Healing Cafe Business Plan


1.0 Executive Summary

1.1 Financial Objectives

1.2 Mission

The Healing Cafe is the embodiment of a new awareness that is blossoming in the post Katrina environment of New Orleans. It's aim is to provide a space in which the food that is served reflects and nourishes the the spirit of healing that we are cultivating. It will fill a void in the restaurant landscape of New Orleans by providing meals that have high organic, vegetarian, and and healthy components. It builds off of successful models used in virtually all other major cities around the country, while infusing the dishes served with a distinctly creole flavor.

The cafe functions as a social hub for the healing center community by providing a place for people who participate in events and classes to congregate and connect in a casual atmosphere. It also attracts people from the community at large that value healthy, natural, energetic cuisine.

There is a program operating out of the cafe that teaches at -risk -youth job skills in a helpful environment and assists them in developing a sense of competency and a new capacity to direct their lives in a positive direction. After completing the program, they are assisted in job placement where they will be able to utilize what they have learned.

We are opening the cafe out of a desire to raise the consciousness of people concerning proper nutrition and provide an outlet where people may experience healthy cooking at it's finest. By educating locals and encouraging them to explore the link between the food they eat and their overall vitality, the cafe is the harbinger of conscious cooking to the already rich culinary tradition of New Orleans renown restaurants.

1.3 Keys to Success

1. Organic and local produce: By embracing the cutting edge of the alternative food culture, including the local food and organic movements. we are setting ourselves apart in a city that is by and large is based on more conventional models of food consumption.

2. Outreach Program: The youth empowerment program that operates out of the cafe during lunch can generate more interest and free press than the cafe alone. By providing our experiential work program to at-risk-youth, we're employing model that encourages community involvement in yet another format that only benefits the overall success of the cafe.

3. Uniqueness: Because we are targeting a segment of the population that no one else in New Orleans has directly tapped into, we're at an advantage that is hard to come by, and that is that we can market ourselves as a truly unique dining experience in an extremely saturated market.

4. Connection to Center: The healing center will draw additional clientele to the restaurant and contribute greatly to it's positioning as a health food destination and it's reputation. The center and cafe can play complimentary roles as each enhances other.

5. Increasing Awareness: The cafe's philosophy has already gone mainstream in most cities across America. By drawing attention to the issues of organic and local food, and raising awareness within the local community of the importance of a nutritional diet in a holistic health scheme, we are positioning ourselves strategically in a culture who's growing acceptance of the ideals that we promote ensures our success in the future.

1.4 Staff

1.Program Director for non-profit and outreach

2.Restaraunt Manager

3.Executive Chef

4.Floof Manager

5.Assistent Chef

6. Wait staff

7. Kitchen staff


2.0 Products and Services

2.1 Description

The cafe provides the community with a style of cooking that is an integral component of overall wellness. Processed foods, fried foods, and artificial ingredients are conspicuously absent from the menu. Alternatively, the cafe highlights and promotes organic and local produce. We draw from across cultures to present a wide variety of natural, healthy, and balanced fare. The natural ingredients are prepared in dishes that revere the creole and cajun traditions of the area but are lovingly altered to render them more nutritional and conscious. We also draw from the pantheon of natural cooking elements from pan asian, middle eastern, latin american, caribbean, and napa valley traditions.

2.2 The Menu

The cafe's focus is primarily vegetarian, however, vegan and raw food dishes are also included on the menu and specials as well. Furthermore, local seafood is featured on the menu, in part to support local industry, and to honor the unique dietary culture that is embedded in the region. It also acts as a bridge for those who might be unfamiliar with the vegetarian dishes. In addition to the food offered, there are a wide array of healthy beverages sold at the cafe, including a host of different teas, fair trade coffees, and natural juices, and smoothies.

2.3 Atmosphere

The ambience of the cafe is enhanced by a variety of positive and inspiring music from at home and around the world. In addition, the cafe showcases local visionary artist and their works which will be for sale around the restaurant.

2.4 Service

The cafe is open for both lunch and dinner, closing in between shifts. It's seating capacity is approximately 50 people. The food is moderately priced, due to the high quality ingredients used and large proportion of organic produce included in the meals that we offer.

2.5 Competitive Comparison

There is not one restaurant in New Orleans that currently offers a product quite like what the cafe offers. We are targeting a niche market, but one that is steadily growing that no other place in town has yet catered to. Because of a lack of other establishments offering similar services, the competition from other restaurants with closely identical philosophies is virtually non existent.



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