A business plan follows a standard structure of seven or eight sections, from the executive summary through financial projections. Below, you’ll find each section explained with example language for a fictional company, so you can see what the finished product actually looks like and adapt it to your own business.
The example business throughout this article is “Greenleaf Meals,” a meal-prep delivery service targeting busy professionals in a mid-sized city. Every section below shows you both what to include and how to phrase it.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a one- to two-page overview of everything that follows. It covers your mission, your product, your team, your market opportunity, and your financial outlook. Even though it appears first, write it last. Once the full plan is done, it’s much easier to pull out the strongest highlights.
Keep the focus on benefits and results, not technical details. If you have any real-world traction (early sales, waitlist sign-ups, pilot results), include those numbers here. Investors and lenders use the executive summary to decide whether to keep reading, so every sentence needs to earn its place.
Here’s an abbreviated example:
Greenleaf Meals is a weekly meal-prep delivery service that provides fresh, dietitian-designed meals to working professionals who want to eat well but don’t have time to cook. Founded in 2024 by Chef Maria Torres and registered dietitian James Park, the company completed a 12-week pilot serving 85 subscribers with a 91% retention rate. The U.S. meal-kit delivery market is projected to exceed $15 billion, and Greenleaf targets the underserved segment of single-portion, calorie-counted meals priced below $10 per serving. We are seeking $250,000 in startup financing to lease a commercial kitchen, hire two prep cooks, and fund marketing for our first full year of operations. We project $420,000 in Year 1 revenue, reaching profitability by month 14.
Company Description
This section goes deeper than the summary. Describe the specific problem your business solves, the customers you serve, and the competitive advantages that set you apart. State your legal structure (LLC, S corporation, sole proprietorship, etc.) and basic details like your founding date and location.
Example:
Greenleaf Meals LLC was formed in March 2024. The company operates out of a licensed commercial kitchen and delivers to customers within a 30-mile radius.
The problem: Most meal-kit services require 30 to 45 minutes of cooking and serve two or more people, leaving single professionals with either excess food or no time savings. Greenleaf solves this by delivering fully prepared, single-serving meals that require only reheating.
Our competitive advantages include proprietary recipes developed by a registered dietitian, partnerships with three local farms for below-wholesale produce pricing, and a subscription model that locks in weekly revenue. Our target customers are professionals ages 25 to 45 earning $50,000 or more who value convenience and nutrition but feel underserved by existing options.
Market Analysis
The market analysis shows you understand your industry, your target customer, and your competition. This is where you present research, not opinions. Include the size of your market, growth trends, and what successful competitors are doing well.
A strong market analysis also identifies gaps. Look at what competitors charge, how they acquire customers, and where they fall short. Then explain how your business fits into that landscape.
Example:
The U.S. meal-kit and meal-delivery industry has grown steadily, driven by consumers prioritizing convenience and health. Within this market, fully prepared meal delivery is growing faster than cook-at-home kits, as time-pressed consumers shift toward zero-prep options.
Three direct competitors operate in our delivery area. Competitor A offers family-sized portions starting at $12 per serving. Competitor B focuses on fitness-oriented customers with a minimum order of 10 meals per week at $11 per serving. Neither offers single-portion flexibility at a sub-$10 price point. Our customer survey of 200 local professionals found that 68% would switch from their current meal solution if a convenient, affordable, single-serving option were available.
Organization and Management
This section tells the reader who runs the company and why they’re qualified. Include an organizational chart if you have more than two or three team members. Highlight relevant experience, not just job titles.
Example:
Greenleaf Meals is co-founded by Maria Torres and James Park, who serve as CEO and COO, respectively.
Maria Torres has 12 years of experience in professional kitchens, including five years as head chef at a farm-to-table restaurant. She oversees menu development, kitchen operations, and vendor relationships.
James Park holds a Master’s in Nutrition Science and spent six years designing meal programs for a corporate wellness company serving 4,000 employees. He manages nutritional standards, customer experience, and marketing strategy.
The company plans to hire two prep cooks and one delivery driver in the first quarter of operations. An advisory board includes a local restaurant owner and a small-business accountant.
Products and Services
Describe exactly what you sell, how it benefits the customer, and what the product lifecycle looks like. If you have intellectual property, research and development plans, or supplier relationships that matter, include them here.
Example:
Greenleaf Meals offers three subscription tiers:
- Starter: 5 meals per week at $8.50 per meal ($42.50/week)
- Standard: 10 meals per week at $7.75 per meal ($77.50/week)
- Full Plan: 14 meals per week at $7.25 per meal ($101.50/week)
Each meal is calorie-counted (400 to 600 calories), labeled with full macronutrient information, and packaged in microwave-safe, compostable containers. The rotating menu features 20 recipes per month, with new seasonal menus introduced quarterly. All recipes are proprietary and developed in-house.
Shelf life is five days from preparation. Meals are delivered in insulated bags every Sunday and Wednesday, keeping food at safe temperatures for up to four hours after delivery.
Marketing and Sales Strategy
Explain how you plan to attract customers and how a sale actually happens, from first contact to payment. Be specific about channels, pricing strategy, and customer retention tactics. This section feeds directly into your financial projections, so the numbers need to be consistent.
Example:
Customer acquisition will rely on three primary channels:
- Digital advertising: Targeted social media ads focused on professionals within our delivery radius, with a projected cost of $22 per new subscriber based on pilot data.
- Corporate partnerships: Discounted first-week trials offered through employer wellness programs. During our pilot, one corporate partnership generated 30 subscribers in two weeks.
- Referral program: Existing subscribers receive one free meal for each new customer they refer. During the pilot, 24% of new sign-ups came through referrals.
The sales process is entirely online. Customers visit our website, select a plan, choose dietary preferences, and enter payment information. Subscriptions auto-renew weekly unless paused or canceled. Our pilot showed an average subscriber lifetime of 11 weeks, and our retention strategy includes monthly menu surveys, loyalty discounts at the 8-week mark, and a “pause instead of cancel” option.
Funding Request
If you’re seeking money, state the exact amount, what type of funding you want (a loan, an equity investment, a line of credit), and how you’ll use every dollar. Cover the next three to five years if possible. Be specific enough that a lender or investor can see the logic behind each line item.
Example:
Greenleaf Meals is seeking $250,000 in debt financing with a five-year repayment term. Funds will be allocated as follows:
- Commercial kitchen lease and buildout: $80,000
- Equipment (commercial refrigerators, prep stations, packaging system): $55,000
- Initial inventory and supplier deposits: $20,000
- Marketing and customer acquisition (first 12 months): $45,000
- Staffing (first 6 months of payroll for 3 employees): $40,000
- Working capital reserve: $10,000
If you don’t need outside funding, you can skip this section entirely. But if you’re applying for an SBA loan or pitching investors, this is one of the most scrutinized parts of the plan.
Financial Projections
Financial projections translate your business model into numbers. Include an income statement (revenue minus expenses, showing profit or loss), a cash flow statement (when money actually enters and leaves your account), and a balance sheet (what the business owns versus what it owes). Project these out three to five years. If your business is already operating, include historical financial data as well.
You don’t need to be an accountant to build these, but they do need to be grounded in realistic assumptions. Every revenue number should connect back to your marketing plan and pricing. Every expense should tie to something described earlier in the plan.
Example (Year 1 income statement, simplified):
- Revenue: $420,000 (based on reaching 150 active subscribers by month 12 at an average of $65/week)
- Cost of goods sold (ingredients, packaging): $168,000 (40% of revenue)
- Gross profit: $252,000
- Operating expenses (rent, payroll, marketing, insurance, delivery): $273,000
- Net loss, Year 1: ($21,000)
- Projected break-even: Month 14
Include an appendix with supporting documents if you have them: tax returns, contracts with suppliers, letters of intent from corporate partners, or detailed monthly cash flow spreadsheets. These aren’t required in the body of the plan, but lenders often ask for them.
Adapting This Structure to Your Business
The Greenleaf Meals example above is a service business seeking a loan, but the same structure works for retail, manufacturing, consulting, tech startups, and freelance businesses. A few adjustments depending on your situation:
If you’re not seeking funding, drop the funding request section and simplify the financial projections to focus on your own planning needs. A plan you’re writing purely for internal use can be shorter and more informal, though the thinking behind each section is still valuable.
If you’re in a technology or product business, the products and services section should go deeper into development timelines, prototyping costs, and any patents or trademarks you’re pursuing. If you’re in a service business, emphasize your process, your credentials, and your capacity to scale.
Some founders prefer a lean format: a single-page document built around key hypotheses about your customer, your value proposition, your revenue model, and your cost structure. This works well for very early-stage businesses that are still testing their idea. But if you’re applying for a bank loan, pitching investors, or managing a business with employees and significant expenses, the full plan outlined above is what readers will expect.
A typical full business plan runs 15 to 30 pages, not counting the appendix. The executive summary should be one to two pages. Each section after that can range from one to five pages depending on the complexity of your business. Quality matters more than length. A concise, well-supported plan beats a padded one every time.