Business Plan Template: What to Write in Every Section

A business plan template gives you the right sections in the right order, so you spend your time on what to say rather than how to lay it out. This one goes further: for every section it tells you what to write, what to leave out and shows a short example line.

The example lines all come from one imaginary business, a 40-seat coffee shop in south Manchester we’ll call Northside Coffee. Following one business through every section shows how the parts connect, which is the thing most templates miss.

The free business plan template outline

Copy this outline into a blank document. Each line is a heading, and the note after it is the question that section must answer.

1. Executive summary: what is this business and why should I say yes?
2. Company overview: who are you, where are you and what legal form do you trade under?
3. Products and services: what exactly do you sell, and what problem does it solve?
4. Market analysis: who buys, how many of them are there and what do they spend?
5. Competitor analysis: who else sells to them, and why will some choose you?
6. Marketing and sales plan: how will customers hear about you, and what will it cost?
7. Operations plan: how does the business run day to day?
8. Management and team: who’s in charge, and why can they pull this off?
9. Financial plan: what will you sell, spend, earn and hold in cash over 3 to 5 years?
10. Funding request: how much do you need, what is it for and how will it be repaid?
11. Appendix: the evidence: quotes, CVs, letters of intent, detailed tables.

That’s the whole skeleton. Now let’s fill it in.

How to use this business plan template

Don’t try to write it top to bottom in one sitting. Start by jotting rough bullet points under every heading, even the ones you’re unsure about. Gaps show up fast, and gaps are useful: they tell you what to research next.

Then do the numbers. Your sales forecast and costs will change what you say about marketing, staffing and funding, so it pays to get them roughed out early. Finally, turn the bullets into short paragraphs and write the summary.

Section by section: what to write

Work through these in order, except the executive summary. Write that last, once you know what the rest of the plan says.

1. Executive summary

One page, maximum. Many readers stop here, so it has to stand on its own. Cover what you do, who for, why now, the headline numbers and what you’re asking for.

Lead with the business, not your life story. Put the funding ask in the first few lines, not buried at the end.

Example: Northside Coffee will open a 40-seat speciality coffee shop in south Manchester in spring 2027. We’re seeking a £25,000 loan towards total start-up costs of £60,000, and expect to break even at around 118 customers a day.

2. Company overview

The basic facts. Business name, legal form (sole trader, partnership, limited company), location, owners and the date you started or plan to start. Add your mission in one sentence if you have one, but skip the corporate slogans.

Example: Northside Coffee Ltd is a private limited company owned equally by its two founders. It will trade from a leased ground-floor unit near a busy tram stop.

3. Products and services

Describe what you sell in terms a customer would use. List your main products or services with prices. Explain the problem you solve or the want you meet, and anything that makes your offer different.

Don’t claim to be “unique”. Show the difference instead: a later closing time, a local supplier, a faster turnaround.

Example: Our menu centres on espresso drinks from £2.90 to £4.20, fresh pastries and a short lunch menu. We’ll open until 7pm on weekdays, when the two nearest competitors close at 4pm.

4. Market analysis

Who are your customers and how many of them can you realistically reach? Define them by place, age, income or business type. Then size the market with real data: population figures, footfall counts, industry spending.

Quote your sources. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics is the go-to for population and spending data. A figure with a source beats a bigger figure without one.

Example: Around 9,000 people live within a ten-minute walk, and a two-day count outside the site recorded an average of 1,100 passers-by between 7am and 7pm.

5. Competitor analysis

Name your main competitors, direct and indirect. For each, note price, strengths and weaknesses. A simple table works well. Then explain where you fit and why some of their customers will come to you.

“We have no competitors” is the most damaging sentence in any plan. It tells the reader you haven’t looked.

Example: Three cafés sit within 500 metres. The nearest chain outlet is busy but has no seating after 2pm; the two independents close at 4pm. Nobody serves the after-work crowd.

6. Marketing and sales plan

How will people find you, and how much will that cost? List your channels (local social media, a launch offer, partnerships, signage, online listings) with a budget for each. Link spending to expected results where you can.

Example: We’ll spend £2,500 on launch: a free-coffee opening weekend, targeted local social ads and a loyalty card. After launch, marketing runs at about £300 a month.

7. Operations plan

The practical side. Premises, equipment, suppliers, opening hours, staffing and any licences, insurance or registrations you need. Show the reader you’ve thought through how a normal day runs.

Example: We’ll open 7am to 7pm, six days a week, with two staff on each shift plus a founder. Coffee comes from a Manchester roaster on weekly delivery.

8. Management and team

For each key person: role, relevant experience and what they bring. Be honest about gaps and how you’ll fill them, whether that’s an accountant, an adviser or a future hire.

Lenders and investors back people as much as ideas. Specific experience (“ran a 30-cover café for four years”) counts for far more than adjectives (“passionate”, “driven”).

Example: Co-founder Sam managed a busy city-centre café for five years, handling rotas, stock and a £350,000 turnover. Co-founder Priya is a qualified bookkeeper.

9. Financial plan

The heart of the plan for most readers. Include a sales forecast, an income statement, a cash flow forecast, a balance sheet and a break-even calculation, usually covering 3 years (5 for investors). State your key assumptions in plain words: prices, volumes, growth, payment terms.

Keep the commentary short and let the tables speak. Our guide to financial projections for a business plan explains each statement with a worked example.

Example: We assume 140 customers a day at an average spend of £5.50, six days a week, giving first-year sales of about £240,000 and an operating profit of around £25,000 before interest, tax and depreciation.

10. Funding request

State the amount, the type (loan, equity, grant) and exactly what it pays for. Show your own contribution. Explain how and when the money will be repaid, or what an investor gets in return.

Example: Start-up costs total £60,000: fit-out £32,000, equipment £14,000, opening stock and deposit £6,000 and working capital £8,000. The founders invest £20,000, a family investor £15,000, and we seek a £25,000 loan.

11. Appendix

Anything that backs up your claims but would clutter the main text: supplier quotes, a lease heads of terms, CVs, letters from future customers, detailed monthly cash flow. Refer to each item from the main plan so the reader knows it’s there.

A one-page business plan template

Sometimes you need the short version first. A one-page plan is great for testing an idea, briefing a co-founder or opening a conversation with a mentor before you write the full thing.

• The business: one sentence on what you sell and to whom.
• The problem: what your customer struggles with today.
• Your answer: your product or service and why it’s better for them.
• The market: how many customers you can reach, with one sourced number.
• Competition: two or three names and your edge.
• How you’ll sell: your main channels.
• The numbers: start-up cost, first-year sales, break-even point.
• The ask: how much money you need and what it’s for.

If those eight lines hold up, the full business plan template above is just more detail on each. If they don’t, you’ve saved yourself weeks.

How lenders and investors read a business plan template

Here’s a secret that changes how you write. Almost nobody reads a business plan from page one to the end. They jump around the business plan template you’ve followed, heading straight for the sections that matter to them.

Bank and loan officers

A lender typically reads the summary, then jumps to the financials. They’re looking at cash flow, your own stake, any security and whether the loan can be repaid from the business’s cash. Only then do they read the rest to check it supports the numbers.

In the UK, the government-backed Start Up Loans scheme asks for a business plan and a 12-month cash flow forecast. Expect most lenders to want something similar.

Investors

Investors read the summary, the team and the market. They want to know if the opportunity is big enough and if you’re the people to win it. Financials matter, but they’re looking at growth and the return, not just survival.

Grant panels and visa assessors

These readers often score plans against set criteria, so they read the whole thing more carefully. Use the same words their guidance uses. If a scheme asks about job creation, give the section a clear heading and real numbers.

Visa routes add one more test: is this a real business that you’ll run yourself, in that country? Show local customers, local suppliers and local hiring. Our visa business plan guides cover the main founder routes, and country pages such as business plans for the UK explain local funding, company types and what readers there expect.

Formatting tips that help your plan get read

• Keep it tight. Answer each section’s question and stop. Detail can go in the appendix.
• Use real headings. Match the outline above so readers find what they want fast.
• One currency, one format. Write £60,000 or €60,000 the same way every time.
• Make tables readable. Label every row and column, and show totals.
• Date it. Put the version and date on the cover. Plans go stale.
• Proofread the numbers. If a figure appears in the summary and the financials, it must match.

GOV.UK has a short guide to writing a business plan with links to free templates and cash flow tools, which pairs well with this outline.

Business plan template checklist before you send it

You’ve filled in every section. Before the plan goes to a bank, investor or assessor, run through these checks. Each one catches a mistake we see again and again.

Filling in the template: weak line, better line

The template tells you what each section needs. This is the difference specific wording makes, using a made-up dog grooming salon as the example.

Section	Weak	Better
Market	Everyone who owns a dog is a potential customer.	We’ll target dog owners within a 15-minute drive, starting with two vets nearby that don’t offer grooming.
Pricing	Our prices will be competitive.	A full groom costs £47, in line with the two nearest salons, with a 10% discount for six-weekly bookings.
Risk	We don’t foresee major risks.	If bookings run 15% below plan, the owner’s salary drops first and the second groomer starts later.

The better lines are longer by a few words, and every word gives the reader something to check. That’s what makes a plan believable. To see a complete plan written this way, read our dog grooming business plan sample.

Using this business plan template with our samples

A template tells you what goes where. A finished example shows you how it reads. Use both.

If Northside Coffee sounded familiar, look at our full coffee shop business plan, set in Manchester. For other trades, browse the sample business plan hub and pick the closest match. Then come back to this template and work through it with your own facts.

If you’d like more guidance on the process itself, from research to final checks, read our step-by-step guide on how to write a business plan.

Template or generator?

A template is free and gives you full control. It also leaves you with the hard part: building financial statements that link correctly and writing a dozen sections from scratch. For a simple plan, that’s fine. Plenty of founders do it in a weekend.

If you’re short of time, or the stakes are high, the Business Plan Generator follows this same structure by default. You answer questions, it writes each section and builds the statements, and you get a Word file to edit.

If a bank, university or visa body has given you its own headings, upload that outline instead and the plan follows it. You can also rename, reorder or add sections to this one, and set the length anywhere from 1,500 to 10,000 words. A plan costs $19, paid once, and the pricing page shows what’s included.

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