Business Plan

Business Plan

Executive summary

Tea Story is determined to become a daily necessity for local tea addicts, a place to dream of as you try to escape the daily stresses of life and just a comfortable place to meet your friends or to read a book, all in one. Tea Story will offer a full range of teas (hot and iced), as well as pastries, premium chocolates, tea accessories, and loose teas for taking home or giving as gifts. The American tea market is growing rapidly. Tea sales have increased 165% over the last fifteen years, with the number of tea rooms offering sit down service rising about 15% to about 1,500 shops. American interest in tea certainly owes some of its increase to the proliferation of gourmet coffee shops around the country in this same period. Most of working America has accepted the idea of expensive hot beverages as affordable luxuries, thanks to the marketing efforts of Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and so on. At the same time, fashion is always on the move - now that fancy coffee drinks are so widely accepted, savvy consumers are looking for new, more unique treats to enjoy. Starbucks estimates that 7% of its $12 billion annual sales currently come from tea.

Contents

A. Business

1. Description of business

2. Marketing

3. Competition

4. Operating procedures

5. Personnel

Business

1. Description of business

Our goal is to provide the finest premium teas and chocolates to customers. Our primary focus is in the over 50 kinds of loose tea we offer, including black teas, green teas, herbal teas (infusions), and flavored teas (black or green tea plus other flavors). We serve our teas hot and iced, and sell loose teas by the ounce. In addition, we sell premium chocolates and gift baskets, and offer daily pastries to accompany tea orders. Since we are not intending to compete with coffee giants such as Starbucks, we brew only one kind of coffee daily, as a courtesy to our customers.

2. Marketing

Our marketing...