There are two different things people mean by “bakery business plan template,” and downloading the wrong one wastes an afternoon. A template is an empty structure with prompts you fill in. An example or sample plan is a completed plan for a fictional bakery that you read to see what good looks like. Most people writing a first plan need one of each.
Below are eight free ones, what each actually contains, and who each suits. All are free without payment; a few ask for an email. If you want the underlying structure explained before you pick, the guide to writing a bakery business plan section by section covers what belongs in each part.
Key Takeaways
- Templates give you an empty structure; examples show a finished plan. Use both: read an example first, then fill a template.
- The SBA and SCORE templates are the ones banks recognize, and the SBA version has no email gate at all.
- Most free templates are strong on structure and weak on the financial workbook, which is the section lenders actually scrutinize.
- Vendor templates (Toast, TouchBistro, LivePlan) are free because they are lead generation for restaurant software. The templates are still good; expect follow-up email.
- No template will produce numbers for you. Every figure in a downloaded sample plan is fictional and must be replaced.
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Quick Comparison
| Template | Type | Bakery-specific | Financial workbook | Email required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBA Write Your Business Plan | Template + 2 examples | No | Separate calculators | No |
| SCORE Startup Business Plan | Template | No | Yes, linked workbook | Yes |
| TouchBistro Bakery Business Plan | Template + guide | Yes | Basic | Yes |
| LivePlan Bakery Sample Plan | Full example | Yes | Yes, in the sample | No to read |
| PlanBuildr Bakery Business Plan | Template + example | Yes | Basic | No |
| Growthink Sample Bakery Plan | Example | Yes | Partial | No |
| Upmetrics Bakery Plan Example | Example + template | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sharpsheets Bakery Plan PDF | Example (PDF) | Yes | Yes | No |
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1. SBA: Write Your Business Plan
The U.S. Small Business Administration offers two free formats: a traditional plan with the nine standard sections, and a lean startup plan that fits on a single page and takes about an hour. The traditional version is the one the SBA notes lenders and investors commonly request (U.S. Small Business Administration, retrieved 2026-09-08).
It is not bakery-specific, and the two downloadable examples are a consulting firm and a toy company. But it is the format a bank recognizes on sight, and the page also links a free break-even calculator and a fillable startup-cost worksheet.
Best for: anyone applying for an SBA loan. Start here and borrow bakery-specific detail from the examples further down this list.
2. SCORE: Business Plan Template for a Startup Business
SCORE is an SBA resource partner, and its startup business plan template is the most thorough free general-purpose template available. It walks through each section with prompting questions rather than blank headings, which is the difference between staring at “Market Analysis” and being asked “who are your three closest competitors and what do they charge?”
SCORE also publishes separate free financial templates, including a startup expenses worksheet and a twelve-month cash flow forecast. Grab those alongside the plan template. The financial workbook is where free templates usually fall short, and it is the section a lender reads hardest. Building those numbers for a bakery specifically is covered in the bakery financial projections guide.
Best for: a first-time owner who wants prompts, not blank pages. Requires a free account.
3. TouchBistro: Bakery Business Plan Template
A bakery-specific template paired with a written guide, from a restaurant POS vendor. It covers the sections generic templates miss: menu and product mix, the operations section written around bake schedules, and staffing built around opening hours rather than a standard workday. If you have never had to write that section, a walkthrough of bakery operations across a typical day is the reference to fill it from.
The trade-off is what it is for. TouchBistro sells restaurant software, so the download is lead generation and the follow-up email sequence is real. The template itself is not compromised by that.
Best for: a retail bakery or bakery café that wants bakery language already in the document.
4. LivePlan: Bakery Business Plan Sample
Not a template, but a complete, readable sample plan for a fictional bakery called Jolly’s Java and Bakery, a from-scratch bakery in Vancouver, Washington selling artisan bread, pastry, and cake through a retail storefront with an espresso bar and a wholesale program (LivePlan, retrieved 2026-09-08).
Its value is showing how the sections connect. The wholesale program in the concept section reappears in the revenue forecast, which reappears in the delivery and staffing lines of the operations plan. That coherence is what most first drafts lack, and it is easier to see in a finished plan than to be told about.
Read it free in the browser. The editable version sits behind LivePlan’s paid product.
Best for: reading before you write, especially if your bakery has both retail and wholesale sides.
5. PlanBuildr: Bakery Business Plan Template and Example
A free downloadable PDF combining a filled example with a blank template, structured around the standard nine sections and written for a bakery throughout. No email required for the PDF.
The financial section is lighter than the LivePlan or Upmetrics examples: enough to show the shape of a P&L, not enough to teach you how to build one.
Best for: a fast, no-friction download when you want structure today.
6. Growthink: Sample Bakery Business Plan
A free bakery business plan example, strongest in the market analysis and competition sections. Growthink’s sample does the thing most plans dodge: it names competitor types, describes their positioning, and states plainly where the fictional bakery fits between them.
Financials are partial. Treat it as a model for the narrative half of your plan.
Best for: the market analysis section, which is the one first-timers most often fake.
7. Upmetrics: Bakery Business Plan Example with Financial Projections
The most complete free financial treatment on this list. Upmetrics’ bakery example includes projected income statements, cash flow, and balance sheet alongside the written sections, so you can see which line items a bakery forecast is expected to carry.
Use it as a checklist against your own spreadsheet rather than as numbers to copy. Every figure in it is invented for a fictional bakery, and the assumptions behind revenue and margin are the ones that have to be yours. Whether your assumptions are plausible at all is a separate question. Bakery profit margins by format gives the benchmark ranges to sanity-check them against.
Best for: working out what belongs in your financial section. Requires an account.
8. Sharpsheets: Bakery Business Plan PDF Example
A clean PDF example built around a financial model, aimed at readers who want to see the numbers presented the way an investor expects. Shorter on operational narrative than the others, denser on the financial exhibits.
Best for: a second reference when your financial section feels thin next to your written one.
How to Choose Between Them
Pick on two questions.
Who is going to read your plan? If it goes to a bank or an SBA lender, build on the SBA or SCORE structure. Those are the formats loan officers see every day, and an unfamiliar layout costs you goodwill before anyone reaches your numbers. If the plan is for yourself, a lease application, or a small private investor, the bakery-specific templates are more useful because you will spend less time translating generic prompts.
Where are you weakest? Most first drafts fail in one of two places. If your written sections are thin, read Growthink and LivePlan. If your numbers are thin, which is more common, go to Upmetrics and Sharpsheets and use the SCORE financial worksheets.
A practical sequence: read one complete example end to end before writing anything, fill the SBA or SCORE structure with your own content, then check your financial section against Upmetrics’ line items.
What No Template Will Do for You
Every number in every sample plan is fictional. The bakery in the example does not exist, its rent is invented, and its revenue was chosen to make the model balance. This is the single most common way downloaded templates go wrong: the structure gets filled in properly and the placeholder financials survive into the final document, where a lender recognizes them.
Templates also cannot supply the local research: the five competitors on your street, your actual quoted rent, your equipment quotes, your supplier prices. That work is the plan. The template is the folder you put it in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are free bakery business plan templates good enough for a bank loan?
Yes, provided you fill them properly. Banks care about the content and the financial forecast, not whether you paid for the document. The SBA’s own traditional template is free and is the format lenders most often ask for. What gets a plan rejected is unsupported revenue projections and missing working capital, neither of which a paid template fixes.
What is the difference between a bakery business plan template and an example?
A template is an empty structure with headings and prompts you complete. An example is a finished plan for a fictional bakery, meant to be read rather than edited. Templates save formatting time; examples teach you what a complete answer looks like. Use an example to calibrate, then a template to write.
Can I use a restaurant business plan template for a bakery?
Mostly, yes, and the free restaurant business plan templates collection is a reasonable starting point. The nine sections are identical. What differs is the operations section. A bakery’s production schedule runs on proof and bake times and usually starts hours before opening, and its revenue is heavily concentrated in the morning. Expect to rewrite operations and the revenue model even when the rest transfers cleanly.
Do I have to give my email to download these?
Not for all of them. The SBA, PlanBuildr, Growthink, and Sharpsheets downloads are available without an email. SCORE, TouchBistro, and Upmetrics require a free account or an email address, and the vendor templates come with marketing follow-up.
How long should the finished plan be?
Ten to twenty pages plus appendices for a lender, five to ten if you are writing it for your own use. Templates often run longer than they need to because they include prompts for every possible business type. Deleting sections that do not apply to your bakery is correct, not lazy.
