Business Plan for

NeYemeli.com
Plan Prepared by Saner Apaydın

Saner Apaydın
5/2/2011
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................................. 2
BUSINESS DEFINITION ............................................................................................................................. 3
COMPETITION.......................................................................................................................................... 3
STRATEGY ................................................................................................................................................ 4
IMPLEMENTATION .................................................................................................................................. 5
FINANCE................................................................................................................................................... 6
RISKS ........................................................................................................................................................ 7

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

NeYemeli.com is a new startup in online food ordering industry. Our goal is to bring a new
approach to the industry and increase market share every year. In the first three years it is going to
operate only in Istanbul. In the following years we are going to open branches in Ankara, Izmir and
Eskisehir.

The reason we chose Istanbul is that the city has a huge potential, especially because of the
university students who are our main target customer group. Additionally, we will carry our
experience gained from Istanbul to other cities in the future. Expanding the business will require an
active sales team and a support team in each city/branch, therefore for the first three years this
would decrease our profitability.

We will bring together restaurants and customers in a secure online platform. Customers will
be able to order food from our contracted restaurants without paying an extra fee. The orders are
going to be delivered as quickly as possible. We are not directly involved in this process but we will
encourage the restaurants by warning those if too many late deliveries are sent, and even remove
these restaurants from our web site if they insist on not bringing their service quality to the desired
level.

One of our innovations will be in the food choosing process. We are going to categorize
similar foods from different restaurants under different categories and give customers the power to
choose according to their wishes. Today, all other similar web sites require customers to first decide
from which restaurant to eat, not what to eat. One of our key success factors will arise from this
approach.

As customers order food using NeYemeli.com, our matching algorithm will offer different
foods from other customers with similar taste. In a way, we are going to learn what our customers
would like to eat.

Customers will be able to rate and comment on the restaurants after every single order. An
aggregate grade will be given to the restaurants to indicate their service quality. Besides, special
badges will also be given for factors such as sustained high quality, quick delivery, etc. This approach
aims to bring the competition among the restaurants to a higher level.

When customers have a problem with their order, we will provide them an easy to access,
online support service which has tight communication links with the restaurants. In addition to online

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support, we are also going to provide telephone support for a more direct, “humanely”
communication.

We would like to attain our market share goal by two approaches, which will be discussed in
detail:

1. Stealing the dominant player’s, i.e. Yemeksepeti.com’s customers by aggressive marketing

activities and innovative process & design

2. Encouraging people who have never ordered food online before to use our web site

In the last decade, online food ordering has become very common among Turkish students.
Before the 2000s, it would be thought as a rude manner to order food for a guest; however today it
is a generally accepted behavior for young age groups. We are going to take advantage of this
behavior change and gain 20% of the growing market in five years.

BUSINESS DEFINITION

The industry we are going to operate in can be defined broadly as an e-commerce industry.
However, we are not going to sell the actual products, we are going to be an intermediary that will
ease the ordering process so much that customers will shift from classic ordering methods to our
web site.

An important question to ask is “Do we need another online food ordering web site?” We
definitely think there is a room for us in the industry and through the competition we will bring, the
customers will benefit.

Even if YemekSepeti.com is operating in 29 cities in Turkey right now, they have not yet
established their services in the eastern and central regions of the country. We see this as a potential
for the long term. There are still lots of cities to “conquer”, especially when we think nearly all of
them have at least one state university and students living there.

COMPETITION

In Turkey, currently there are more than ten web companies in this area, however
Yemeksepeti.com dominates the industry with nearly 99% market share. Since this is an area which
has low entrance barriers, many new players appeared in the last few years but none of them could
become a threat for Yemeksepeti and most of them were forced out of the business. Since we see

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YemekSepeti.com as the monopolistic player of the market, we will first focus on competing with
them.

Innovation is the key in this industry. Copying something already there is definitely not going
to bring success. We are aware of this fact and one of the strength of NeYemeli.com is going to be its
innovation. In order to do this we are going to need a strong technical infrastructure. To establish the
customer matching and food recommending system, we are going to invest a considerable amount
on IT.

Yemeksepeti.com receives 30.000 orders each day, around 26.000 of it is from Istanbul. Their
income is generated mainly from contracted restaurants. Yemeksepeti.com receives 10% commission
from each order, which can be used at our advantage.

STRATEGY

NeYemeli.com is not going to use classical tools of marketing such as TV commercials, print-
ads, etc. We are going to focus on social media and online advertising. Our target segment has
internet connection in their houses/dorms, so online advertising will serve our needs.

We can lower the commission rate from orders to 8% for the first 2 years. This will help us
easily sign agreements with the restaurants and have a broad selection for customers.
Yemeksepeti.com can react by lowering their commission rate too, however we do not think this is
likely because they have a fixed rate for more than 10 years and many other competitors have tried
to compete with them and failed. We will count on their over-self-confidence.

After sustaining profitability in two years, we are planning to bring a new bonus system to
customers. They are going to earn points according to their orders which can then be used for new
orders.

Our key success factors will be:

Increasing market share every year, reaching 20% after five years
Expanding outside Istanbul after three years
Attaining profitability after two years
Increasing brand distinctiveness, customers should not see us as just another copy
Playing a role in growing the market by attracting new customers
Moving competition to a higher level
Dissolving Yemeksepeti.com’s first mover advantages

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 The SWOT analysis of NeYemeli.com is as the following:

Strengths Weaknesses
• Matching algorithm • Brand recognition
• Lower commission rate • Operating only in Istanbul
• Categorizing by food types • Small sales team
• Restaurant badges
• Strong IT infrastructure

Opportunities Threats
• Many cities with no online • Yemeksepeti.com's
food ordering service aggressive reaction
• Amount of people who never • Restaurants unwilling to sign
used online ordering before contract with us
• Bad service given by the
restaurants

IMPLEMENTATION

Currently the domain “NeYemeli.com” is for sale for $1000. Hosting of the web site will be
outside of Turkey to avoid political banning risks and to lower server down ratios. One of the
significant expenses will be made for IT infrastructure and coding. We will need experienced
computer engineers and a web site designer.

The sales team will consist of four people. Their duty is to visit restaurants and sign
agreements with them.

Support team will include 5 people in the beginning. This number will increase as necessary
to 10 at the end of the first year and to 15 at the en of the second year. Dealing with our customers’
possible problems has a high priority for us so we can adjust these predictions as necessary. Support
team will be based in our office, which is going to be rented.

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Start-up Expenses
Legal 4.000 TL
IT Expenses 12.000 TL
Rent Expense 25.000 TL
Office Equipment 16.000 TL
Other 5.500 TL
Total Start-up Expenses 62.500 TL
Start-up Assets
Cash Required 30.000 TL
Long-term Assets 62.320 TL
Total Assets 92.320 TL
Total Requirements 154.820 TL

Start-up Funding
Start-up Expenses to Fund 62.500 TL
Start-up Assets to Fund 92.320 TL
Total Funding Required 154.820 TL
Assets
Non-cash Assets from Start-up 62.320 TL
Cash Requirements from Start-up 30.000 TL
Cash Balance on Starting Date 30.000 TL
Total Assets 92.320 TL
Liabilities
Total Liabilities 33.500 TL
Capital
Investment 121.320 TL
Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) -62.500 TL
Total Capital 58.820 TL
Total Capital and Liabilities 92.320 TL
Total Funding 154.820 TL

FINANCE

Period Ending 12/2011 12/2012

Income Statement
Operating Revenue (Revenue/Sales) 146.000 184.000
Total Revenues 146.000 184.000
Cost of Sales 127.000 152.000
Gross Margin 19.000 32.000
Selling & Administrative Expenses 55.000 60.000
Operating Income 1.500 1.400
Total Net Income 1.500 1.400
Revenues Year to Date 146.000 184.000
Income Year-to-Date from Total Operations 1.500 1.400

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RISKS

Risks arise from the weaknesses and threats depicted in the SWOT chart. Since many
competitors have entered the market in the last years and none of them could be a real threat for
Yemeksepeti.com, customers may find it hard to believe that any better alternative can be created.
To break this belief, we have to raise awareness to our brand in customers’ eyes.

Operating only in Istanbul can be listed as another risk factor because it slightly narrows
down our market. But it is necessary for the first three years. Having a small sales team may slow
down restaurant adding process, but our lower commission rate will balance this negative aspect by
making it easier to come to an agreement with the restaurants.

Yemeksepeti.com has a strength coming from its first-mover advantages. They can as well
reduce their commission rates if they see us as a threat. However we are going to have something
they cannot easily copy: complicated matching algorithms. Without it failure would be inevitable just
as it happened to other competitors who just tried to copy Yemeksepeti.com.

Maybe the last but the most important risk is the service quality given by the restaurants. We
do not have much interference in that though, we can only punish bad restaurants by removing from
our site. However, badge system is going to encourage them to keep a specific level of quality to get
higher numbers of orders from customers. In the end, customers will determine their success and
also ours, indirectly.

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