Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Consultant
Athens GA Business Plan Writer: Plan Past Game Day
On a home game Saturday, you can't find a seat downtown. In July, you can't find a customer. Every Athens owner learns the UGA calendar the hard way. Dr. Paul Borosky, an Athens, GA business plan writer, builds your forecast, staffing and cash around it before the first kickoff.
Start Your Athens Plan →Planning an Athens business? Call or text (321) 948-9588. Dr. Paul answers personally.
Last Updated: 11/06/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Choose How Your Athens Plan Gets Built
Athens lenders know the Classic City runs on a school calendar. Whichever route you pick, the work starts with the dates: home games, breaks and summer.
Business Consulting
Great fall, rough summer, again? Dr. Paul works through the calendar with you and plans the cash for the quiet months.
See consulting options →Business Plan Writing
FeaturedA full plan with projections built on the UGA calendar, with game weeks, semester weeks and summer each forecast and staffed on their own.
Start your plan →Business Plan Templates
Industry templates with the plan in Word and the forecast in Excel. Break the year into game weeks, semester weeks and summer.
Browse templates →Small Business Education
Free lessons, videos and the Fabled Forest Business School books on leading a crew through busy weekends and slow summers.
Start learning →The Issue
Game Days, Semesters and Summers: The Athens Calendar
Athens runs on the UGA calendar. Students arrive in August. Fall brings home game weekends when Sanford Stadium fills Between the Hedges and downtown packs out. Then come exams, breaks and a long summer when much of the student population leaves.
For a downtown restaurant, bar, shop or rental, the difference between a game day Saturday and a summer Tuesday is enormous.
Most plans average the year. They take the best fall weekends, spread them across twelve months and call it a forecast. Then summer arrives, the students leave and the rent keeps coming.
Why It Happens
Why Athens Revenue Swings So Hard
- Game weekends are huge and few. A handful of home games each fall bring tens of thousands of visitors. Hotels fill, prices rise and downtown runs at capacity.
- Students leave on schedule. Winter break, spring break and summer pull a large share of customers out of town at once.
- The schedule changes every year. The number and timing of home games move. A big opponent one year can be a road game the next.
- Game day can hurt some businesses. Traffic and parking keep regular customers away. Not every shop wins on game day.
The Business Impact
What the Calendar Does to Cash and Staff
- Summer drains the reserve. The slow stretch arrives every year, and fall profits have to cover it.
- Staffing whipsaws. You need a full crew on Saturday and half a crew in July. Students who staff you also leave in summer.
- Inventory gets mistimed. Order for game day and you sit on stock in June.
- Rent does not follow the calendar. Fixed costs hit every month, busy or not.
- A bad season hurts. When the team or the schedule disappoints, visitor spending drops with it.
Opening before football season? Plan the summer before you plan the first game.
Call or Text Dr. PaulWho Gets Hit Hardest
Classic City Businesses That Ride the Calendar
Downtown Restaurants and Bars
Game day crowds and quiet summers.
Retail and Apparel
Red and black sells in fall, slows in summer.
Short-Term Rentals
Game weekends command premium rates, other weeks do not.
Student Housing and Services
Move-in, move-out and empty summers.
Coffee Shops
Semester traffic drives the base business.
Event and Catering Businesses
Tailgating season, then a long gap.
Why Generic Plans Fail
Why a Smooth Forecast Fails in a College Town
A template asks for monthly sales and assumes steady months. In Athens, no month is average. The plan that smooths the calendar hides the summer gap until it is too late.
Athens lenders know the college town rhythm. A plan with flat monthly sales for a downtown bar tells them the forecast was never checked against the UGA calendar.
Dr. Paul tells Athens owners to build the schedule first and the forecast second. Mark every home game, every break and the summer months, then plan the crew and the cash for each one. The average week is the one week that never actually happens in Athens.
The Fix
A Forecast and Staffing Plan Built on the UGA Calendar
Dr. Paul plans around the UGA calendar with Organize-Plan-Grow™, one step at a time.
Map the calendar
Mark home game weekends, semester start and end dates, breaks and summer. Pull sales history by week if you have it.
Forecast by period
Build sales for game weeks, regular semester weeks and summer weeks separately. Staff each period with the right crew. Size the reserve to carry summer.
Fill the slow months
Plan summer revenue on purpose: events, local customers, catering, online sales or a second location in a steadier area.
Running the Numbers
One Restaurant, Three Seasons
Think about a downtown restaurant two blocks from the Arch. Illustration only.
| What to Model | What the Plan Shows |
|---|---|
| Home game Saturday | The best day of the year |
| Regular semester week | The base business |
| Summer week | The slowest stretch |
| Staffing | Full crew, normal crew, skeleton crew |
| Reserve needed | Enough to carry summer fixed costs |
The restaurant can be very profitable in fall and still fail in summer. The plan has to show cash month by month, with the summer reserve built in before the first game.
In Your Plan
How a Calendar-Based Forecast Reads
Sales Forecast. The Company forecasts sales in three periods aligned with the University of Georgia calendar: home game weekends, regular semester weeks and summer and break periods. Staffing levels are set for each period, with a reduced summer schedule. The operating reserve is sized to cover fixed costs through the summer period and is funded from fall semester cash flow, as shown in Exhibit 2.
A lender reading that can see you have lived through a summer before.
How It Helps
What Happens When Summer Is Planned
- Summer stops being a surprise. The reserve is planned before fall starts.
- Your crew fits the week. No overstaffing in July, no shortages on Saturday.
- Orders match demand. Inventory follows the calendar.
- Lenders trust the forecast. They see the swing and the plan for it.
- Growth fills the gap. You know which slow months to target first.
Local Resources
Athens Help for Small Business Owners
UGA Small Business Development Center, Athens
Free consulting from the SBDC state office in Athens.
Athens Area Chamber of Commerce
Networking with Athens owners who plan around the UGA calendar every year.
Athens-Clarke County Business Tax and Licensing
Occupation tax certificate and zoning through Athens-Clarke County.
Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau
Visitor and event information worth checking before you forecast game weekends.
Learn It Yourself
Free Lessons for a College-Town Business
The skills that get an Athens business through the quiet months.
FAQ
Questions Athens Owners Ask About Game Days and Summer
How should an Athens business plan handle UGA football season?
How do I plan for the summer slowdown in Athens?
Should I hire students for my Athens business?
Can Dr. Paul build a game day forecast for my Athens business?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer, Consultant & Author | 14+ Years | 1,000+ Clients Served
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA is the founder of Quality Business Plan. He writes business plans and financial projections for owners across the United States and Canada, works remotely with clients in every state, and has written plans behind more than $100M in funded projects. He is the author of the Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School series and has published over 1,000 business videos on YouTube. He has taught as an adjunct college instructor and teaches in Florida public schools.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, lending, tax or financial advice. Program rules, licensing requirements and local conditions change, so confirm them with the program or agency before you apply. The worked example is an illustration, not a projection for your business. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional.