The thought of starting a business is something that has crossed the minds of many. For them, the thought might have even turned into attempts at becoming reality – but for very few does the dream ever come true. Many businesses can’t seem to lift off the ground, or last a considerable time standing on its own feet without falling over.

So what truly sets apart a successful business from an unsuccessful one? A smart business plan.

One might ask, does a bakery even need a business plan? The answer to that is yes – a bakery needs it as much as any other kind of business.

Why Does It Matter?

The first step to turning your dream of running your business into reality is to formulate its existence – and we’re talking from the bottom, to the very top.

Creating a business plan helps put your entire business into perspective: how much space is ideal for you, what equipment you need, what kind of products do you want to sell, and much more. Having this kind of comprehensive plan right in front of your eyes is a great way of looking at your dreams from a practical point of view; this allows your course of action to be much more calculated and less impulsive while setting up your bakery.

A business plan also has its benefits beyond the initial stage of setting up a business; if you want to scale your bakery in the future, you’re going to want investors and banks to gain interest in your brand. In its entirety, a business plan is something that will help you run your bakery consistently.

Let’s Get Down To Business

The real deal is that a business plan has a lot of sections to it – the more complex your set up, the more intricate your business plan will be. Fortunately, we have compiled 4 basic components of a good business plan:

Company Overview

This part is pretty self-explanatory. This section will talk about how your company started out – did you inherit it from your family, or did you start it all on your own? Do you have a business partner, or is this an independent effort? Make it clear in the plan what is your company’s essence: what is your niche? What’s your target audience? What’s special about your bakery? What makes you stand out from the crowd?

This is where you make your brand clear, and how it must be recognised as such. Be sure to keep your tone precise and simple; don’t use clichés, or out-of-this-world statements – if an investor were to read that kind of plan, they would look right through your vague sentences!

Market Analysis

At the start, you will have successfully described yourself as a brand, but now, you have to describe how will you create an impact on the bakery market. For that, you need to know exactly what will you be targeting – it has to be more specific than just “hungry people”!

Since this section requires a lot of research, you need to be thorough with the things you include, some of which are:

• Area demographics – what’s the prevalent age group in your area, and what percentage of it are you targeting?
• Trends – what are the purchasing patterns of people there? Are they frequent shoppers, or people who step out to shop once in a blue moon?
• Research your competitors – this is perhaps the most important part. Learn why your competitors are as successful as they are? Learn what they did to achieve the popularity they have.

Business Offerings

Here’s where you flaunt your products. Specify what type of products you will be selling, why are they part of your product catalogue, and why do you think they’re important for the area you’re targeting. Are you offering specific custom-made products, or will you be promoting your own unique recipe? For a bakery wanting to scale in the long run, your business plan should also include the prospect of developing more recipes as time progresses.

Be as specific as possible, so that you never lose sight of the essence of your business, no matter how much you grow.

Management Plan

Now comes the technical stuff – after having defined some of the more theoretical aspects of your bakery, it’s time to define the practical parts, i.e. its organisation. Some of the many components you need to mention are:

• How many employees will you be hiring?
• What parts of your business will you be in total control of?
• Who will be there with you during executive decisions?

Here, you have to be honest – don’t say something that’s not genuine. If baking is your forte, but accounting or inventory management isn’t, then mention it, while including some way you’d be addressing this issue.

Let’s take the same example; for someone who isn’t so skilled in the nitty gritty details of managing a bakery, you’d prefer to invest in a system that can do the job for you. In that case, many bakers prefer using POS systems in Pakistan like Oscar POS. Oscar has multiple management systems – we’re talking inventory management, accounting system, customer relationship management, and more – all integrated within one seamless platform.

With such a system, even a novice can run their business without worrying about the technical details.


There are many more components to cover when it comes to writing an extensive business plan, and the internet is filled with many samples. However, to build one from scratch needs extensive research and understanding of all the important parts mentioned above. Only then can you expect your bakery to flourish in the future