New business idea

tomcollins97

I’m looking at setting up a sandwich shop somewhere in the city – mainly take away but with a few seats. I have noticed myself that there are very few places to get a good takeaway lunch – not including spar/centre/mc D’s/Burger King which personally I don’t consider good quality. I would be somewhere a bit different, with all prices below a fiver and coffees for 1 euro! Maybe you think I am mad but I have seen it work in other places. I would rather have high turnover and lowish profit margin that poor turnover and very healthy profit margin.

Thinking about location, maybe the city is not the right place? The Technological park or UL might be a better location for this kind of thing?? I don’t know the city that well so unsure if there are the concentration of businesses in the city to make this viable.

The only problem is I don’t know how to even start researching if this would be a good idea or not. Any tips??

betonit

I think some landlords are offering free rent in the city centre for a period of time to try and get people to start up in the city. Contact an estate agent. Tell em you want a free unit in the city centre (you'd probably have to sign a contract that you take it on for a period after the "free" runs out) . watch out for rates they can be high ask city council about this.

Limerick Dude

Well there are still alot of people working in the city centre so it wouldnt be a bad idea. And like the previous poster said it is possible to get rent free locations in the city centre. However take a look at lower thomas St. There are loads of sandwhich shops and café's around that area so you might have a bit of competition.

tomcollins97

Hi,

Where would the biggest concentration of offices be in the city? I have notices walking around that there are alot at the Crescent & O'Connell Avenue

Cheers,
Tom

Limerick Dude

I say upper O'Connell St and the Crescent would be correct.

Also the mid western health board HQ is at upper Catherine St. where alot of people are employed, i know there is a sandwhich shop across the road from it but maybe you could look into it.

Also maybe opening one near the train station would be a good idea. Noone wants to pay the crazy prices on trains for a sandwhich.

tomcollins97

What I'm thinking of is standard pricing for all sambos regardless of filling, say around 4/4.50 mark and the same for salads. No weighing or 'meat & 2 salad' using a scoop like stingy O'Briens! The option of toasting would also be available.

I would also show people employed how to make sambos. How many of you are sick of getting a sambo from a foreigner that is half lettuce & you cannot get your mouth around! And before anyone jumps down my throat I'm not being racist! It's just a fact that if people have never eaten a sambo in their life due to cultural food differences they will not be the best as deciding how much of what to put in!

Mc Love

To be honest, the city is dead or according to some retailer on the front of the leader "its doomed"

Maybe somewhere in the troy/plassey area. Then again, who knows! Lots of these places are saturated with eateries, so i cant understand where you are getting the not many quality places for lunch.

Up near the crescent, souths are the main business takers for lunch. Subway and Mace right beside it. Spar around the block. The new place across from the old 95fm building. Gleesons in Catherine st and Lower Mallow st.

ninty9er

You could try the accounting district by the Abbey opposite Barringtons. There's only Cody's and Instore down there and their quality is sh1te and Instore is a RIP OFF. I'd say you could do a bit of business door-to-door down there. Sausage rolls and breakfast baps in the morning (with a healthy yoghurt option or something) and sandwiches etc... at lunchtime.

Door to door seems to work in the US.

TestTransmission

tomcollins97 wrote: »

I’m looking at setting up a sandwich shop somewhere in the city – mainly take away but with a few seats. I have noticed myself that there are very few places to get a good takeaway lunch – not including spar/centre/mc D’s/Burger King which personally I don’t consider good quality. I would be somewhere a bit different, with all prices below a fiver and coffees for 1 euro! Maybe you think I am mad but I have seen it work in other places. I would rather have high turnover and lowish profit margin that poor turnover and very healthy profit margin.

Thinking about location, maybe the city is not the right place? The Technological park or UL might be a better location for this kind of thing?? I don’t know the city that well so unsure if there are the concentration of businesses in the city to make this viable.

The only problem is I don’t know how to even start researching if this would be a good idea or not. Any tips??

I can think of 4 places offhand that do sandwiches/rolls/coffee all for less than a fiver in that area

Mc Love

ninty9er wrote: »

You could try the accounting district by the Abbey opposite Barringtons. There's only Cody's and Instore down there and their quality is sh1te and Instore is a RIP OFF. I'd say you could do a bit of business door-to-door down there. Sausage rolls and breakfast baps in the morning (with a healthy yoghurt option or something) and sandwiches etc... at lunchtime.

Door to door seems to work in the US.

Yeah while there is places you can order and they deliver, i think door to door would be a good idea

Berty

PM Sent.

This is what I do for a living, helping people set up food business's.

Me discussing it here would be considered touting my business so I wont.

Wantobe

Personally think it is a great idea. Especially the coffee under one euro bit- I am a coffee addict and would go out of my way if I thought I could get a normal cappuchino or latte for 1 or up to 1.50.

Two more ideas to add-

1. There's a whole class of parents and kids out there as a potential client base- add one row to the 'menu' and make it child friendly- the sort of stuff they will eat- rolled tortillas, plain sliced bread- even with crust off - ham and cheese- quite plain stuff, fruit juices and mini water bottles. You'll get the parents AND the kids- if you could source some kind of novelty paper tray to go with cartoons on it all the better. I know whenever I'm in the city with my children I'm often stuck as to where to go for lunch and I'm not a McD fan so I tend to just go home again- if there was a decent sandwich bar that catered for children I would definitely go there.

2. I'm a coeliac so if you could do coeliac bread and normal fillings you'd get a healthy foot fall from that too. Only problem is that you would have to have a seperate 'gluten free' prep area, knives etc that could not be cross contaminated. The quality of the bread is all important. I saw a few recommendations for restaurants in city centre for lunch based on the fact that they did g-free bread and tried them out. They served the horrible g-free bread that I would never buy, not going back there. There's a whole new era of g-free breads/rolls/ciabbatta that you need to serve if you go down this route.

Itsdacraic

Soup. Good quality soup! It's next to impossible to get good quality take-away soup in the city center. I move between Dublin and Limerick a lot for work and the choice in Limerick is so limited when it comes to lunch.

I definitely think there would be a go for reasonably priced, good quality take away soup and sandwiches.

There are plenty of empty buildings down Patrick Street that aren't going to be used anytime soon

black & white

I work in the city centre and have lunch out every day. I used to have carvery ( usually Smyths ) but about a year ago decided to cut back - due to financial and weight considerations - and I now have a light lunch.

I think you have a great idea if the quality is good and the price competitive, there should be no reason why anyone can't get a sambo and tea/coffee for a fiver. My current favourite is the Sandwich Shop in Thomas Street. They make it in front of you, have a wide range and the staff are very friendly. They serve good quality soup and if you have any sambo etc you can get a bowl of soup for a Euro. Have a look in there and see what you think of the operation.

Other than the Sandwich Shop, I'd eat in Lorettas on Roches St/Catherine St, the Bagel Factory on Thomas St and Cafe on the Row.

There's an empty shop on Thomas St which might suit you, it's next door to O'Connors and was a sambo place up until last summer. Seems to be ready to move into straight away, can't remember the name of the auctioneer who is letting it but the sign is in the window.

Good luck.

Berty

Wantobe wrote: »

2. I'm a coeliac so if you could do coeliac bread and normal fillings you'd get a healthy foot fall from that too. Only problem is that you would have to have a seperate 'gluten free' prep area, knives etc that could not be cross contaminated. The quality of the bread is all important. I saw a few recommendations for restaurants in city centre for lunch based on the fact that they did g-free bread and tried them out. They served the horrible g-free bread that I would never buy, not going back there. There's a whole new era of g-free breads/rolls/ciabbatta that you need to serve if you go down this route.

You and the OP need to speak to a company called Sunshine Juice in Carlow. They have some amazing breads and unique breads to this country. The best new entrant into the Irish market for me has to be Polar bread.

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Soup. Good quality soup! It's next to impossible to get good quality take-away soup in the city center. I move between Dublin and Limerick a lot for work and the choice in Limerick is so limited when it comes to lunch.

There is a woman based out of Tipp Town who does quality soup which she sells through Musrgraves and direct. The exact soup I refer to is available in Centra William Street and is really nice as quite affordable.

tomcollins97

Wantobe wrote: »

Personally think it is a great idea. Especially the coffee under one euro bit- I am a coffee addict and would go out of my way if I thought I could get a normal cappuchino or latte for 1 or up to 1.50.

Two more ideas to add-

1. There's a whole class of parents and kids out there as a potential client base- add one row to the 'menu' and make it child friendly- the sort of stuff they will eat- rolled tortillas, plain sliced bread- even with crust off - ham and cheese- quite plain stuff, fruit juices and mini water bottles. You'll get the parents AND the kids- if you could source some kind of novelty paper tray to go with cartoons on it all the better. I know whenever I'm in the city with my children I'm often stuck as to where to go for lunch and I'm not a McD fan so I tend to just go home again- if there was a decent sandwich bar that catered for children I would definitely go there.

2. I'm a coeliac so if you could do coeliac bread and normal fillings you'd get a healthy foot fall from that too. Only problem is that you would have to have a seperate 'gluten free' prep area, knives etc that could not be cross contaminated. The quality of the bread is all important. I saw a few recommendations for restaurants in city centre for lunch based on the fact that they did g-free bread and tried them out. They served the horrible g-free bread that I would never buy, not going back there. There's a whole new era of g-free breads/rolls/ciabbatta that you need to serve if you go down this route.

Really good suggestion s- thanks

tomcollins97

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions! I am at the initil stages of this idea & would be very apprehensive about setting up in business for the first time but it is something I would love to do. Mentions of Limerick being 'doomed' don't exactly fill me with confidence!! Keep the suggestions coming & I will let you know how I get on!

--amadeus--

Go into the Limerick City Enterprise Board (LCEB), same building as the City Library, and ask for an appointment to speak to thier new business advisor (used to be a lady called Burga who is very, very on the ball). They will be able to give youa shedload of advice on starting a business, market research, legal and accounting structures, business and financial planning, cash projections and the like. And the advice is free (though I think there is a nominal cost involved in the training courses).

Get a good accountant - PM me if you need a City accountant's details and an intro. Again 1st meeting will be free and they will give advice on feasibility, cash flow and pricing as well as the best way of funding the start up (and it will be very expensive).

Go to ALL of teh major banks and plan a meeting with thier new business advisor. You will need credit to establish the business which you will have to personally guarantee. With things as they are you will need to put up a hefty % of teh funds yourself but that proportion will be (to an extent) determined by the manager you talk to so you need to convince them that you have a good, well costed and viable plan - this is where the Accountant earns his money.

And research. Walk the streets and look at footfall patterns at lunch time - which streets are busy. How many "suits" pass a given shop front between 1 and 2 on a weekday? How many competitors are there in that area?
Also have you costed yet? It's great to set a target price point but you need to work out if that will be sustainable - factor in the price of raw materials (the food, coffee, etc) and then overheads (staff wages, rates, rent, your own earnings, light, heat). From there work out how many "units" you need to sell in a shift to cover costs and how much profit you wouild like to make per shift. Work out what you can expect to sell in a shift (realistically, based on the measured footfall). From all of this you can calculate your prices. If they are not lower than your nearest competitor then walk away.

Be careful - this is a very bad time to be launching a business but certain businesses are counter cyclical (they do well in bad times). A sandwich bar I would suspect isn't one (people cutting back will bring in thier own lunch) but a well priced eatery with quality food may do ok. But I personally think you are underestimating the size of your target market, the volume of competition, teh setup and running costs. But do your homework and you could prove me wrong!

tomcollins97

Thanks - great feedback. I know it is a huge risk but I will definately seriously look into it. I will be looking at going down the raod of franchising - I have seen a very good new concept in Dublin which may work.

Berty

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Thanks - great feedback. I know it is a huge risk but I will definately seriously look into it. I will be looking at going down the raod of franchising - I have seen a very good new concept in Dublin which may work.

There is a hospitality expo in Birmingham on the 19th of this month. Flights from Shannon are €168 return(161 out and €5 return :mad:) with Ryanair. I am heading over to do some reasearch myself. Its right next to the airport and is one of the biggest expo's in Dublin.

Also, Catex will be held in the RDS simmonscourt in Dublin on the 9th, 10th and 11th of Feb. Its the biggest in Ireland. Numbers are falling off again this year and whilst in a meeting with the organisers before Christmas for 2 hours, during that 2 hours they have 13 stand cancellations.

Its still worth a day out up to Dublin anyway.

tomcollins97

Does anyone know how I could get info on what food outlets are curently in the Technology park in Plassey - apart from driving around it! With approx 3000 employees, according to Shannon development, it could be a spot worth looking at.

--amadeus--

Driving around is teh best way - if you do it at lunchtime then you'll see how busy they are.

I used to work out there and off the top of my head:

- Rios Fish & Chips
- The fast food beside Rios
- The cafe in the Superquinn S/C
- SuperQuinn itself
- The Kilmurry
- Finnegans
- Spar or whatever (down by the Pagoda, do sambos & stuff)
- A couple of places in UL
- The South Court (serve a lot of soup and sandwiches at lunchtime)
- The Hurlers (again soup & sandwiches)
- The Enterprise centre has a cafe for workers in there

Shannon Development run the park, they should be able to tell you who is inside the bounds but remember that workers out there drive to work so they'll often jump in the car to go somewhere to eat at lunch time rather than walk so you need to look at the surrounding areas. Also many (most?) of the companies out there are big enough to have staff canteens.

tomcollins97

Thanks - the driving v's walking/bus is a good thing to think about.

Berty

In Plassey and in the near vicintiy you have the Vivo in Annacotty, Chawkes Service Station, Gleesons spar by the Castletroy Park Hotel and the ULSU has a Spar shop within the UL compound.

There is also the Arena Bar in UL which currently is undergoing development to expand its menu.

Chawkes Service Station was recently made into a Centra but they did not, against many many suggestions, expand which they should have to take in all the business in the area.

The area is lacking a good 9-5 sandwhich shop rather like Murhps in the Old Shannon Industrial estate. You can barely get 3 people in the shop at once but he does a roaring trade even though Brownes sit down deli opened around the corner.

Aidric

I think the city centre is well served by such outlets as you propose. Best of luck with it though if you make the plunge.

Poxyshamrock

If you're interested in Franchising...then Costa is your answer.

one thing the city centre needs is one decent coffee shop with big couches and a relaxed cosy atmosphere.
I hate hard chairs and high stools in bright cafes. I want a nice place where I can lounge in a sofa and enjoy a nice coffee while looking out on the pissing rain.

I'd love starbucks but unfortunately they dont franchise so....Costa maybe?
please

ninty9er

The new building on the corner of Thomas and Catherine Streets would be perfect for Costa, but I wonder is the lease too costly...see what I did there...did you see:D

Limerick Dude

ninty9er wrote: »

The new building on the corner of Thomas and Catherine Streets would be perfect for Costa, but I wonder is the lease too costly...see what I did there...did you see:D

Berty

Im would be concerned about the potential overkill of putting ANOTHER coffee emporium and cafe on Thomas Street.

tomcollins97

What I am thinking about is a bit of a different concept - it would be a self sevice shop with everything laid out in a self service area where you make up your own sambo/salad the way you want - rather than having it made for you. As many indredients as you want to use all for a standard price. I think it would be quite different to what is there already.

What so you think?

ellenmelon

tomcollins97 wrote: »

What I am thinking about is a bit of a different concept - it would be a self sevice shop with everything laid out in a self service area where you make up your own sambo/salad the way you want - rather than having it made for you. As many indredients as you want to use all for a standard price. I think it would be quite different to what is there already.

What so you think?

To be honest I would be wondering about 1)the amount of stock you'd be going through (some people would take the piss for one) and there's the potential to lose money 2)The extra staff needed to purely keep restocking and tidying. I'd say you'd need someone who just did that otherwise it could become a tip 3)Why people would go there. Ah, how do I word it..It would be like making your lunch at home, with other people potentially getting in your way. 4) How many people could you serve over a busy lunch? Not all people will be fast enough making their lunch so there may be hold ups.
At my school cafe (small private training institute so the cafe is small) they for a while had a self service area. Was different from yours as you didn't make the lunch there was just different sized bowls and a selection of hot dishes, soups etc. Wasn't very cost effective for them I don't think as it didn't last long.
Just some thoughts of mine. I work and have worked in hospo so I'm not a expert by no means.The concept just doesn't sound very appealing to me personally.