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

Two things come to mind. First, why not look into a franchise of some sort. There are several out there from Starbuck's to Jack in the Box and everything inbetween. The prices range from the cheap (relatively) to the astronomical (over 100k).

A second and much cheaper alternative, might be to look into starting a catering company from your home. The startup costs would be minimal, plus you would have some tax breaks working from home. This, of course would be contingent on your wife's cooking skills.

Just some thoughts. Hope this helps.


G'Luck,
Doug

>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.

Rose
Grant Basics 101
http://grantbasics101.bravehost.com/grants.htm

The first place to start is with your local Small Business Development Center. They provide mentoring and advice for free to people who want to run their own business!

Good Luck!

Lisa
http://www.allthingscheesecake.com

Save the Earth! It's the only planet with cheesecake!

A business venture of this sort takes A LOT OF MONEY. So, the first thing you need to do is determine if you can afford this.

Start off by answering the questions posed by Rose. This will help you start your written business plan. The research you do for the business plan will help you determine how much money you need for start ups costs and for ongoing expenses.

Then you will know how much funding you need. You may discover that your plans are bigger than your bank account and may need to scale back to something more manageable.

See below for help with the business plan and funding ideas.

Sylvia
http://businessplanmentor.com
Business plan and start up resources

I attended a private school Global Infosource in Canada to get a start on my business.

70% of new business's that go through their program are still up and running and making money after 3 yrs.
These stats are excellent. In Canada, 50% of business's fail in the first year.

Here are some things they had us do:

1) Determine who is going to PAY for your product? Who is your target market?
2) Market research. Once you determine who your target market is, collect information and data to see how many people in your area fit that.
3) A market survey. You must be very careful in how you ask the questions but it provides a lot of very useful information if done properly.
4) The Business Plan- Alot of people think this is all about the finances. For me, I learnt alot.

There's alot of pre-study that needs to be done before making a decision.

Good luck!