What you should include in a Pitch Deck
As outlined in a previous article on “10 Top Tips to Opening a Restaurant” , whether you have all the funds secured for your project or not… creating a pitch deck is a really useful tool.
A decent sized pitch deck should be around 10 pages long and be a clear summary of your project.
The following is what we at Hospitality Creation think should be in your pitch deck:
Title page:
Keep it simple but eye catching. Start with a bang but it is ultimately a page that shouldnt havent any real content on it. We would advise to have the name of the project/brand logo followed by the name of the person pitching the idea. It is often overlooked but if you give someone a pitch deck, they may print it out and have it sitting on their desk. A bright colourful and well designed opening page could mean it draws the attention of a potential investor at a later date and bring it back to the forefront of their mind.
Mission Statement:
A mission statement is defined as “A formal summary of the aims and values of a company, organisation, or individual”. This essentially is where you outline the “problem” you will be solving.
What is your restaurant… What is the concept
The beauty of a good mission statement is that it makes you think exactly what the problem is and also gives you something to refer back to. It shouldn’t be too long (a sentance or two at max). It sounds easy at first but when you actually sit down to write one… It can take a while. Just be clear, precise and to the point.
Business Pillars:
This is not essential but we think it is a great tool to sit down and think what your idea/project/restaurant should stand for. When making any decision to do with the business it should have one of your “pillars” at the heart of it. If it doesnt then maybe you shouldnt be making that decision. We recommend between 4-8 pillars.
Outline what you will be solving:
The mission statement has clearly outlined what the problem is…. and now you need to outline the “solution” to that problem. Like the mission statement it should be a clear overview of HOW your idea is fixing the problem at hand.
Food & Drink Photos:
This is where you can pack a visual punch. You have the concept in your head but you need to show others what that will look like. This is where a mood board showing imagery that has inspired you and will form the basis if your idea.
The Team:
Some people would argue that this is the most important part of any pitch deck. Who or what is behind the idea/project. People with experience can be the difference between landing that investment or not.
Competition:
The “problem” you have outlined and the “solution” to that problem MAY not have any direct competition, but this is unlikely. This is where you can highlight the sector of business you are in and demonstrate what other people are doing within the same space.
Financials, Investment and ROI:
A pitch deck is primary used to give to potential investors to raise money for a project. But you may be in the lucky scenario where you have all the money you need. Even so… Creating a pitch deck will give you some structure to your project and can be sent to friends, suppliers, potential collaborators. So we would recommend you have 2 versions of this pitch deck. One with the financials and one without.
So if you do need to raise money then you should partner your pitch deck with a P&L. This will mean you have thought about all costs of the project, you can set monthly budgets, you can forecast revenue genration and you will know the Return on Investment (ROI). Just use the top line figures in this section as no one is reading this document to trawl through tables and graphs.
Possible Exits or Expansion Plans:
Not every idea will require this but some ideas lend themselves to growth, expansion and possible exits. We like to add it as a slide to show that we have thought about the future of the idea and give some confidence in possible exits later down the line.
Document Format:
The document should be in a PDF format and be around 10 pages long. It should be less than 25mb in size so it can be easily sent on email to most people. Once completed this pitch deck can be used to be sent to potential investors, friends (for help and support), brands (for investment or collaborations), suppliers, used as part of a business plan or sent to banks to help with loan applications.