enough to make dining in their restaurant an appetizing venture.

The other fast food restaurants in Ashland will offer a more serious challenge: How do we position ourselves so that people know food is both healthy AND tasty. Many people who eat fast food burgers and fries are not concerned with the health benefits of such activities, but rather, the way the food tastes. To be competitive, our sales literature and promotions will make it clear that our products are tastier than any greasy hamburger, yet will provide a fun, guilt-free eating experience.

3.3 Sales Literature

Our sales literature consists of menus supplied by The Sub Shop and custom flyers designed in-house. The custom flyers will offer catering prices, explain the difference between our lunch specials and those of our competitors, and show our hours of operation. We will place the catering and lunch service flyers strategically near Oregon Shakespearean theatre events, park events, with local businesses, and in Jackson County community centers.

3.4 Sourcing

The Sub Shop Corp. will provide the supplies necessary for operation. Due to bulk buying by The Sub Shop Corp., and our standardized franchise-based supply line, our purchasing costs will be 10% below similar costs incurred by a non-Franchise restaurant and our payment days average 45 instead of the industry median of 30 days. 

To maintain a conservative financial perspective, we have not built this 10% discount into our cost of goods in the Profit and Loss Statement. We have calculated cost of goods as a flat 35% of sales, an average for our industry. We will update these amounts with real figures once we have three months of purchase history. We expect to revise our sourcing costs down by at least 10% in November.

3.5 Technology

We will take advantage of the latest technology in order to speed our business processes and develop more efficient operations. In planning for the launch, we have purchased three copies of Business Plan Pro software. Each principle has been given a segment of the plan to work on. Jack is in charge of writing all franchise-specific topics, Luke is in charge of generating and explaining the numbers, and Susan is responsible for all operations-specific topics. Each person synchronizes their machine with the secureplan.com secure server, making the most recent version of the business plan available at all times on the Web.

In addition to using technology to establish the business model and methodology, we also use technology for day-to-day operations. The Sub Shop Corp. supplies us with the latest in ordering equipment, including a merchant credit and debit card account, number verification, inventory management software and timeclock (HR) software. Each employee is given a cell phone for personal use, and in exchange for this relatively inexpensive benefit, they are expected to work flexible hours, and respond when called in to replace an employee that is sick, or otherwise not available for their shift.  

Technology is also used for routine maintenance and sustainable operations. The company uses only biodegradable soaps and cleaning supplies, and encourages all employees and customers to recycle plastic, glass, and cardboard items. We view these options in sustainability as being tied directly to advances in technology. For instance, as wind and solar power become available through the local utility, we will opt to source through those options.

3.6 Future Products

The product mix is determined by corporate (biodegradable).  Future product suggestions are welcome by corporate, and if approved, may become part of the product mix.