Business Plan Paper

Networking Lounge

Introduction

Networking is an extremely important duty to do throughout ones career. Although it is stressed

by many, there is no one place or gathering that people tend to go in order to meet their

networking needs. Networking can help set you up for future further growth and success. In the

Bible Luke 16:9 (NKJV), it reads “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the

wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

According to Krakoff (2019), when it comes to looking for a new job, the single most impactful

thing you can do to increase your chances of success is networking. Many organizations do not

advertise open positions, so having contacts in your industry - or in a field you're interested in

entering - who might be able to tell you about relevant roles is key. Contacts in your network can

also provide invaluable entry points to big companies, by giving you a referral or connecting you

with a hiring manager directly (Krakoff, 2019). Creating a Networking Lounge will allow people

the opportunity to have one specific location to meet and greet different individuals from all

over. The importance of fellowship in our lives is part of the reason that the people of God are

commanded to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the

assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so

much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Benefits of the Lounge includes:

 A hub for local business, including networking opportunities for our members and their

guests, fun weekly events where you can get to know other professionals, and fast-

tracking professional relationships with other members;

 A shared workspace and a collaborative environment, where entrepreneurs can do more

together;

 A high-quality conference room where you can meet with your clients;

 A lounge where you can share a drink with other members or host your power partners

(McNulty, ntd).

The mission of The Networking Lounge is to promote, communicate and amplify the influence of

individuals in the workplace and beyond. This lounge is designed to bring together thousands of active

professionals to connect, renew, and find inspiration in community. We are committed to helping close

the pay gap, eliminate gender discrimination and achieve parity in company leadership and on corporate

boards. The Lounge is used to harness the collective wisdom, experience and energy of inspirational

women and men of all ages and backgrounds in service of our values: supporting and giving back to our

growing nationwide community (Watermark Conf, 2016). The purpose of this lounge is to allow

individuals the opportunity to have a destination location to network without the hassle of trying to

search for an event or website outlet. This Networking Lounge will allow individuals to gain new

business partners, build friendships, promote products, and gain potential clients.

Service Description

This lounge with be a networking outlet for people to be able to meet new leaders and workers of

their community. This lounge will be used to help individuals broaden their professional

horizons. Networking keeps you sharp, current, and in touch with your industry. Although there

are always events and pop up shops individuals can attend to do some Networking, this lounge

will be at a steady location open daily, because the communication should never stop. The

lounge will include resources such as career advisors and resume builders. A career advisor will

be on site to assist you with focusing on one area of a career path that works best for you so that

you save time and efforts by working on realistic career goals that are right for you (CV Tips,

2018). A large part of the career counselor's job is to guide you through the process of goal

setting in your career endeavors. The career counselor can help you identify the steps needed to

reach important goals along the way as you explore new career options or make changes in the

career you already have. This can be a major benefit for you if you struggle with reaching goals

or making changes, as you will be accountable not only to yourself, but to another person (CV

Tips, 2018). By taking advantage of the lounge staff resume builders, this could also help speed

up your work. Most often you need to create different resumes based on the type of job which

you applying for. Creating each resume from scratch can be really time consuming and tiresome.

However, having a direct point of contact for building resumes can considerably facilitate the

process, hence saving you time (Admin, 2014).

Location

The Networking Lounge will be located in Atlanta Georgia. Atlanta and the state of Georgia

offer a variety of incentives for businesses to relocate, including assistance with site selection, as

well as bonds, loans, and other incentives such as grants, conduit loans, and state tax

credits. According Jenkins (2019), Atlanta is the #2 city for Millennials and currently houses 1.4

million Millennials. Thirty-three percent of Atlanta's jobs come from startups. Atlanta-based

companies attracted more than $500 million in venture capital in 2015 (Jenkins, 2016).According

to Sherman (2019), your choice of business location affects your income, your expenses, and

sometimes whether you're operating legally. Even in an age where people can buy and sell

through the internet and project teams can collaborate from various states and countries, location

plays a significant role in your company's success or failure. I chose these locations because they

have a large population of diverse individuals.

Cost Effective Service Methods

This business is a business that brings like-minded people together for a purpose. The purpose of

the Networking Lounge differs so does its technical and manpower requirements. The exact

number of equipment, technology or manpower needed to run a networking lounge business

cannot be noted categorically until a particular niche would have be decided upon. Providing

consistent service, setting the best expectations, and providing consistent networking

opportunities are all the fundamentals of this Networking Lounge. To market our Networking

Lounge while saving money we will use different Social Media outlets to brand our business.

Benefits of marketing through social media is that it helps improve visibility, thus increasing

recognition for your brand. Your business social media profiles present new opportunities to

share your content and really present your brand’s voice and personality. By posting compelling

content that adds value for your target audience, you are making your brand both more accessible

and familiar for new leads and current customers (Smith,2019).

Facility Layout

The Networking Lounge will offer Communal dining experiences and open-concept restaurant

layouts which are very on-trend and translate well to smaller spaces. In open-concept dining,

keeping the area open to the kitchen is a budget-friendly solution, as is an exposed ceiling with

elements like ductwork and pipes visible and part of the design experience (Fabregas & Dougay,

2019). The kitchen will have ample kitchen flow and storage space. The kitchen needs to be

large enough to accomplish the goals of the restaurant while being efficiently designed. From the

appropriate equipment, ample food prep area, storage dry storage, shelves, freezer space, to

industrial sinks the flow of the kitchen must allow employees to move comfortably and safely

(Smart Draw, 2014). There will be a full-service bar available for guests. A bar with all the

fixings. That carries bottled beer, beer on draft, wines of various vintages and varieties, liqueurs,

schnapps, and liquor of all sorts. The restaurant will have accent lighting which adds drama to

your space. It is used to construct focal points around your front-of-house area. According to

WebstaurantStore (2019), this can be done by using light to highlight pieces of artwork or menu

boards, or you can use colorful lighting behind a bar or water fixture. Bright lights provide more

stimulation than low lighting. This means that your customers will be awake and alert. Bright

lighting is good for high-energy establishments like smoothie shops, cafes, or family-friendly

restaurants. This lighting can be achieved with large windows that let in natural light or bright

overhead light fixtures (WebstaurantStore, 2019).

Work Schedule

Logistics and Supply Chain

Cutting cost, utilizing inventory reduction, providing outstanding customer service. Reducing

employee turnover can some way help reduce costs. The average annual cost of restaurant

employee turnover is $146,600. We started by rewarding high-performing team members. For

example, launch an “employee of the month” program and show that employee some love with a

gift card and shout out on digital signage or posters (Siddall, 2019). According to Lohrey (2017),

an inventory budget analysis is a quantitative evaluation that compares cost estimations against

actual costs. A desired ending inventory valuation drives what a business plans to buy and how

much inventory it intends to hold over a given period of time. Purchasing expenses, holding

costs and how much, if any, becomes waste all play a role in evaluating an inventory budget and

controlling inventory costs (Lohrey, 2017). It is a requirement that the staff out The Networking

Lounge completes a Customer Service Training Program. According to Gruber (2013), while a

variety of elements go into creating a successful business, customer service is center stage. Every

interaction the company has with a customer (or potential customer) can affect the business’

bottom line. Offering customer service training to your employees doesn’t just add-value for the

customer; it can drive sales and give you a strong competitive advantage (Gruber, 2013).

Providing training on customer service allows employees to greater understand the impact their

role has on the organization. A company that invests in training shows their employees that they

care about continual development and progress (Gruber, 2013).

Quality Control

Customers want to ensure they are receiving top notch quality service each time they step into

your establishment. The food that will be serviced at The Networking Lounge must all be freshly

prepared, and consistent at all times. Menus should offer enough variety to satisfy tastes as well

as special dietary needs such as lactose-intolerance, gluten allergy or vegetarian. The resume

builders that will be on site of the location will be extremely knowledgeable of their jobs, and

very professional. Career Advisors must ensure they each have patience and strong leadership

skills to work with the clients that visit the business.

Legal Requirements

In relation to training your staff, you are legally required to provide proper training that covers

both basic training and food safety, and food handling. Training programs come in many forms

and it is up to you to decide in which method to train staff, i.e. online, classroom, manuals and

in-house training (McKnight, 2018). One area in the restaurant business you do not want to

skimp is insurance. Insurance can protect you and your business for a myriad of problems, from

broken equipment to liability lawsuits. Depending on where you live, you will need certain types

of insurance for your restaurant. You will also need to carry certain types of insurance to satisfy

your bank loans and mortgage. For people who are not only opening a lounge but are building

out a leased space or an entire structure to house the business, a use and occupancy permit is

required once all inspections have been complete. After this step, the business license can be

pursued, as can beer permit and liquor licenses.

Future Expansion

The future of The Networking Lounge is allowing it to be offered in many of cities and locations,

and franchise the business. According to Shane (2013), franchising is a good way to obtain

expansion capital. Your franchisees pay to buy outlets in your chain, you can grow the number of

locations without tapping much of your own capital or needing to request financing from banks

or investors. Franchising is a great way to find talented people to manage your locations and give

them an incentive to work hard. The most qualified and hardest working people generally prefer

to invest in running a business in return for profits rather than taking a salary as an employee. So

by franchising, you are going to get better talent that will work harder to build the business than

you would by hiring someone to work for you (Shane, 2013).

Biblical Principles for Operational Success

The first principle would be to focus on profit with a purpose. Knowing your priorities. Live life

and run your business with purpose and vision. Profit is powerful. Profit used well can lead to

both success and significance. Attract others to your Mission and your Dream. Always Explain

your Why (Gosnell, 2018). Another principle would be to practice steward leadership.

Practice using your resources wisely. Remember that God’s owns it all and He will reward those

that use his resources to their maximum capability. Be ready to give an answer for all of your

decisions. Seek to hear the words "well done (Gosnell, 2018)." Lastly, a Christian business

should have a commitment to its people. This includes the area of fair compensation,

performance recognition, and providing growth opportunities, both professionally and

personally. It has been determined that organizations that recognize the needs of their people and

create opportunities for them to fulfill those needs are able to bring out the very best in them

(Houdmann, 2010).

References

Krakoff, S. (2019). The Importance of Networking: Champlain College. Retrieved September

30, 2019, from https://www.champlain.edu/online/blog/importance-of-networking.

CV Tips. (2018). 5 Benefits of Career Counseling. Retrieved September 30, 2019, from

http://www.cvtips.com/career-choice/5-benefits-of-career-counseling.html.

Admin. (2014, December 9). Retrieved September 30, 2019, from

https://www.theresumebuilder.com/blog/major-benefits-of-using-an-online-resume-builder/.

Sherman, F. (2019, March 7). Why Is the Location of a Business Important? Retrieved October

2, 2019, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/location-business-important-43239.html.

McNulty, T. (n.d.). Business Lounge Network. Retrieved October 2, 2019, from

https://www.oflaherty-law.com/business-lounge-network.

Jenkins, R. (2016, June 20). 8 Reasons This City Is a Business Powerhouse. Retrieved October 2,

2019, from https://www.inc.com/ryan-jenkins/why-atlanta-is-the-best-city-to-base-your-

company.html.

Watermark Conf. (2016, June 20). About: Watermark Conference for Women: Silicon Valley.

Retrieved October 2, 2019, from https://www.watermarkconferenceforwomen.org/about/.

Smith, K. (2019, August 13). 15 Reasons Why Marketing Through Social Media Should Be

Prioritized. Retrieved October 8, 2019, from https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/marketing-

through-social-media/.

Fabregas, K., & Dougay, M. A. (2019, July 25). Planning Your Restaurant Floor Plan - Step-by-

Step Instructions. Retrieved October 10, 2019, from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/restaurant-

floor-plan/.

Smart Draw. (2014). Restaurant Floor Plan. Retrieved October 10, 2019, from

https://www.smartdraw.com/restaurant-floor-plan/.

Siddall, J. (2019, March 26). How to Cut Restaurant Costs in 12 Easy Steps. Retrieved October

11, 2019, from https://www.buzztime.com/business/blog/12-clever-ways-cut-costs-bar-

restaurant/.

Lohrey, J. (2017, November 21). Inventory Budget Analysis. Retrieved October 11, 2019, from

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/inventory-budget-analysis-73616.html.

Gruber, G. (2013, September 5). 4 Key Benefits of Customer Service Training Programs.

Retrieved October 11, 2019, from https://explorance.com/blog/4-key-benefits-customer-service-

training-programs/.

McKnight, L. (2018, October 26). What legal issues do I have to deal with when buying a

Restaurant? Retrieved October 11, 2019, from https://legalvision.com.au/legal-issues-deal-

buying-restaurant/.

Shane, S. (2013, May 7). The Pros and Cons of Franchising Your Business. Retrieved October

12, 2019, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226489.

Gosnell, K. (2018, January 13). 12 Biblical Principles On Which To Build A Business. Retrieved

October 12, 2019, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/12-biblical-principles-which-build-

business-ken-gosnell.

Houdmann, M. (2010, November 1). What principles should distinguish a Christian business?

Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-business.html.

WebstaurantStore. (2019, May 15). Types of Restaurant Lighting. Retrieved October 13, 2019,

from https://www.webstaurantstore.com/article/7/restaurant-lighting.html.