THIS IS ENTERPURNURSHIP AND CREATIVITY ASSIGNMENT

You are the Founding Team for a new restaurant, The Dragon Restaurant Company. You are in the planning stages to prepare to launch this new business, and must determine the startup costs that will be needed to be ready to open your doors on January 1st.

Your concept for this restaurant is to have a family-style, sit-down restaurant located in the Columbia area of Howard County, Maryland. You have calculated that you need a space of about 1,600 sq. ft. that can handle a maximum of 40 diners at one time.

You have limited financial resources and you need to keep startup costs to a minimum, but you do not want them so low that it jeopardizes the success of your venture.

CONTROL ASSETS WITHOUT OWNING = Control as many assets as possible through strategies other than ownership.

CONSERVE CASH = Devise strategies that require as little cash expenditures as possible; move expenses from startup costs to operating expenses.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE = Make decisions that will not reduce the value to be provided to customers.

Such techniques should be used to lower costs as:

Leasing versus buying.

Start-up costs, versus operating costs.

Debt versus equity.

How increased overhead effects your break-even.

How cutting costs too much effects customer service.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

Organize your needs and determine your strategy and process.

Identify ways to lower your startup costs.

Calculate the new startup cost, and explain how you will lower the cost (Assumptions), and provide evidence to substantiate your estimate.

Lowering some costs may cause an increase in other costs, such as lowering marketing expenditures will cause customer development to be slower, causing revenue to be lower, and requiring more working capital. You must identify and increase those costs that will be affected by a lowering of specific startup costs.

Complete your worksheet and prepare a presentation of your Startup Costs Plan. The presentation can be either PowerPoint slides (just a couple slides) or a WORD document (1 - 2 pages) explaining the strategy you used to lower start-up costs, the decisions you made, and how this plan for startup costs can lower your risk of failure and help you create a successful business venture.