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RUNNING HEAD: TACOS RÁPIDOS BUSINESS PROPOSAL

Business Proposal:

Tacos Rápidos

Radford University

December 1, 2015

By: Brooke Akers, Megan Beane, Maurice Nelson, and Meleana Tisci

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TACOS RÁPIDOS BUSINESS PROPOSAL

The Table of Contents

Contents The Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... 2

The Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. 3

Description of Business .................................................................................................................. 3

Description of Product/Service ....................................................................................................... 4

Industry ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Customers ....................................................................................................................................... 5

Competition..................................................................................................................................... 5

Advertising & Promotion ................................................................................................................ 7

Location .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Suppliers/Source of Materials ......................................................................................................... 8

Management .................................................................................................................................... 9

Financial Plan................................................................................................................................ 10

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The Executive Summary

Radford University offers a variety of dining items for students and staff. These items

will include beef, chicken, or shrimp tacos, churros, chips and salsa, as well as a Mexican

breakfast omelet. However, all of these restaurants are stationary and do not offer the option to

move to heavily populated areas. These options include pizza, fast food options, Chinese, and

sushi to name a few. One option that appeals to many college aged individuals is Mexican

cuisine. This is one of the few options that Radford University does not offer. Tacos Rápidos

will fulfill the need for Mexican cuisine near the campus of Radford University. Tacos Rápidos

will be parking on different locations off campus as well as central locations throughout the City

of Radford. This will allow both college students and faculty to enjoy the products, as well as

individuals who do not attend or work at Radford University.

Tacos Rápidos will be serving only the freshest ingredients to create healthy, delicious, and

affordable meals. As business owners, we will be purchasing the truck and partnering with a

locally owned food business to use refrigeration and storage space when the Tacos Rápidos is

not in operation. Before beginning the business, we will have to acquire the appropriate licenses

and permits. These may include but are not limited to Business and Professional License, Health

Department inspections, and Mobile Food Vendor permit. Start-up costs that the taco truck will

have to pay include the cost of the truck, kitchen appliances inside of the truck, a logo for

marketing, and cash registers. These costs will be provided by personal owners of the truck, so

no investors are needed. Ongoing costs that are needed for the truck include taco ingredients and

business supplies, gasoline, insurance and regular inspections and licenses.

Description of Business

The name of the business is Tacos Rápidos. The business is organized by a private

corporation run by food truck owners. We will utilize Radford University students as well as

community members as staff for the truck. The business will take about a year to organize. The

business is mobile and can travel to different parts of Radford and surrounding areas. This will

open up more options for the costumers and also create more revenue. The truck will also be

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available for special event services such as the Highlander Festival, Club Fair, and Graduation.

Due to the fact that our business will have high and low seasons, we will offset the potential

profit loss during the slow season by traveling to surrounding areas of Christiansburg,

Blacksburg, and Pulaski.

Description of Product/Service

Tacos Rápidos sells classic Mexican cuisine, tacos, made with fresh, quality ingredients

of the consumer’s choosing. Tacos Rápidos offers Radford University students and the Radford

community with the opportunity to enjoy amazing Mexican cuisine all day, as well as after hours

of any fixed dining competitors. The Tacos Rápidos’ main attraction is the classic taco, but the

business also offers a brunch and dessert menu. This ensures that no matter the time of day,

anyone can enjoy great food from Tacos Rápidos. The service at Tacos Rápidos is fast and

efficient, to ensure maximum satisfaction of all customers.

The service provided by Tacos Rápidos is a solution to the “late-night craving” of Mexican

cuisine. Tacos Rápidos is also convenient and fast for food on the go, or to enjoy with friends on

a nice day. Tacos Rápidos is within walking distance to Radford University’s campus so students

without cars can obtain services. Radford University students and the Radford community would

benefit from Tacos Rápidos and would be extremely satisfied. Tacos Rápidos provides a quick

and tasty meal that appeals to everyone’s budget.

Industry

Our business represents the commercial food industry, more specifically the food truck

industry. This industry has become extremely popular in recent years. The concept of food

trucks is not a new one by any means. The first food trucks began popping up around the

country in the late 1950s. Their popularity diminished after the development of fast-food chains

and drive-through restaurants. However, in the past ten years, food trucks have been increasing

in popularity and availability.

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The food truck industry can be more difficult to enter into than the more traditional

restaurant industry. While they still require the same health permits and licenses, mobile food

trucks require even more permits that allow them to park at different businesses or on

commercial property. Due to the fact that they are mobile restaurants, there are many permits,

licenses, and codes that owners must acquire and abide by. Depending on which class the food

truck is determines which licenses are needed. The Radford Taco Truck is a Class IV food truck.

The first license the food truck must obtain is a “Business, Professional, and

Occupational License”. This is a basic business license to allow the truck to operate on a

commercial level. Next, the food truck owners must apply for a “Food Establishment Permit”.

This allows the food truck to store, prepare, and serve food items. Depending on where the food

truck intends to park and sell its product, there could be other permits that we need to obtain.

These may include zoning approval permits, solicitor's licenses, or “Mobile Food Vendor

Permits”.

Customers

The customers of Tacos Rápidos will be the community of Radford University as well as

the City of Radford. The ages will be from 18-22 for students, older than 22 for the staff of RU,

and for the community of Radford the ages vary from children to the elderly. We are manly

targeting college students during the night, but for the day the community of Radford such as

faculty and staff. The gender and economic status of the customers vary. The main economic

status ranges from high to low economic income. The customers need a good, quality product,

which Tacos Rápidos provides through satisfactory meals. The product will satisfy the

customer’s need by providing good, valued mobile tacos that they have easy access to.

Competition

Our potential customers currently buy Mexican cuisine products at restaurants in Radford

including, El Charro, Roca’s, Pollo Loco, and El Texano. No other restaurants in Radford

provide late-night Mexican food after 10pm. Late night merchants in Radford that University

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students are able to easily access, that aren’t Mexican food, include Benny’s pizza and Jimmy

John’s.

The strengths of El Charro are their fresh ingredients, along with quality service, and

staff. The weakness of the restaurant is that they close at 10pm every night, and 9pm on Sunday.

Also, a car is required in order to go out to eat because it is not within walking distance.

The strengths of Roca’s is that they are a modernized Mexican restaurant that is both new

and exciting to the Radford community, attracting business from both the university students and

the community. The weaknesses of the restaurant is that it is a bit more upscale and pricey for

the students to afford. They also close at 10pm every night, and 9pm on Sunday. Transportation

is also necessary for this service.

Pollo Loco and El Texano combined both have strengths of quality food that is within

walking distance to Radford University's campus. This is important because they are able to

reach their target market of students. Their weaknesses are that they also close at 10pm.

Tacos Rápidos will compete with other Mexican restaurant businesses due to the late

hours of operation and location changes. On weekends, Tacos Rápidos will be the main

attraction and become available within walking distance to on and off-campus students. The

truck will be open as late as 3am on Friday and Saturday. An advantage Tacos Rápidos has over

competitors is that they are able to move locations dependent on demand. The Taco Truck will

also appear at sporting events and park attractions that will provide options for the community

and guests. During late night hours, it can visit light side and dark side next to campus, and

during the day, it can travel to shopping plazas in Radford.

The key to our success over other competitors includes affordability for basic items.

Customers of Tacos Rápidos have the freedom to add extra toppings to their experience with

little extra charge. At traditional Mexican restaurants extra toppings can range from two to five

dollars. At Tacos Rápidos, our extras are only one dollar. Giving customers the flexibility to

create the exact meal that they want at an affordable price sets Tacos Rápidos apart from our

competition.

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Advertising & Promotion

One of the most important steps to opening a business is reaching out to the customers.

The taco truck will connect to the community in multiple ways. The most popular information

distribution will be through our social media accounts. Tacos Rápidos will tweet information

regarding specials and contests. We will also utilize Instagram to give customers a visual of

what they are receiving and who we are as a company. Facebook will be used to spread the word

of the taco truck and share information quickly. Tacos Rápidos will also be able to reach

customers through advertising at community functions such as sporting events, intramurals, the

highlander festival, various events at Bisset Park, etc. Other promotional tools that will be useful,

for those who do not participate in the community or who are unskilled at social media, are local

radio station announcements and access to online services through the taco truck website and

Radford website. There, customers will be able to see the menu and pricing, as well keep up with

the taco truck news.

Tacos Rápidos is affordable and easily accessible with its mobility, which will appeal to

many people in Radford. The customers will buy tacos because of the efficiency in service,

quality of food, and affordable pricing influencing them to return regularly. High levels of

satisfaction in customers is a fundamental building block for a thriving business. Since the

market is the entire city of Radford there will be flyers with coupon attachments at various stores

and business such as Wal-Mart, Lowes, Radford University, housing clubhouses, Christiansburg

Mall, Kroger, Food Lion, banks, and other locations visited by the community citizens.

Using social media contests and entries such as the "hashtag," #TacosRápidos, we will be

able to monitor how much participation is amongst users. The use of coupons on our flyers will

be another way to measure how aware people are of the taco truck and our services. The most

efficient way to track progress is to analyze sales, if they are rising then advertising and

marketing is beneficial and successful.

Location

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One of the major factors crucial to the success of Tacos Rápidos is location. The taco

truck is a mobile food truck, so there will be no stationary location. We have decided that the

main location that the food truck will set up is central locations outside of Radford University’s

main campus. During special events on campus such as graduation, Club Fair, and Highlander

Festival, we will be able to park on campus and provide services to these large crowds.. Other

locations that the food truck will park may include but are not limited to; Greenhill Apartments

in Radford and various locations on Main Street in Radford. These locations will broaden our

customer base and provide opportunities for customers not affiliated with Radford University to

enjoy the services of the Radford Taco Truck.

Suppliers/Source of Materials

The materials needed to complete production would be a truck set up or adapted to be a

food truck, food ingredients, a drink machine, cash register, uniforms, cleaning supplies, plates,

napkins, utensils, gloves, gas to run the truck, and a small stove. We will have a fully equipped

truck for proper storage. We will get the raw materials from local grocery stores to ensure

quality and freshness.

Below is an outlined diagram of what the truck will look like inside, in regards to

preparing, storing, refrigerating, cooking and cleaning the truck.

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Management

The management team must have experience in the food industry and management

education in order to be a part of our company. The makeup of the board of directors includes

the owners of the business who will be making all executive decisions and plans for operation.

The owners are the main management team who will supervise the company executively.

The staff positions that need to be filled include a marketing team (1 or 2), shift managers

(2), delivery pick-ups/storage shifts (3), cashiers/servers (6-8), and cooks (5). All of these

positions are key in order to get the business on track, and functioning most effectively. The shift

managers will be in charge of making schedules and staff oversight for the business, and

notifying the staff of the hours their service is needed. The shift manager is also in charge of

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making sure the business is running smoothly when the owner(s) are unable to oversee the

process.

The accountant for Tacos Rápidos will be responsible for accounting for all of the

expenses of the business including gas, groceries, and salaries. The accountant will track the

money the business is making at each location by hour and will provide the owners with an

analysis so the owners can make adjustments and improve income revenue. The banker of Tacos

Rápidos will be the owners of the business. The owners will make all executive decisions.

An attorney on retainer is indispensable for the company in order to ensure safety upon

the owner’s business in case of an accident to the truck, staff, or customers. The attorney on

retainer is responsible for familiarizing himself or herself with Tacos Rápidos, should they need

their service. The insurance we will need should cover the truck and the business in order to

maintain control and protect against potential law pursuits. Consultants will only be necessary

when needed for professional opinions the owner needs concerning their business decisions.

Financial Plan

The pricing for Tacos Rápidos standard taco combo is three tacos for five dollars. This

price is reasonable for consumers comparable with outside competitors, and is a lot less

expensive. The standard taco is the customer’s choice of hard or soft tacos, with the meat of their

choice (beef, pork, shrimp, or chicken), and cheese, lettuce, and tomato. The pricing of the three

tacos becomes more expensive when the customers wish to add more on their standard taco. It

then becomes their unique taco creation. They have the choice of adding guacamole, queso,

grilled onions, grilled peppers, mild/medium/hot salsa, and sour cream. The first add on topping

is 50 cents, and every add-on after that is one dollar.

Figure Below: Steps to Order

Step 1: Choose your meat! Each comes with

cheese, lettuce, and tomato!

Step 2: Add your toppings! (50c - $1)

Beef Queso/salsa

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Pork Guacamole

Shrimp Grilled onions/peppers

Chicken Sour cream

Tacos Rápidos, compared to stationary restaurants, will be less costly and more

achievable because of its simple yet effective philosophy. The philosophy of the food truck

service is to achieve maximum customer service using minimal resources. However, the start up

for a taco truck does range from $50,000-$65,000, but it is safer to start with $90,000-$100,000

to cover unforeseen emergencies. That will cover the truck, supplies, cooking equipment,

payroll, insurance, licenses, fuel, and other various items needed for operation. First we must put

together all the money we have to decide how much more will be needed. Owners can raise

$10,000-$25,000 before additional funding is needed. After that has been established the first

place we will look for outside funding is through the drink-vending distributor.

Tacos Rápidos will sell Coca-Cola products. In efforts of their own marketing scheme,

Coca-Cola creates contract agreements with businesses that sell their product. In return, these

businesses will receive funding and/or marketing exposure. Of course Coca-Cola is not going to

fund the entire project. Additional funding from a bank loan would be our next step to acquiring

the remaining funds. Using personal resources and vendor funding this will make the loan more

attainable and decrease its liability factor in the long term. Like any other business it will take

time to start reaping profits after startup, but essentially after 10,000-20,000 taco transactions

have been made the first cost of startup will be made back. If the taco truck averages 100

transactions every day in 200 days a $100,000 startup can be paid in full.

Truck and Equipment $26,000

Payroll $15,000

Supplies and Inventory $10,000

Insurance, Licensing, and Permits $10,000

Storage $5,000/ year $416/ month

Miscellaneous $2,500

Marketing $1,500

Emergency funds $30,000

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