What piece must an entrepreneur focus on when embarking on a new venture? In short the answer is everything! The puzzle is to make “everything” palatable in small bites, we call this the RETAIL FOOTPATH. This is the strategic plan that will guide your business along the journey. We have talked about preparing for a capital budget and the costs that make up the bulk of the expenses. Just as important and probably first and foremost is preparing your enterprise for opening. The retail footpath allows the business to walk first, not run towards planning for and setting up the business. The running will happen soon enough once you open. A few key concepts for the business to walk on.

1) Be passionate about what you are creating and have fun with the business!
2) Conceptual development. Defining the financial model, culture of the enterprise and what will be the Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
3) Defining your competitors and their assets – Know their consumers, pricing, day part breakdown, flow of their store and culture.
4) Knowing your consumers and targeting your consumers. The more you know about your potential consumer, the better you can continue to market products and services to them. The more defined the culture of the business is, the easier it will be for guests to seek you out.
5) Menu Creation. A yummy, targeted menu that can be easily replicated for consistency in production can be the key to your success.
6 ) Building a space that works for your menu and for maximizing the flow of the store and dollar check average.
7) Creating Standard operating procedures for every facet of the business. These are your building blocks, the road to set your enterprise on.
8) Leadership in the making. Running an enterprise is all about managing people and exciting your staff join you on the path towards success.

Happy Walking… TaraPaige Group