Walk into the bank with a bakery plan that survives the lender's second question.

A plan written to be underwritten, not admired. It states debt-service coverage on both bases a lender may use — EBITDA over debt service, and EBITDA net of the owner's draw — because SBA SOP 50 10 8 defines operating cash flow as EBITDA, requires coverage of at least 1.15 (1:1 global), allows a start-up on projections two years to get there, and expressly lets the lender adjust cash flow for the owner's draw. It works the 10% start-up equity injection, and it works the federal registration test most bakery plans skip: 21 CFR 1.226(c) exempts a retail food establishment from FDA food-facility registration, and 21 CFR 1.227 sets the test — direct-to-consumer sales must exceed sales to all other buyers, and "consumers" does not include businesses. Corporate gifting and corporate-event cakes fall on the wholesale side of that ledger; push wholesale past half of sales and the exemption flips.

An editable Excel model with the levers that actually move a bakery. Opening month, ramp length to steady state, blended COGS %, non-labor fixed costs, counter labor, card and marketing percentages, owner draw, loan principal/rate/term, and twelve monthly seasonality factors — the December peak and the January trough included. Change a cell and the projections, the loan amortization, the annual summary and the coverage ratio all recompute. It shows the month your cash bottoms out, what the working-capital reserve has to be so it never crosses zero, and the difference between your net-income break-even and your cash break-even once the draw and loan principal are in.

Playbooks written for bread, not for "a small business." Costed recipes in baker's percentages; a full case at open; day-old and waste policy against a production-value target; sampling-led wholesale account development and route economics; deposit-driven cake booking with lead-time rules; the pre-dawn scheduling and cross-training problem; FALCPA allergen labeling on packaged wholesale goods; a certified food-protection manager, plan review, and the Type I hood in the compliance calendar; and a weekly scorecard built on prime cost, food cost, waste, ticket and on-time-to-case.