+

+

Caixas do

Mundo

Business Plan

+

Action Plan

+

Financial Matrix

Rita Pimentel

André Soares

Before reaching our business idea, we tried to identify some situations and problems to

create something that somehow gives an answer to it.

Situation 1:

When someone wants to eat an international food, people usually go to a thematic

restaurant.

Situation 2:

In our days we can verify an increasing number of culinary TV shows that match with the

increasing number of viewers. People take notes and record those shows to do some of the

recipes at their home. People want to learn and people want to do by themselves.

Situation 3:

Many people like to travel and experience new cultures. However, the current country’s

economic situation makes it difficult for some people because they don’t have the money to fund a

trip to an international location.

Executive

Summary

After identifying these 3 situations, we realize that the new culinary trend opens several

market opportunities because people already recognize chefs, techniques and gastronomy

diversity. That is the main reason for “Caixas do Mundo” creation. With this product we want to

give to our customers a fully international dining experience, starting with the preparation, room

decoration and ambient setting.

In the next pages we want to show how an online business created my two people that are

passionate about gastronomy and world cultures will have answer to these situations.

“Caixas do Mundo” is a new concept that will give to the costumer the opportunity to

prepare and relish a good meal from a foreign country. The main goal is to provide a truly

international experience.

To reach this concept we develop several boxes, each one representing one country’s

gastronomy. The first countries that we want to launch are: Thailand, Angola, Brazil, Italy and

Peru.

The box content will be a mix of products (sorted spices, different kinds of cured meat,

cheeses…) , some decoration items, a CD with backgrounds music and a booklet with the country

description and some tips to prepare a good traditional meal, including recipes and how to reach

a matching environment. An extra item can be added to the box content. This item will be a

kitchen utensil that is characteristic from the country. The customer can also choose to have a

private cooking class, where one of our chefs will teach how to prepare some traditional dishes

and some techniques, according the country.

Example: Thai Box

Products

Fish sauce - 1 bottle

Oyster sauce – 1 bottle

Mixed spices

Dried prawns – 300gr

Chillies – 250gr

Kaffir lime leaves – 1 bag

Rice noodles – 750gr

Product

Jasmine rice – 750gr

Black rice – 750kg

Brown rice – 750gr

Durian - 1

Dragon fruit – 500/700gr

Lemongrass – 1 bunch

Dried mango – 250gr

Dried banana -250gr

Tamarind paste

Dried fish

Coconut sugar – 500gr

Decoration Items

Incense burner + Incense

Sidharta Budha

Other Items

CD with background music

Booklet

Optional Item

Wok

This concept is innovative because the costumer will not have the necessity to go to a

thematic restaurant to have an international meal. By himself he will be able to build the entire

experience through our tips and products.

Distribution Channels

“Caixas do Mundo” will be sold online only for the Lisbon region for start. At the website

the costumer will be able to choose the box that he wants and also an extra item that might be

necessary to achieve better results. After placing the order the customer will be able to choose

the delivery date and the order will be delivered by CTT Expresso. Client’s support through

email will be available and, when sent in weekly business days between 9h00 and 19h00 the

answering period should be no more than 1 hour.

Communication

We want to advertise “Caixas do Mundo” in some TV cable channels, magazines and

newspapers. The word-of-mouth will also be very important to all process.

Logo

The company logo was designed so that customers could identify the international culinary

experience. Each continent is represented by a colour: Black for Africa, yellow for Asia, green for

Oceania, red for America and blue for Europe.

As previously said, for start this product will only be sold in Lisbon for logistic reason.

Once the implemented distribution method is approved we will start to sell to all country.

Clients

Our client target is between 25 and 60 years old from both genders with an average

purchase power.

Market

Active and forwarded people with a multicultural sense, passion for traveling and

experiencing new cultures.

Competitors

“Caixas do mundo” has no direct competitors because there is no other platform selling

products and items that allowed the costumer to prepare an international meal by himself at

home.

However we can consider thematic restaurants as competitors. Some examples in Lisbon

region are:

Brazilian: Chimarrão, Fogo de Chão, Sabor Mineiro

Italian: Capricciosa, Choupana Gordinni, Gattopardo

Angolan: Barra do Kwanza, Mulemba Xangola, Moamba

Thai: Thai Square, Sukhothai, Rock’n Thai

Peruvian: Qosqo

The advantage that we have from our competitors is the fact that we are giving to the

costumer the opportunity to prepare and personalize their own meal through some tips and

advices.

SWOT

Strengths

Management: “Caixas do mundo” is managed by two partners with a big passion for

gastronomy and multiculturalism.

Specialization and niche selling: The customer base created by online sales will allow

“Caixas do Mundo” to specialize in a certain niche products that could not support a more

traditional business model.

Low overhead cost: Startup costs for an online business are a fraction of the costs of starting

a traditional brick and mortar company.

Direct consumer communication: Online selling allows the business to maintain a higher

level of consumer communication. The communication happens when the order is placed, when

de order has shipped and then at a point in the future, should the customer opt-in to receiving

regular email communication.

Weaknesses

High customer expectations: Small business like “Caixas do Mundo” can appear to be

large on the Internet. Customers have no way of gauge the business actual level of man power

and resources. This leads to customers that demand the same level of service from business with

1-2 employees as they would from industry giants like amazon.com

Opportunities

High Availability: Selling on the internet allows the company to take orders around the

clock every day of the week. Orders can then be filled and processed during set business hours.

Strong business-to-business exchange: Websites allow for business-to-business exchange

links to increase traffic and search engine placement for each business’s sites. This opens lines of

communication on a business-to-business level and aids in the cooperation between companies.

Global exposure: Adding the online component to a business allows the company to sell

their products to a global market in the future.

Threats

Fraud: Some consumers are leery of doing online out of concerns of fraud and misuse of

their financial data. This alienates an entire segment of population from conducting business via

the internet.

Privacy Concerns: Some consumers prefer not to give any personal information out over

the internet because of fears that the information will be misused, lead to spam email or identity

fraud.

Suppliers: Some products of the boxes will come from overseas. We will not be able to

control some market fluctuations from there.

Positioning

“Caixas do Mundo”will be positioned as a company that provides an international

experience through food. The focus will be on quality and we will offer highly customized

products such the customers will be able to prepare their own foreign meal.

The team will be composed by the two creators of this project: André Soares and Rita

Pimentel.1

Both of them are concluding the Culinary Arts training and they have a passion for

international gastronomy.

1 Attached to this document you can find the team résumés

Team

The team will be splinted in:

Financial Manager: Will take care of all financial operations that include: controlling

income, cash flow and expenditure; managing budgets, carrying out business modelling and risk

assessment; undertaking research into pricing and factors affecting the performance.

Operations Manager: Will be responsible for all the logistics including orders reception,

orders preparation and distribution system.

Clients support: Will be responsible for answering the emails and phone calls from

customers.

Purchases Manager: Will be dealing with the supplier’s network, making sure that all the

products have the best quality.

A subcontracted web designer will also be part of the initial team to create the online

selling platform.

A viability study for the first 4 years of business was made2. On June 2014 we will start the

activity and we intend to sell (the presented prices are the final prices for customers):

Thai Box: 16 boxes per month at 70€ each.

Brazilian Box: 13 boxes per month at 65€ each.

Angolan Box: 15 boxes per month at 65€ each.

Italian Box: 11 boxes per month at 55€ each.

Peruvian Box: 13 boxes per month at 70€ each.

Wok: 8 units per month at 25€ each.

Clay Pot: 6 units per month at 30€ each.

Maxarico de funge: 7 units per month at 20€ each.

Pasta machine: 5 units per month at 30€ each.

Bambu mortar: 6 units per month at 25€ each.

We also intend to give around 5 personal cooking classes per month at 25€ each.

2 Consult Financial Matrix

Economical

Financial

Analysis

For 2015 we expect a growth rate of 15%, for 2016 of 20% and for 2017 of 20%.

The external services will have a total cost of 2.165,00 € in 2014 and 3.880,00 € for the next

years.

Regarding human resources, the two workers will receive 500,00€ per month in the first

year. For 2015,2016 and 2017 the monthly salary will be 750,00€, 1.000,00€ and 1.500,00€

respectively.

After all those gains and costs we can estimate a net result of 4.425,53€ for 2014, 9.823,38€

for 2015, 10.215,13€ for 2016 and 5.842,70€ for 2017, making this project viable.

+

Investment

Regarding equipment and space needed to start

our business we consider that the investment must be

divided in:

Small office with a dry pantry rent (our products

will be all dry and don’t need any refrigeration;

the fresh products like fruits will be acquired by

us in the delivery day);

Wooden boxes

Stamps for decoration

Communication devices – Cell Phone, computer,

printer

Office Materials – Desk, chair, shelf

Legal Issues

1- Activity beginning – Collective person located in

Portugal

2- Running the activity – Lisbon Municipality to

acquire a food commerce licence.

3- Hire a lawyer to take care of all legal issues.

We want to divide our funding system in two parts:

Own capital: Around 20% only to fund our trips to countries like Thailand, Peru and Brazil

to find the best suppliers and establish the best delivery channel.

Third parts: Around 80% to fund the business implantation, equipment and the first 100

boxes. We prefer to have business angels but we will consider the bank credit option too.

Funding

Motivation

The possibility of having and running our own business is a big motivation to us. Join

the passion for gastronomy and the passion for multiculturalism will be a huge achievement

for both of us.

We want to be successful and be great in what we do, giving to other people the

opportunity to live an international experience without expending too much money and

without living the country.

We think that this business has a big potential growth and once we are completely set

and comfortable selling the boxes in Lisbon we intend to expand to all country and offer a

bigger variety of countries.

We know that we are able to offer quality products and provide this experience to

people, through our effort and commitment.