Q: Could you give information on getting a loan? I run a successful pizza takeaway business and am now seeking funds to open a restaurant.
Aug 17 2005
Answered by: Clive Lewis Ask a question
The obvious person to ask is your current bank manager. He or she will know your business skills and experience and will have built up a picture of your reliability. Some banks categorise and rank businesses according to a sort of credit rating. Those with the bottom rating are much more likely to end in disaster than any other group. If you have been successfully running a pizza takeaway, presumably your ranking won’t be too bad, it may even be very good.
Clearly you need to have a very good business plan for the restaurant. The plan should give strategy, marketing ideas, forecast profit and loss and cash flows. If you have had previous experience in running a restaurant you should emphasis that in the plan. Some of the banks give away free business planning software, allowing you to produce the figures quite easily. However, you must remember that the figures are only as good as you make them; try to get an accurate picture of costs, because the figure for revenue will be guess work.
Once you have prepared your pitch, try to practice your explanation on someone else (your spouse or partner, for example). This allows you to work out your best presentation. You may have only one opportunity to convince your bank manager so you need to get it right first time.
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