Structuring costs
In order to develop your strategy and share it with your support organisations, it’s essential that you define and write down your project, using a business plan and a financial plan. The latter will also enable you to get an overall view of your future expenses and to assess the financial strength of your future company.
Developing your business plan
To develop your business plan, it’s helpful to consult the 1819 MyBusinessPlan page. It provides a valuable guide for developing the plans. It is also recommended that you contact the ILES non-profit or a local business advice centre to refine the plans and analyse their viability.
Once this step has been completed, the hub.brussels (formerly Atrium.brussels) open/retail unit helps candidates develop their set-up strategy and provides online follow-up via the Wikipreneurs platform from which you can download business and financial plans.
Anticipating major expenses
For information, opening an average-size shop and workshop will cost approximately:
- €28,000 (with tax) in major equipment investments (about €12,000 for a 24 kg automatic tempering machine required to make the finished product)
- €6,000 for a coating machine with a conveyor
- €1,500 for a refrigerated table
- €8,500 for air conditioning
- €4,000 for utensils (chinois, nozzles, sieves, bowls, moulds, scales, etc.).
- €8,000 to set up the workshop (flooring, paint, shelves, table, sink, etc.).
- €10,000 to set up the shop (counter, furniture, glass/steel partition, shop window, logo, etc.).
In addition, the finance plan must include:
- Company creation fees (the file created by an architect to obtain permits can be €5,000 (with taxes);
- Intangible assets (website, logo); the lease guarantee; the potential purchase of the building/land
- The construction, fitting out or transformation of the building, if required; inventory (raw materials, packaging, etc.).
- Launch expenses (advertising, events, etc.); cash, etc.
The amounts above are provided as an example and will vary depending on size and the specific project.
Below is an anonymous business plan (in french) from a project leader we followed in-house.
