Gaming Lounge Business Plan
Over the past 10+ years, we have helped over 500 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their gaming lounge companies.
If you’re unfamiliar with creating a gaming lounge business plan, you may think creating one will be a time-consuming and frustrating process. For most entrepreneurs it is, but for you, it won’t be since we’re here to help. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great business plan.
In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a gaming lounge business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.
What is a Gaming Lounge Business Plan?
A business plan provides a snapshot of your gaming lounge business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.
Why You Need a Business Plan for a Gaming Lounge
If you’re looking to start a gaming lounge business or grow your existing gaming lounge company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your gaming lounge business to improve your chances of success. Your gaming lounge business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.
Sources of Funding for Gaming Lounge Businesses
With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a gaming lounge business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan (hand it to them in person or email to them as a PDF file) and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for gaming lounge companies.
How to Write a Business Plan for a Gaming Lounge Business
If you want to start a gaming lounge business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The guide and sample below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your gaming lounge business plan.
Executive Summary
Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.
The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of gaming lounge business you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a gaming lounge business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of gaming lounge businesses?
Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.
- Give a brief overview of the gaming lounge industry.
- Discuss the type of gaming lounge business you are operating.
- Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
- Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
- Offer an overview of your financial plan.
Company Overview
In your company overview, you will detail the type of gaming lounge business you are operating.
For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of gaming lounge businesses:
- Gaming lounge membership club: While the lounge is dedicated to serious video game play, the members-only club creates a community of friends and hours of enjoyment. Members pay monthly dues for unlimited access to video gaming, virtual reality and class video slot machine play.
- Board game cafe: Board gaming cafes are dedicated to board game aficionados who join any games that appeal to them. Appetizers and beverages may be offered.
- Arcade gaming lounge: For video arcade diehards, the arcade gaming lounge represents the classic arcade games much beloved by players. Games are video slot machine-play.
- Gaming bar and grill: For players who like to combine the latest video games, virtual reality and high-end technology, gaming bars are the go-to place. Players typically have a choice of beer, wine or cocktails with favorite foods, such as burgers and fries, from the grill.
In addition to explaining the type of gaming lounge business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.
Include answers to questions such as:
- When and why did you start the business?
- What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of gamers served, the number of large gaming events held, or, reaching X number of lounges opened, etc.
- Your legal business structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.
Industry Analysis
In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the gaming lounge industry.
While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.
First, researching the gaming lounge industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.
Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.
The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.
The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your gaming lounge business plan:
- How big is the gaming lounge industry (in dollars)?
- Is the market declining or increasing?
- Who are the key competitors in the market?
- Who are the key suppliers in the market?
- What trends are affecting the industry?
- What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
- What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your gaming lounge business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.
Customer Analysis
The customer analysis section of your gaming lounge business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.
The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, club members, event attendees, and corporations.
As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of gaming lounge business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than event attendees, for example.
Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.
Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers. Ideally you can speak with a sample of your target customers before writing your plan to better understand their needs.
Finish Your Gaming Lounge Business Plan in 1 Day!
Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?
With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!
Competitive Analysis
Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.
Direct competitors are other gaming lounge businesses.
Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes bowling alleys with pinball machines, at-home gaming, or gambling with casino-play. You need to mention direct competition, as well.
For each direct competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as
- What types of customers do they serve?
- What type of gaming lounge business are they?
- What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
- What are they good at?
- What are their weaknesses?
With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.
The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:
- Will you provide rewards for frequent players?
- Will you offer events, such as video tournaments, that your competition doesn’t?
- Will you provide the newest technology in gaming consoles?
- Will you offer better pricing?
Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.
Marketing Plan
Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a gaming lounge business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:
Product: In the product section, you should reiterate the type of gaming lounge company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you provide gaming tournaments, rewards for frequent players, themed parties, club membership perks and extended gaming hours on special occasions?
Price: Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.
Place: Place refers to the site of your gaming lounge company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your gaming lounge business located in a popular restaurant and theater district, a standalone building or in a “destination” setting? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.
Promotions: The final part of your gaming lounge marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:
- Advertise in gaming magazines
- Reach out to gaming websites
- Distribute flyers for special gaming events
- Engage in email marketing
- Advertise to club members on social media platforms
- Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords
Operations Plan
While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.
Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your gaming lounge business, including adding and maintaining video machines and equipment, planning and providing tournaments and special events, restocking food inventory, etc.
Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to book your Xth gaming tournament, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your gaming lounge business to additional locations.
Management Team
To demonstrate your gaming lounge business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.
Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing gaming lounge businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.
If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a gaming lounge business or successfully running a video arcade or casino gaming room.
Financial Plan
Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.
Income Statement
An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.
In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you see 10 new video club memberships per day, or develop new ways to enhance video gamer play areas? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.
Balance Sheets
Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your gaming lounge business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.
Cash Flow Statement
Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.
When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a video game room business:
- Cost of gaming equipment and maintenance
- Payroll or salaries paid to staff
- Business insurance
- Utilities
- Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and foodstuffs, board games, barware, or restaurant equipment
Appendix
Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office location lease or a list of club memberships generating steady income.
Summary
Writing a business plan for your gaming lounge business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert and understand how to start a gaming lounge business. You will understand the gaming lounge industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful gaming lounge business.
Finish Your Gaming Lounge Business Plan in 1 Day!
Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Gaming Lounge business plan?
With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!
OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You
Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.
See how Growthink’s business plan professional services can help you create a winning business.
Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates
Startup Business Plan Template
Indoor Playground Business Plan
Family Entertainment Center Business Plan