>My wife keeps informing me that she would like to start a
>business around our area. She would like to have a Deli/Bakery
>where people can come in get a sandwitch (have it made for
>them), chips a beverage or coffee and a desert or snack. Good
>location where a Dairy Queen went out of business on main
>highway but we do not know where to start or even how to plan
>other than ideas on paper that we write down scrible out and
>write down more ideas. The idea looks like a subway (but not
>subs) to a coffee shop/beverage. Where someone can come in,
>order a small meal or desert, relax, and head back out to the
>grind. Trying to capture more of the morning crowd to lunch
>crowd to close.
>What do you think. I hope it does not sound to corny.
>Thanks

Well personally I don't think it sounds corny at all but more importantly its how YOU feel about it! Your post starts out with you saying what your wife wants to do but what about you? Most people that start an eatery are committed or have a strong drive to do so and/or are passionate about it. So how do YOU feel about it? I ask this because opening such a place is going to affect both you and your wife and your life together.

I'm always advising people to put pen to paper 1st when planning their business.

Where do you start? How about from the end first - meaning can you envision your eatery? How big is it? How small is it? Will it have a theme? (Cozy, urban, or both?) Now here is an important question - how much would you have to make on a monthly basis to keep solvent? Line up your expenses and line them up against your revenue/income and how much would you have to have left over to be solvent?

Specifically when it has to do with the food business one thing that is going to be high on your agenda will be adhereing to the license and inspection boards - something that eateries have to comply with.

I am a dream job consultant so I think that any idea can be a potentionally great idea! So I'm a little prejudiced as far as your question asking whether it is a good idea or not.

Also starting out catering from home is not a bad idea. Lots of people who have started eateries of their own have worked for others for a lot of years and that is where they get the wanting to open a place of their own.

so now the question becomes whether you want to start on a small basis or whether you want to start on the bigger basis and open a place of your own. If it is the later then the big question is money. Personally I tend to shy away from franchises as far as advice is concerned because of the cost involved in buying into it. Another reason is that you don't have 100% control. But getting back to whether you want to start your own and the money aspect - well first you're going to have to figure out how much the building will cost. Are you going to buy it or lease it? What are the terms? After that is squared away more money is going to be needed because you will have to bring your building up to code. As far as to what the "code" is it will depend on where your place will be and with that you can check your state's website to find out more about what you have to do. After you get that squared away then you are going to have to address the issue of staff and with that comes payroll and taxes. Food supplies - what and how often, where will you get your supplies from? What is your menu going to be? Now how about customers? How will you get them? How will you let them know that you are open and ready for business? And since customers are vital to your staying in business how will you maintain them and keep increasing the number of them (a word of advice - word of mouth is the best advertising in the world! - which means the more you make the customers happy the more word of mouth you will get.

Those are some of the things that you will be concerned with when opening an eatery.