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Maria Leonen
Eddie Moody
Tim Alicea
Business Plan
Integrated Business Software

Business Plan: M.E.T. Coffee

Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Company Description
Market Analysis
Organization and Management
Service and Product Line
Marketing and Sales
Funding Request
Financial Projections

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Executive Summary
Mission Statement
Here at M.E.T. we offer college students the exact thing that they need - unlimited amounts of
energy through a small purchase of a coffee k-cup. We sell our k-cups to vending machine
companies that service colleges, getting our product to the target market.
Company Information
M.E.T. Coffee was first founded in 2014 by a group of college students. These students wanted
to achieve a higher energy level to stay up at night, either to finish their ten-page paper or cram
in one last overnight study session for those pesky midterms. The founders of our company are
Ed Moody, Tim Alicea, and Maria Leonen. Each of these founders is one-third owner of the
company, which comes with the revenue and the debt. We currently have 50 employees
employed at our business, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Growth Highlights
Our company has grown immensely over the past year. We started as three college students, and
now we are well on our way to making a successful coffee company. M.E.T. started as just an
idea, a complaint almost, that students needed something healthy that could keep them awake
late at night. What began as one flavor of coffee has expanded into almost twenty-five, with
more to come over the next year. The coffees health properties have grown as well. We also now
have fifty employees beneath us, a sizable growth for such a short amount of time.
Products/Services
We offer a healthy product with high amounts of caffeine, targeted at college students and young
adults who are hardworking and determined. We have many flavors of coffee, teas, and hot
chocolates. Our product is available in bulk to schools around the area. These schools put our
product in their vending machines, making it easily accessible to students.

Financial Information

Future Plans
In the future, M.E.T. plans to develop more flavors and more health benefits for our coffee. We
also plan to expand our reach to around the country, and eventually to around the globe. Another
new development for M.E.T. would be our upcoming line of energy bars.

Company Description
Nature of Company
M.E.T Coffee looks for people who struggle getting up in the morning. Our k-cups dont
resemble the normal k-cups. With vibrant colors all over each cup, they quickly attract the
consumer's eye. The cups are made from recycled material that helps the grinds to filter through
better and more cleanly than regular k-cups. We have a myriad of delicious flavors from Dulce
De Leche Hot Chocolate to Salted Caramel Vanilla. Our flavors are profound and unmatched.
Our specialists at M.E.T have made blends that not only taste and smell great but are also
beneficial to the body. Some coffees can give the consumer a bad aftertaste, or a lingering smell

in his or her breath. This is not the case from drinking our coffee, hot chocolate, and teas; The
drinker gets the smell of the delicious flavor just consumed.. There is also an ingredient inside
that can help the consumer lose weight as well. The change is not dramatic, but it has been
clinically proven that if you drink our products on a consistent basis, a change will be noticed.
Our products offer many different values to our consumers and cannot be compared. With
phenomenal smell and taste our products will continue to dazzle our consumers for years to
come.
Our main target consumers are colleges across the nation, but we would also like to put them in
major supermarkets throughout the east coast. With the perfect company placement in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, we are enroute to reach half of our goal of supermarkets on the east
coast within the next two years. We can get to major and minor colleges on the east coast and
mideastern U.S.

Market Analysis
Industry Description and Outlook
Our industry as a whole is the coffee industry. Here at M.E.T. Coffee we brew the finest coffee
with high amounts of caffeine. As of right now, excluding us, there are 65 companies which
produce coffee in the world, big brands such as Starbucks and Dunkin Doughnuts and smaller
brands such as Top Shelf Coffee. The coffee market is currently the fastest growing part of the
restaurant industry - it has grown 7% since last year. In addition, Americans alone consume 400
million cups of coffee a day. All of this information suggests that this is a market which is
already huge and growing at a good rate, with very little amount of companies in it. Lastly, the
main target markets are adults and college students.
Target Market
Our main target market is college students. Since our coffee has a high percentage of caffeine in
it, it allows the students to have extra energy in order to stay awake and finish all their school
work. We believe that the college industry is a main stay and will only increase in population as
time goes on. As of 2014 there are 21 million students who attend schools in the United States an increase of 5.7 million from the year 2000. This proves to us that the market for college
students will always be there. It will also continue to grow, since more and more jobs nowadays
are requiring a college degree.
Characteristics of Our Target Market
As every person who went to college knows, there will be a time where you find yourself up late
at night fighting to stay awake to study for a test the next day or trying to finish the final draft of
your essay. As much as a person tries to stay awake, it will be very difficult. This is where
M.E.T. comes in with our products. Our products contain high concentrations of caffeine which
will allow the college student to have the energy to stay up and finish all necessary work.
Another reason a college student needs our product are 8:00am classes. Being college students
ourselves we understand the struggle of getting up early, so of course we are there to help with a
simple k-cup coffee which can be made in your dorm room to wake you up. The only time we
project our market to be down is during the Winter and Summer breaks when most of the
students go home. However, we do not find this to be a terrible burden since almost all colleges
offer a winter and also summer session to students, not to mention orientation for freshman
students during the summer.
Size of Primary Target Market
As of 2014 there are currently 21 million students who are currently enrolled in colleges and
universities throughout the United States. A recent study by Harvard University suggests that
54% of Americans 18 and older drink coffee on a regular basis. This suggests that of the 21
million students currently going to college, 11.34 million of them drink coffee on a regular basis.

Not only is our target market extremely large, it is also increasing, as the amount of college
students has increased by 5.7 million since 2000 and is only expected to increase even more. The
coffee industry the United States spends $40 billion a year, which shows that it is a huge market
which we are tapping into. As the coffee industry and also the college industry both trend
upwards it only makes sense that the amount of college students who drink coffee will increase
as well which will only allow our company to grow as a result.
In a recent report by the National Center for Education Statistics, the projection for growth is as
follows, with a percent increase of 13.9:

Market Share
I believe the market share that we will be able to achieve in our geographic area is around 0.5%.
Since our target market is mainly college students as of right now, that eliminates mostly
everyone older than 24 and younger than 18. Our target market also eliminates non-coffee
drinkers. It also does not include those who drink coffee but are already extremely loyal to their
original brews. However, since our product is available in k-cups located in all of the vending
machines major buildings around campus, it will allow everyone easy inexpensive access to our
product. This will increase the percentage of population that uses our product.

Pricing and Gross Margin Targets


The average price of coffee can be as low as $0.79 and can be as high as $5.00, depending on the
size and place of purchase. In addition, the average single k-cup (5-7 oz) usually cost $0.40.
Looking at these two numbers we price our coffee around $2.00 per K-cup in the vending
machines. We picked this price because of multiple reasons. First, since our coffee product will
be exclusive in these machines, we have supply and demand factor. Second, our coffee will be
priced right in between the lowest priced coffee, which will usually not taste very good, and the
higher priced coffee, which will be very good but quite expensive. The last reason for this
pricing is that if an item in a vending machine is $1.50, most people will consider it $2.00
because you're getting back change after you buy it, not bills. With this pricing we will increase
our profit $0.50. Since right now we are only selling out of vending machines, we will not offer
any discounts, however this can be discussed as our business grows in the future. Since we are
not selling our product directly to the consumer our gross margin level will be a little different.
First we will sell our K-Cup Coffee in packs of 96 to the vending machine company for prices
usually around $63 per 96 K-Cups which comes out to around $0.66 per K-Cup. Since the
average cost of coffee when brewed at home cost around $0.27 that is a profit of $0.39 per KCup.

Competitive Analysis: Starbucks


Market Share- Currently Starbucks owns about 29% of the market share in the United States
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths:
Sound financial records
No. 1 brand in coffeehouse segment - valued at $4 billion
Starbucks experience
Largest coffeehouse chain in the world
Employee management
Weaknesses:
Coffee beans price is the major influence over firms profits
Product pricing
Negative publicity
Target Market: Starbucks primary target market are adults age 25-40. This shows that our target
market compared with Starbucks are not the same which will allow us to have more revenue and
sales.
Barriers: I believe compared to Starbucks we currently have no barriers to hinder us. No coffee
company has ever attempted to sell exclusively out of vending machines.
Window: Right now the best window to enter is either in January or August because these are the
two months in which our product can be sold to schools so that by the time classes starts again,
our product will be out on the shelves of the vending machine on day one.
Other Competitors: The only other competitors we would currently face are the other coffee
makers in and around campus. However, since our coffee will either taste better or be cheaper
than our competitors, our product should be just fine.

Barriers: The only barrier we currently face is the increase of the price of coffee beans. A future
barrier could potentially be other companies seeing our success and imitating our company.
Regulatory Restrictions
When looking at the regulatory restrictions on coffee, there are only a few. Every 6 out 100 bags
imported out of country are to be inspected by the FDA. Also, The coffee industry is governed by
U.S. Antitrust laws to help avoid monopolies forming. Finally there is a National Coffee
Association, which represents all coffee roasters and sellers.

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Organization and Management:


Organizational Structure

Ownership Information
Owners: M.E.T. has three owners in their company Maria Leonen, Ed Moody, And Tim Alicea.
Each owner currently has a stake in the company.
Involvement: Each owner is heavily involved in our company dealing with the day to day
operations
At M.E.T. Coffee we are a partnership in that the three of us came together to advance in mutual
interests.
Since we are just starting out our company is private so the stock which we currently have is
divided only among the three of us. As of right now also we have no plans on making our
company go public.
Resumes:
Maria Leonen: Available upon request.
Ed Moody: Available upon request
Tim Alicea: Available upon request

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Service and Product Line


Description
Our products focus on flavors that taste great as well as helping the body. The body of the k-cup
is muted color of whatever the vibrant top is, such as a bright green top with a light green body.
The top usually involves two or three different colors. One big color serves as the background a
streak goes across the cup in a different color to place the writing, which is sometimes a third
color, in. The cups are a couple grams lighter than the average cup yet they contain more flavor
than the average k-cup. The grinds are ground up so finely that it allows space for more in the
cup. Our products usually last anywhere from 8 months to 12 months, depending on the flavor
and contents. The bulk supply box will have an expiration date on it. We put a patent on any
flavor or blend that we may come up with. The mix of the specific ingredients is our right only.
There are special ingredients in each different flavor, but one that is consistent in each is our
weight loss supplement. It is a flavorless supplement that does not require eating before or after
taking it. We are currently in the process of making energy bars for the morning, or anytime
during the day. Using the same ingredients and continuing to expand our flavors, we plan to
create even more flavors within the next year.

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Marketing and Sales

Marketing Strategy
Marketing Penetration Strategy: For our product to be successful we need it to move off the
shelves of the vending machines fast. This will cause the vending machine company to buy more
of our product because first they will need to restock their shelves and second they will trust that
it will sell.
Our approach to this is simple, during the first week at every semester we will set up a station
either outside or in student centers promoting or coffee by giving away free K-Cup samples and
also informing the students of our many delicious products.
Next after the students try out our products and decide they like them since they now have the
knowledge that not only is our product cheap, but also delicious they will start heading over to
the vending machines buying our product making us money.
Growth Strategy: Our initial plan is to first infiltrate colleges by offering a new commodity
which new one has tried, having high quality cheap coffee in vending machines. If this proves
successful we will start selling our product to grocery stores as well.
In the first year or two we will solely sell our product to vending machine companies in and
around the Philadelphia area. This will allow our product to become known and also create
demand for our product since it is so exclusive.
After we create the demand for our product we will then start selling to the supermarkets so our
customers can have the option of buying our product in packs of K-Cups not just the individual
K-Cup.
This will be a horizontal growth strategy in that we will provide the same type of product which
are our K-Cup coffee, just to different users such as we will sell them to supermarkets now to,
not just vending machine companies.
Distribution Strategy: Our distribution strategy is simple, we will make our product at our
factories in Philadelphia, and then ship them to whatever vending machine company we are
working with for that particular company.
The first stage of this strategy has all to do with making the product. Once our product is made
and packaged (All done at our factory) it will be ready to get shipped.
The next stage is our product is loaded onto our trucks and them shipped in large quantities to
each of the vending machine companies which we work with.
The last step is that the vending machine companies will then finally ship them to the universities
in which they serve.
Communication Strategy: Even though our company is very unique we plan to have a very
similar communication strategy when compared to other companies
Our communication strategy will have to first start out with the vending machine companies as
we will have to convince them as to why our product will make them money. We will achieve
this first giving away a small sample of our product for them to do a test run with. After the
success of the test run we will then offer then an initial discount rate so they sign an agreement
with us to ship out or products.

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While this the first stage is happening and also after it is over, we will be heavily promoting our
product at Colleges and Universities. This will start by at opening week we will be giving out the
free samples and promoting our delicious product. In addition to this we will try and form bonds
with big groups within the universities to get them to promote our product as well.
Sales Strategy
Sales Force Strategy: All of our sales will be done internally by one of our founders
It is our belief that since we are the founders of the company and have invested a lot of time in
money in it, we will make the best people to do sales for ourselves. We believe this to be true
because since we founded this company we all know it inside and out which will give us an
advantage.
In addition to this when we go and sell our product we believe that it will look good if the
owners go in and talk to the owners of the vending machine companies as it will look that we are
heavily invested in trying to do business with them.
Lastly the reason why we chose for us to sell our product is the simple fact that we love it! This
will make our presentations have much more work done in them and also for the fact that our
attitudes will be perfect all the time and we are all giving our 100%.
Sales Activities: Our only prospects as of now are vending machine companies.
Our highest prospect on our list are of course vending machine companies since that is where our
product will be sold out of the first year or so.
Our next highest prospect are supermarkets since as the demand of our coffee grows our business
will also grow so we will be able to start selling it to supermarkets so they can sell them in packs.
Once we get our in with the vending machine companies we will still call them every week to
touch base with them to get a better relationship with them.
Lastly since we will have good relationships with the vending machine companies and our
product will be flying off the shelves this will make the vending machine companies to buy in
bigger bulk letting us offer them a discounted rate and also bring in more money for our
company.

Funding Request
Amount Required: $500,000.00
Request: We are asking for a mere $500,000.00 amount in funding our project. We predict this
to cover the first 6 months of our operation and for it to help us to develop the on resources,
produce the products, and advertise it. The means includes capital expenditures as well working
capital. Any debt retirement will be taken out of profits. Acquisition will come along as needed
along with a funding request for that specifically being acquired. In the future we will request
how much is needed and no more. In return we will generously give you a 10% share of any and
all profits that come our way. This will be repayment for the loans we will receive. We are
confident in our product to make great outcomes and for us to reach our goal within the first two

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years. As our image grows and expands across the nation and eventually across the world, we
will request as needed. We have an experienced board of directors, and different types of
accusations have been taken into account as far as a possible sue. Again, we are only asking for a
simple $500,000.00. We plan to start small-medium sized corporation and blow up into
something huge.

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Financial Projections

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2.

3.
4.

Prospective Financial Data (Sales)


Year 1 (2015): $4,532,220
First Quarter (Jan-Mar): $1,404,988
Second Quarter (Apr-Jun): $679,833
Third Quarter (Jul-Sep): $770,478
Fourth Quarter (Oct-Dec): $1,676,921
Year 2 (2016): $4,849,475
First Quarter (Jan-Mar): $1,503,337
Second Quarter (Apr-Jun): $727,421
Third Quarter (Jul-Sep): $824,411
Fourth Quarter (Oct-Dec): $1,794,306
Year 3 (2017): $11,272,438
First Quarter (Jan-Mar): $3,129,446
Second Quarter (Apr-Jun): $2,299,215
Third Quarter (Jul-Sep): $2,402,994
Fourth Quarter (Oct-Dec): $3,440,783
Year 4 (2018): $11,678,247
First Quarter (Jan-Mar): $3,252,691
Second Quarter (Apr-Jun): $2,364,346
Third Quarter (Jul-Sep): $2,475,389
Fourth Quarter (Oct-Dec): $3,585,821
Year 5 (2019): $12,495,722
First Quarter (Jan-Mar): $3,480,379
Second Quarter (Apr-Jun): $2,529,849
Third Quarter (Jul-Sep): $2,648,666
Fourth Quarter (Oct-Dec): $3,836,828
Five Year Projected Sales Total: $44,828,102
Financial Analysis
For Year one our projected sales are $4,532,220.
We found this number by first finding the amount of days which a student will be at college in
one full year by observing Rowans calendar as a reference. We found out that students as a
whole will be at school 206 times and also broke up these days by quarter
Next we calculated the percent of each of the days in the quarter by the total amount of days,
such as: For quarter one students will be at school attending classes for 65 days, 65 is 31% of
206. (Quarter 1: 65 days=31% Quarter 2: 31 days=15% Quarter 3: 34 days= 17% Quarter 4: 76
days=37%)
After we found this information we were able to multiply the amount of coffee drank daily (400
million) by the amount of days which students have class and got 82,400,000,000 cups per day.
Next since our company is based in and around Philadelphia we divided this number by 12. We
did this because we wanted to get the population percentage correctly. We looked at the federal

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5.
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7.

1.
2.
3.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
a.
b.
c.
7.

8.

1.

2.

reserve banks since they are divided up evenly by population, and since there are twelve of them,
we divided it by 12. We are only servicing one of these 12 areas.
After we did all of this we got the number 6,867,000,000. Next we had to divide the number by
our market share which is .1% and got 6,867,000.
Finally we were able to find out how much we will be able to make for year one by multiplying
6,867,00 by .66 (how much we sell our coffee for) to get $4,532,220 for the first year.
So with all this information we were able to multiply $4,532,220*.31(first quarter 65/206=.31) to
find exactly how much is made for the first quarter. We repeated this for the next three quarters
as well.
To find the sales for year two:
We first multiplied our sales of year one by 7% since the coffee industry projects to increase by
7% each year.(4,532,220*.07=317,255)
Then we added this number onto the old amount to get the new amount.
(317,255+4532,220=4,849,475).
After this we repeated step 7 of year one to find each individual quarter number.
For year three we expanded our business to supermarkets since our company is doing so well. So
to find the sales of year three:
We first multiplied 400 million by 365 to get a full year since supermarkets are open all year
round and got the number 146 billion (400,000,000*365=146,000,000,000)
Next we found how much coffee our section drinks per year by dividing 146 billion by 12
(146,000,000,000/12=12,167,000,000)
Next we divided 146 billion by our market share of .001 since we plan on doubling it as a whole
from .1% to .2%.(12,167,000,000*.001=12,167,000)
After this we multiplied this number by .5 since we will be charging supermarkets $.50 per cup
to get our total sales of this per year. (12,167,000*.50=$6,083,500)
Finally we divided this part of our sales evenly by 4 since supermarkets are open all year long.
After we did this we repeated step numbers 1-3 from year two.
($4,849,475*.07=339,463)
($4,849,475+339,463=$5,188,938)
($5,188,938*.31=$1,608,571)
Then to get the correct number for each quarter we added the supermarket sales which were
$1,520,875 with the vending machine sales which for quarter one were $1,608,571 and got
$3,129,446. ($1,520,875+$1,608,571=$3,129,446)
Then to get the total sales for this year we added up the supermarket sales with the vending
machine sales. ($5,188,938+6,083,500)
To find the sales for year four we:
First multiplied the total sales from the supermarkets and vending machines by 7% to get the net
increase for the coffee business. ( [6,083,500*.07]+6,083,500=$6,126,054)
( [5,188,938*.07]+5,188,938=$5,552,163)
Repeat steps 5-8 from year 3
For year find we just repeated each of the steps of year four over again.

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Dec. 2014.
Joseph, Chris. "Examples of Penetration Strategies."smallbusiness.chron.com. Chron, n.d. Web. 12 Dec.
2014.
Lederman, Doug. "U.S. Projects College Enrollment to Grow by 14% through 2022 @insidehighered."
InsideHigherEd.com. Inside Higher Ed, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
"Quora." What Is Starbucks Market Share Globally and in the US? -. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2014.
"Regulation of Coffee Retail Market in the USA." EHow. Demand Media, 19 Aug. 2010. Web. 09 Dec.
2014
"Rowan University Academic Calendar." Rowan.edu. Rowan University, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
"SWOT Analysis of Starbucks." Starbucks SWOT Analysis 2013. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
"Who Is Starbucks' Target Audience?" Small Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.

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