Shake Away

About the PlaceShake Away is the original re-inventor of Milkshakes. They take real ingredients, blend them and pour into a Colourful Shake Away cups. The company sells Milkshakes made of Ice cream, Milk and a flavour chosen by the customer. The categories are fruity, sweety and chocolaty. Shake Away have a large range of dairy-free milkshakes suitable for vegans and lactose intolerant people, using soya milk instead of cow's milk. This makes Shake Away the UK's largest supplier of vegan milkshakes.

Rewards• Lower Risk: While 75% of all new businesses that start up will

last for two or more years, the figure is closer to 95% for franchise businesses.

• Rapid Expansion: The business is more likely to grow quicker as the more popular the brand becomes, the more franchises will be sold.

• Lower Capital Investment: Franchising includes putting in less capital as each individual franchise owner will invest their own capital in the franchise.

• Buying Power: Buying from suppliers and vendors in bulk will allow to get volume discounts, resulting in higher profits for all franchise owners.

• Mass Advertising: Each franchise owner has to contribute a percentage of their sales towards advertising and marketing this will allow for larger advertising campaigns that will increase brand recognition to potential customers.

• Motivation: As the franchisees invest their own capital they are better motivated to make the business a success with their own capital a risk.

Risks• The Franchise Fee and Start-up Costs can involve a very large initial

costs, often more than what it would cost to start your own business. • Royalty Payments. For as long as you are a franchisee, you will have

to pay some percentage of the monthly gross back to the franchisor, reducing your profit potential.

• Marketing/Advertising Fees. To receive the wonderful marketing support from the franchisor, franchisees must pay these fees, according to some contracts.

• Limited Creativity/Flexibility. Most franchise contracts have very explicit standards, allowing little or no alterations or additions to the brand, stifling any creativity on the part of the franchisee. You must use their system, follow their rules.

• Sole Sourcing. Some franchise contracts stipulate that franchisors must buy supplies only from an approved list of suppliers, possibly at a higher cost.

• Locked into Operation by Long-Term Contract. If you don't do as much research as you should have and find yourself with the wrong franchise, you may be stuck for many years.

• Dependent on Franchisor Success. The reputation of your franchise is only as good as that of the franchisor, so any difficulties that the franchisor encounters will have a direct impact on you.

• False Expectations. Opening a franchise rather than starting your own business offers no guarantees of success. You still need to be a sharp businessperson to make it work.

Why this place?At this point of the presentation you are currently thinking “why should I choose Shakeaway to franchise with?”

ShakeAway within Sutton is a ideal example of how it can become successful if placed in the right area. Sutton’s Shakeaway attracts customers from all round the region, from the college and locals. With the amazing menu which appeals to everyone's taste buds , ShakeAways menu alone attracts people into there stores.

The attractive bright colours (below)

Making it stand out from the surrounding shops, definatly an eye catcher. This amazing idea is well known though out Sutton and the menu with a wild imaginative list of milkshakes from inventions such as : NorahDelicious hot, "Hot Norah" is a Chocolate Muffin and Daim® Bar dream team with Maltesers® added on top for perfection!

If you decide to invest within this business it would be an upcoming new trend , appealing to a wide range of people from Young children all the way to the older generation.

This is a business which it going to stand out and has found a gap in the market and took the risks to get it self known in Sutton already.

I would be a trend starter in the use of milkshakes both inventive but also for the normal versions.

Why this place?ExamplesPlaces such as Birmingham Bull ring shopping centre could be an attractive area for a ShakeAway to be started up.

For example: The Bullring attracts visitors from around the UK and offers a wide range of shops. This is a good example of the prime areas in which you could decide to open a Shakeaway store.

Not only is it a good shopping experience the bullring has yet to experience the use of a milkshake store. Yet another gap in the market.

All over the UK places such as the bullring have a gap within the market in that area , this could be filled by a Shakeaway store.

Been the only Shakeaway store within that area will mean that your exclusive and the customers will have only your Shakeaway to choose from. Sounds promising.

Policies

• To help the growth of the business there needs to be:

• Punctuality,• To dress appropriately for the work place,• To be trust worthy, • Give a quality of service to every customer,

• To increase turnover and profitability, • To treat customers and suppliers fairly, • To promote honesty and integrity within the

company

Business Plan

The Executive Summary

• ShakeAway is determined to become the most successful milkshake bar in the UK. A place to meet with friends, chill out and relax to try to escape form the stresses of life. We plan to situate our bar on the high street, so we are able to attract passing trade, and also be able to capture repeat customers.

• We aim to offer the best milkshakes, with a multiply of flavours, by which the customer is able to create for themselves and make the perfect drink to suit them.

• We have secured this location for a three year lease, with the option of extending. We have obtained £140,000 of the required start up fund of £170,00, which will be provided through the loans from HSBC bank.

• We feel we will be able to bring a multiple of skills to the workforce; for example when It comes to recruiting a team, we will hope to recruit a wide range of the ages, as this will mean different experiences in the working environment, as they would be able to learn from each other different techniques of selling the drinks and promoting the store.

• To help motivate the staff, we would offer rewards for the use of innovation, punctuation, and all round good work.

The Executive Summary

Objectives

ShakeAways objectives for the first year of operations are: • Win the “Vegan Environmental Award” for our vegan soya shakes.• Become recognised as competition to other milkshake bars.• Maintain a 65% gross margin.

Keys to Success

The keys to success will be: • A store design that will be both visually attractive to customers, and

designed for fast and efficient operations. • Employee training to insure they know the best milkshake preparation

techniques. • Marketing strategies aimed to build a solid base of loyal customers.

Our Mission

ShakeAway will make its best effort to create a unique place where customers can socialise with each other in a comfortable and relaxing environment while enjoying the best made milkshake in town. We will be in the business of helping our customers to relax after their daily stresses by providing piece of mind through great atmosphere, convenient location, friendly customer service, and products of consistently high quality. ShakeAway will invest its profits to increase the employee satisfaction while providing stable return to its shareholders.

The Business Start up date: 27th July 1993 - Rob and Peter worked in Legend Bar .. Dreamed of making milkshakes and Peter decided the crazy idea of using rolo’s and tries to make a milkshake out of them .. creating a delicious milkshake.

History: 11th March 1999 first Shakeaway opened , over the next 11 years 42 ShakeAways have been opened in England alone. Stores also open in the U.S , Ireland , Cyprus and U.A E . Having there own ITunes app also enabled them to be known to the whole iTunes market.

Us:As you’ve probably already realised we have decided to use a colour scheme of pastel blue and yellow for our shop. This is to catch the attention of passerby's and will suit all genders and age groups. Our slogan is:

“TakeAway A ShakeAway” which is very catchy and will stick in peoples minds.

Product/ServiceHow is it differentiated: Shakeaway is different from his competitors, by the way ShakeAway allows its customers not only to chose from the wide range of milkshakes that are on offer, but they offer thee opportunity to create the wildness of combinations or the subtlest flavors of their dreams. They don't even stop there , they allow the customers to put any topping they would like onto their milkshakes.

Why will it sell : Thousands of children , teenagers and the older generation eat their favourite foods, but ShakeAway gives them the opportunity to turn these into a delicious milkshake. Being one of only a few business that offer to turn you dream in to milkshake reality gives ShakeAway the competitors edge in any market.

Do you have a copyright, trademark of patent : Shakeaway does have copyright laws which state that all the copyrights in and to the services but is limited to all the music and software are owned by them and also there licensors.Also they have a trademarks on the logo , slogans etc throughout the business.

How will you develop your product: They continue to launch competitions world wide to create new flavours for their customers, along with trying random and strange combinations of there imaginations to see if they blend well.

Along with even diversifying the business to branch off into new ideas to continue ShakeAways huge impact on the world

The MarketMarket Size

The market for this kind of product is quite large as there are not many stores offering a product like ours. It is also likely to grow considerably as our product is likely to be successful as it is unique and individual and so it will be able to expand quickly by setting up new stores in certain locations.

Competitors

Our competitors include businesses such as:• Muffin break• McDonald’s• CookieShake• KFC

How can we take market share off them or attract custom in growing market?• We could do this by maybe lowering prices of the product to compete with other

businesses, this could lead to more customers.• We could also expand on advertising and find new ways to advertise the products in a

way the competitors don't e.g. using billboards or TV. as no other milkshake companies advertise this way.

• We could also give special offers and money off vouchers for loyal customers, which will bring new customers and keep the regular customers.

Target Market

Our milkshakes are made for the whole family to enjoy, so we are aiming our products at people of all ages. We are able to do this as all kinds of people can enjoy our milkshakes with the wide variety of flavours and toppings. This means we have a mass audience as our product appeals to everyone.

Marketing Strategy The following is the marketing mix for ShakeAway which focuses on the elements of product, price, place and promotion for our business venture.

ProductThe ShakeAway product are cold drinks/shakes consisting of different flavours such as fruity, chocolaty, sweet, biscuits and cakes. Shakes are made to suit customers needs with options such as Vegan and Dairy free shakes.

PriceThe price of a regular shake is £2.80 and a large shake is £3.80 and any extra flavouring is 40-50p extra.

PromotionAs we are starting a business we are limited on funding so the possible promotions are radio advertising, website, facebook, leaflets/flyers and in-store promotions.

PlaceThe store will be opening on the lower floor of the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham town centre.

Operations Location and Facilities • The ShakeAway milkshake bar will be located on the ground

floor of the bullring shopping centre in Birmingham town centre.

• The floor plan will include a 200 square feet back office and a 2,300 square feet space for the milkshake bar, which will include a seating area with 15 tables, a kitchen, storage area and two toilets. The space in the milkshake bar will be approximately distributed the following way, 55% of the total area for the seating area, 26% for the production area, and the remaining 19% for the customer service area where orders will be placed and received.

• This property is located in the heart of Birmingham where thousands of people pass each day. These people include tourists, children going to and from school, workers commuting to and from work and shoppers. The Bullring is a commercial area within a walking distance from Aston University, New Street train station, The NIA and Broad Street.

• The commercially zoned premises have the necessary water and electricity hook-ups and will require only minor remodelling to accommodate the milkshake bar, kitchen and storage area. The milkshake bar's eye-catching interior design with intense and dazzling decor will put across the quality of the milkshakes served. The clear window will allow for passerby’s to see customers enjoying their beverages, and outside bright electric colours will be aimed to grab the attention of potential customers.

Financial Forecasts

Cash Flow forecast : This is where the inputs , outputs and overall costs of the business are taken into considerate to create the forecast of future profit, loss or if the business should in fact break even. This allows the banks and also the others to see where the business will be in the few months. this can allow banks to see if the business is able to repay the loans which they would need.

Forecast Profit and Loss: This uses the annual profit/loss amount of the business over the year and takes the amount of sales into account, breaks it down through the business to enable them to figure out a percentage of whether or not the business with have a profit or loss in the next quarter.

Sales Forecast : It breaks down the amount of sales into months and the products separately, this then allows us to see which products sell best and also it what months. this in turn allows the business to the predict what the sales of that particular products should be in the months to come. Also lets help them to predict the forecasts for profit and loss.

Market Research

What is Market Research?

Market Research:

Is the process of systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data about customers, competitors, and the market. Market research can help create a business plan, launch a new product or service and fine tune existing products and services into new markets.

Why Is It Important?It is important as it helps us to find the kind of people we would aim our product or service to, and find out how successful our business could potentially be. It also brings light to any problems with our product and gives the opportunity to better and diversify the product or service. Market research will also help with the business plan as it can give a good estimate of how much profit the business could make.

Types of Research

Market research can be split into two sections:

Primary research: Research that is original and did not exist before.This can be done through things such as : questionnaires, focus groups, telephone surveys and customer markets.

Secondary research: This is data that already exists and has already been done by another organisation.This can be done through things such as: Internal sources (company accounts, stock analysis and retail data) and external sources ( Government stats,trade publications and commercial data).

In this case we could use primary methods due to the business not having a lot of research done on it before.But also we could use a small it of secondary data as it would boost our current information but also be cheaper.

The techniques that we would use are : Samples. Giving the public free samples of the milkshakes to try, enabling us to find out new flavours etc. Focus groupsthis can allow us to find out what the consumers think of the product and help us to develop the product.

Sampling Methods

Sample: a group of respondents whose views should be representative of the target market as a whole.

There are three different types of sampling which are used for different reasons, when undertaking primary market research:

1) RANDOM SAMPLING - this is where each member of the target population has equal chance of being chosen, for example every tenth person who passes on the street. This sample is cheap, however it’s less useful if the company is targeting a specific market. It can also be lead to be biased.

Sampling Methods

2)QUOTA SAMPLING - a group of respondents including several different segments, each sharing a common factor, e.g. age or gender. If they needed to survey 200 people, then 40% of them should be males aged between 20-29. once this quota has been established then no more interviews are needed for this segment. This method provides results that are suited to be business's needs as it matches the background of the target consumers, however it takes more time and care.

3)STRATIFIED SAMPLING - This is similar to quota sampling, however the are 2 main differences: The units are selected randomly giving everyone an equal chance. The segments may not match their size in the target market. To be effective the stratified method needs good population information.

Qualitative or Quantitative

Qualitative Research – This is the gathering of non-statistical information.

Quantitative Research – This is the gathering of statistical data.

Which we intend to use…

In this case I believe carrying out quantitative research would be the best way to conduct our research as we are interested in the figures. We want to know what will sell and how much of it. We may also need to know why it will sell. We intend to carry out surveys and questionnaires as this will be the best way to collect information.

Questionnaire