Business Plan

  Download the Vaalbara Business Plan (.pdf format)

The following are some of the more pertinent sections of the Vaabara Business Plan:

The Role of Music: Global music is the most influential component in the Vaalbara concept and design. The Catalog we promote, and the artists that create that music, will be incorporated into numerous elements of Vaalbara. For example: 

• Vaalbara’s food is the main platform for incorporating music into the overall concept. Our food is rooted in American cuisine –local food choices, specific flavor profiles, recipe concepts – that is globally influenced by the ingredients, cooking styles, and flavor profiles of the regions/countries where our artists and their music originate. We will integrate brief descriptions into the menu that illuminate the particular global influences of a given dish.
• Our Catalog will be broadcast on our sound system during operating hours. While a particular album is being broadcast, we will display copies of the album near our order counters, post promotional banners in the entrance (informing patrons of the current album), and offer a special price for the album during the broadcast.
• When ordering breakfast and lunch, our customers will receive an “Artist Table Marker” (rather than a number) to identify customer orders. The table marker will provide a picture of the artist and background information on the artist and his/her music. It will also list the album that the artist is featured on, and offer a discount for the purchase of that album during the customer’s visit.
• Compact disk kiosk(s) (exact number pending space limitations) will promote our Catalog through the sale of specific albums featured in the kiosk. The selection will rotate depending on our available inventory, new releases offered, and the featured region on our menu.
• Digital music download centers will offer customers the ability to purchase full albums and singles direct to their mp3 players and other mobile communication technologies. Depending on technological capabilities, we would eventually like to offer individual download centers incorporated into a wireless ordering system for each table.
• Each month (or other time period) we will promote a “featured region” special menu to coincide with a compilation album from a particular country or region of thsame standards as our fixed menu (as discussed above).

• Fusing music and food together creates an innovative dining experience that will attract a large target market and provide our customers with a first-rate, high-quality, inventive dining options.
• The concept requires a connection to the music industry, and a strong relationship with a record label that possesses a large global music catalog. We are uniquely situated and able to fuse together our expertise in food and music. 
• The core target market resides in and frequently visits Vaalbara desired location. 
• The owner is a licensed attorney with legitimate professional kitchen experience. His business know-how and ability to operate a kitchen ensures that the day-to-day details are executed in accordance with the company’s goals and concept. 
• The concept is flexible, enabling occasional minor changes as market needs are ascertained.
• Vaalbara is a well-balanced food establishment, focusing on food quality, convenience and accessibility to that food, and competitive price points to ensure high volume.

Keys To Success:

1. Concept Clarity. The Vaalbara NY concept is the soul of the food establishment. We must ensure that the concept is clear, consistent, and aligned with our food and service styles. Though we offer more than just food, it will be important for our concept to be known for its food offerings. The musical aspects to our concept must compliment and enhance the food rather than overpower it. We will need to ensure that our marketing and promotion accurately depict our concept, and that we execute the concept consistently with this business plan.
2. Service Style. Vaalbara NY’s service styles must facilitate convenient and accessible dining experiences for our customers, and in turn maximize our ability to generate high volume and repeat business. As a fast-casual café during weekday breakfast and lunch service, we must be able to provide each customer an element of natural hospitality while also enabling high-volume turnover. Dinner and weekend brunch service must offer an expanded version of our natural hospitality through a refined, yet casual, sit-down dinning experience. For weekday dinner, we will also need to execute a seamless transition from fast casual to wait staff dining. 
3. Ingredient Quality & Artisan Cooking. Our products must be created from the best ingredients available and most, if not all, must be home-made. We want to know where our products are sourced (preferably from local food sources) and how they are harvested (preferably by organic and sustainable means), and to share this information with our customers. We also want to promote fair and direct trade models ensuring that products from abroad are purchased responsibly, and where possible, purchased directly from the farmers (not through a cooperative organization). From these ingredients, our food needs to have a soul – an identity that we can be proud of. Building a reputation for quality food preparation and high-level technique will enable us to attract a large customer base, garner local/national/international attention, and ultimately contribute to the success of Vaalbara NY.
4. Customer Outreach (Marketing, Promotion, & Advertising). Our customer outreach efforts must maximize efficiency in reaching target markets. We will also need to focus on grass-roots marketing and an Internet presence to reach other segments of our core market groups.
5. Accounting Controls. Our financial records must be reported accurately and monitored on a daily/weekly basis. We must ensure that, among other considerations, our actual budget is consistent with our operating budget, food and labor costs are closely examined, inventory controls are effective, business ratios are measured, and that our cash flow is healthy.

Product Description: Vaalbara is a full-service restaurant featuring breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch options (weekends and some weekday holidays only). The restaurant’s offerings will include artisan brewed coffees and teas, as well as specialty drinks ranging from freshly juiced fruit spritzers and smoothies to globally-inspired and house-made drinks, such as sangria and horchata. Our standard menu items will be focused and limited (leaving room for specials of the day/week/month). Breakfast items will consist of pastries and baked goods typical of morning fare (e.g. scones, muffins), house-made granolas and yogurts, breakfast sandwiches, and light entrees. Lunch will comprise of gourmet sandwiches, soups (hot/cold dependent on the season), salads, light entrees, and desserts. We will also feature a “brown bag” breakfast and lunch option, incorporating our excess inventory into a sandwich of the day along with a side salad and dessert. Our dinner menu will be more formal, offering an array of appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Brunch will offer decadent menu options including our (soon-to-be) famous twelve hour waffle, French toast with fruit cream cheese, and an array of egg-based dishes.

Our musical offerings will feature music from around the world, focusing predominantly in the hip-hop genre. As Nomadic Wax’s catalog expands, so will that of Vaalbara. We will also sell a line of Vaalbara merchandise, including t-shirts, belts, winter wear, tote bags, “old school” lunchboxes, and other accessories.

Sales Programs: Specific sales programs include:

1. Brown Bag Concept: We will design a daily (Monday-Friday) breakfast and lunch brown bag that features a sandwich, side item/fruit, and beverage. This will compliment our fast casual daytime service by offering customers a quick, healthy, and good value dining option during work hours. The breakfast brown bag will cost between $5-8 and the lunch brown bag will range from $7-10. We will offer a customer loyalty program in connection with our brown bag, such as “Purchase 9 brown bags, get the 10th free.”
2. Special Events: We will host and coordinate special events to promote our concept and generate additional revenue streams. Events will include artist release parties, film screenings, culinary classes/team builders, and private corporate events.
3. Pre-Fixe Sundays: Every Sunday evening, we will offer a pre-fixe 3-5 course menu and wine pairing with limited seating. Each pre-fixe Sunday will feature a specific global region of influence.
4. Friends of Vaalbara: We will create a program inviting our customers to become “Friends of Vaalbara.” For a monthly fee or yearly membership (TBD), our customers will be entitled to receive priority seating for one pre-fixe Sunday per month, along with our periodic newsletter and monthly music compilation release.