Business Plan for Day-Night Care Center

Thomson Hall is a startup business that provides day and night care services to New Hampshire, Manchester. This middle-sized child care center aims to serve children who are from six months up to six years of age. This facility is not a babysitting institution and ensures the children being taken care of are engaged at all times, and taught new skills and talents every day. The care center is safe and secure, and guarantees guardians an outstanding center where their children can be taken care of.

There is high competition in New Hampshire with over 120 other care facilities providing similar services. Thomson Hall will be set in this competitive market and will ensure to gain its targeted market share. To ward of its rivals, Thomson hall will subsidize its price rates and also give discounts to guardians who bring their children for a lengthy period. In addition, the care center has employed highly qualified and competent staffs who are nothing short of top notch. The employees of the center will highly interact with the children on a one on one basis to ensure that all the children are engaged enough. This will be with the intent to create a faithful following. The targeted customers are full-time working guardians who will cater for 75% of the total revenues made by the company. The other 25% of the revenues will be catered for by part-time working guardians and the occasional drop-ins. This targeted group is forecasted to grow in the forthcoming periods.

The management team will be led by the founder and owner, Steve Hall, who initiated this project and has a Master’s degree in Education with training in child care and development. Mr. Hall is joined by two ladies who are experts in the child care industry with great levels of experience. Joy Davis and Mary Stevens are two individuals who have had vast experience in the industry and previously worked for large companies and shown great levels of success. With the knowledge of these two highly experienced experts, the business will become a brand name amongst guardians, and through referral marketing, it will be a highly reputable child care center. These two will be joined by other three teachers and four assistants as well as a subordinate staff to cater for the cleaning and other tasks within the center. All these employees will be highly trained and vetted for the required skills.

Company Description

Mission Statement:

Our mission is to provide the highest quality care for the people living in the downtown of Manchester, New Hampshire. The center will provide care for young children ranging from the age of six months to six years. The center will offer full time and exceptional care every day of the week for its customers (Sahlman, 1996).

Business Description

Thomson Hall Day-Night Care Center is a start-up organization which will serve as a care center for children who are from the age of two months up to six years for parents who have to work as well as those who are sickly, especially those suffering from contagious diseases and hospitalized. This business will be located in downtown of Manchester, New Hampshire. There are a number of other care centers in New Hampshire but all of them are day care centers. Thomson Hall will be the first care center which will provide care for its clients both during the day and the night, providing such service every day of the week (Hamric et al., 2013).

The main objective of the company is to become a reliable, fit and successful business that is a leader in care center and is satisfactory to its patients and clients, atop having a faithful following and customer base, not only in New Hampshire, but also the whole of Manchester. The day-night care center has been set up as a Limited Liability Company (LLC). The main reason why the care was set up as this kind of legal entity is mainly because of protection from liability, flexibility and also a favored tax treatment. This means that, being the owner of the day-night care center, I will not be solely responsible for any liabilities that are held against the company. Thereby, I will only lose my investment to the company if at all the care center undergoes losses (Sahlman, 1997).

The care center business is a growth business. This is because children are always born as time goes by and with increasing parental responsibilities, they have to be taken care of. The main reason why we shall operate both during the day and night is we foresee a considerable demand for care centers for parents who have to work and therefore forced to find somewhere their children can be taken care of. Thomson Hall will take advantage of this opportunity and more so because it will be operational every day of the week (Gubberman & Heller, 56)

Market Analysis and Market Plan

Industry

The Day Care industry is an industry which provides day-care services mainly for children and infants as well. Majority of the institutions in this industry take care of children who are yet to enroll into school and also take care of older kids mostly when the schools are in recess or after school hours (Lewis, 200).

Market Analysis

Thomson Hall Day-Night care center is a much needed company in the present day times. Today, there are an increasing number of households which depend on both parents to cater for the expenses of the household and this has generated a greater need for child care. In addition, parents who become sick and get hospitalized are unable to take care of their children. There are over 120 licensed child care centers in New Hampshire that provide similar services and care as Thomson Hall, and therefore, this means that as a new and opening day-night care center, our services and facilities have to be of great quality (New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services).

Market Segmentation

Thomson Hall Day-Night Care Centre is focused on meeting the demands for child care services around New Hampshire and beyond. The children being taken care of will be considered in terms of part time care or full time care.

1. Full-Time Working Guardians

The main aim of Thomson Hall is to create and sustain a considerably large customer base of full-time working guardians so as to generate a great amount in terms of its revenues and make it steady and dependable so as to ensure that the care center is stable and financially healthy. Good associations and dealings with the customers are very vital for the business because pleasing and satisfying the parents will lead to them keeping their children in Thomson Hall.

2. Part-Time Working Guardians or Drop Ins

The revenue obtained from the part-time guardians as well as the occasional drop-ins will constitute about 25% of the total revenue obtained by the care-center. While this market is not planned as the main objective, it is significant for the business to cater to it as well so as bring in additional revenue to the care-center (Zacharakis et al., 2011).

The pie chart below shows the market segmentation:

Full-Time Part-time Others

Target Market

The targeted market for Thomson Hall is full-time working guardians. The care-center will majorly rely on referral marketing amongst such guardians so as to increase its market share and gain a greater customer base. Upholding a good reputation and increasing it amongst the customers is important to acquiring supplementary segment of this market that is already targeted.

Market Needs

With increasing financial crisis and credit crunch as well as inflation, it has become indispensable for households to look up to both guardians in the family to provide income and cater for the expenses. As a result, this increases the need for child care centers. Thomson Hall does not anticipate this to continue into the forthcoming periods and therefore aims to seize a huge share of this market.

Service Business Analysis

The child care industry is beneficial and productive, and therefore there are several centers which provide quality care for children in New Hampshire as well. This industry is categorized into small local-owned centers, home-based centers, and large commercial centers. Thomson Hall will be competing with other centers which lie in the small centers because that is where it is most lucrative. Thomson Hall is assertive that it will succeed in this business because it has very competent, skilled and highly qualified staff, which would be responsible for taking care of the children (Hormozi et al., 2002).

Competition

As mentioned earlier, there are over 120 child care centers in the locality. Thomson Hall will provide a great caretaker to child ratio, which is more appealing to the guardians. In addition, the business will make subsidies to the guardians who keep their children for a longer period as a plan to entice more clients to bring their children to the center.

Organization and Management

Management

Steve Hall, who is the founder and owner of the Thomson Hall depository, will be the person in charge of the day-to-day operations at the care center. Mr. Hall attained his undergraduate degree in Philosophy with an English major from the University of Swansea. Being a free willed individual, Steve moved to the United States to teach and while working there, he was able to take care of three children that belonged to his aunt. Regardless of not having any prior experience in child care, he found it very fulfilling. After that experience, Mr. Hall went on to study Masters in Education to gain more insight on child care and child development. After the completion, he went on to rent a small facility where he initiated this project (Barringer, 2009).

Personnel

The business personnel, aside from Steve Hall, will be led by two child care industry experts, Joy Davis and Mary Stevens. Joy has had vast experience with marketing and management in the child care industry, having worked in large commercial care centers for about six years. Miss Davis was able to increase the revenues of her previous company by 28%. Her partner Mrs. Stevens is a finance guru and has experience in sales and administration. Prior to joining Thomson Hall, Mary was the head of the finance department in Swansea Care Center, which is a large company with supernormal profits (Lewis, 200).

With such great veterans in the market, Thomson Hall is bound to succeed and be a major player in the child care industry, attaining its targeted market. With the experience of these two well-seasoned experts, the business will become a brand name amongst guardians, and through referral marketing, it will be a highly reputable child care center. These two will be joined by other three teachers and four assistants as well as a subordinate staff to cater for the cleaning and tasks within the center. All these employees will be highly trained and vetted for the required skills (Lange et al., 2007).

Service

Thomson Hall Day-Night Care Center will offer the residents of New Hampshire a high end quality child care institution for children from the age of just six months to six years. The business will offer one on one caretaker to child ratio to increase the rate of care. The working hours of the care center will be both day and night and will run seven days a week so as to include the working guardians who are the targeted customers. However, the facility will accept part time guardians and the occasional drop-ins (Conway-Morana, 2009).

It is vital to assert that Thomson Hall is not a babysitting business. The children will be taught and engaged in various different learning techniques, gaining skills and knowledge in new ideas each day. The institution will take the role of guardians the whole period the children will be under its care

Financial Projections

The Financial Plan

The following sections will show the important financial projections and financial assumptions for Thomson Hall.

Break-even Analysis

The Break-even Analysis is based on the average of the first-year figures for total sales by units, and by operating expenses. These are laid out as per-unit sales, per-unit expenses, and fixed costs. These conventional expectations make for a more accurate estimate of real risk (Cafferky, 20)

Break-even Analysis

Monthly Units Break-even

Monthly Revenue Break-even

$34,874

Assumptions:

Average Per-Unit Revenue

$101

Average Per-Unit Variable Cost

$4.5

Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost

$27,785

Pro Forma Cash Flow

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Cash Received

Cash from Operations

Cash Sales

$261,625

$515,025

$674,740

Subtotal Cash from Operations

$261,625

$515,025

$674,740

Additional Cash Received

Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received

$0

$0

$0

New Current Borrowing

$0

$0

$0

New Other Liabilities (interest-free)

$0

$0

$0

New Long-term Liabilities

$0

$0

$0

Sales of Other Current Assets

$0

$0

$0

Sales of Long-term Assets

$0

$0

$0

New Investment Received

$0

$0

$0

Subtotal Cash Received

$261,625

$515,025

$674,740

Expenditures

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Expenditures from Operations

Cash Spending

$210,000

$332,000

$375,000

Bill Payments

$62,461

$119,606

$203,444

Subtotal Spent on Operations

$272,461

$451,606

$578,444

Additional Cash Spent

Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out

$0

$0

$0

Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing

$0

$0

$0

Other Liabilities Principal Repayment

$0

$0

$0

Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment

$7,200

$10,000

$10,000

Purchase Other Current Assets

$0

$0

$0

Purchase Long-term Assets

$0

$0

$0

Dividends

$0

$0

$0

Subtotal Cash Spent

$279,661

$461,606

$588,444

Net Cash Flow

($18,036)

$53,419

$86,296

Cash Balance

$48,964

$102,383

$188,679

Pro Forma Balance Sheet

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Assets

Current Assets

Cash

$69,870

$138,952

$178,582

Other Current Assets

$0

$0

$0

Total Current Assets

$69,870

$138,952

$178,582

Long-term Assets

Long-term Assets

$0

$0

$0

Accumulated Depreciation

$0

$0

$0

Total Long-term Assets

$0

$0

$0

Total Assets

$48,964

$102,383

$188,679

Liabilities and Capital

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Current Liabilities

Accounts Payable

$8,735

$14,939

$19,826

Current Borrowing

$0

$0

$0

Other Current Liabilities

$0

$0

$0

Subtotal Current Liabilities

$8,735

$14,939

$19,826

Long-term Liabilities

$23,890

$15,789

$5,900

Total Liabilities

$41,360

$45,667

$45,552

Paid-in Capital

$35,000

$35,000

$35,000

Retained Earnings

($8,600)

($16,000)

$42,035

Earnings

($14,298)

$59,742

$89,117

Total Capital

$12,102

$105,643

$166,152

Total Liabilities and Capital

$53,462

$151,310

$211,702

Pro Forma Profit and Loss

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Sales

$261,625

$515,025

$674,740

Direct Cost of Sales

$7,806

$16,000

$21,600

Other Production Expenses

$0

$0

$0

Total Cost of Sales

$7,806

$16,000

$21,600

Gross Margin

$253,819

$499,025

$653,140

Gross Margin %

97.02%

96.89%

96.80%

Expenses

Payroll

$210,000

$332,000

$375,000

Sales and Marketing and Other Expenses

$0

$0

$0

Depreciation

$0

$0

$0

Leased Equipment

$1,800

$2,000

$2,200

Certifications & Inspections

$2,400

$2,500

$2,600

Utilities

$1,800

$2,000

$22,000

Insurance

$3,000

$3,600

$42,000

Rent

$18,000

$20,000

$25,000

Payroll Taxes

$31,500

$49,800

$56,250

Other

$0

$0

$0

Total Operating Expenses

$268,500

$411,900

$525,050

Profit Before Interest and Taxes

($14,681)

$87,125

$128,090

EBITDA

($14,681)

$87,125

$128,090

Interest Expense

$2,610

$1,780

$780

Taxes Incurred

$0

$25,604

$38,193

Net Profit

($17,291)

$59,742

$89,117

Net Profit/Sales

-6.61%

11.60%

13.21%

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