Teas, coffees and chocolate!

tacofries

Hi guys,

This is porbably my third post about possible business ideas so I am sorry for harrasing ye. After preparing business plans for the other ideas I realised the risk of having to pay back start up costs if the business failed was to great a chance to take since it would result in too much debt for me to continue going to college. This brings me to my next, cheap, start-up idea.

Basically a stand selling tea, coffee, coke, cadburys and crisps on a long nature route used by 200 people a day.

Wholesale and RRP per product would be:

Can Coke: €0.35 RRP: €1.00
Bars: €0.40 RRP: €1.00
Crisps: €0.40 RRP: €1.00
Tea: €0.50 RRP: €1.50

Other cost to consider are:

Burko: €150
Battery and inverter: €250
Trading Licience: €1000
Stall holder insurance: €250

Do you feel I would sell enough products to generate a net profit of €4500 (after start up costs, product costs etc.) if I was to trade from May 1st till August 25th? If not, why not? Would you use the stall if your were out on a nature trail with your girlfriend, family or friend?

Thanks a lot for your help in this post or any of my previous ones. I am just really eager to get something up and running for the summer!

Taco!

bizzyb

Say out of 200 people there are 50 families out of that i would imagine a large chunk would bring there own picnic carrying some of the products you mentioned. Where you could clean up is selling a product the can't bring with them for example.....
I live near a nature trail/park,in the summer its very busy with families out for a walk and a picnic,there does be a guy there with a small ice cream cart and any time we are there i would say a good 80% of people buy from him, maybe just something else to consider that wouldn't require a big start up fee.

BillyBoy13

OP,

I have to say I like the idea and yes I would purchase something from you if I was passing.

However, heres the bit Im struggling with.

Im not sure why you are pushing for the 4500 profit? Is this a goal or requirement?

You want to pay back your outlay *and* get 4500 in 3 months.

1650 + 4500 = 6150

Assuming there are 30 days in each month and you work 5 days a week thats

6150 / 84 = €73 a day to meet your goals.

If the average customer buys a can of coke and a bar thats 1.25 profit

You need 58 of those customers each day, as a matter of fact you need 6 of them every hour for 9 hours a day.

And as its Ireland, I may aswell say it, what happens when its raining? How many people will be out on nature trail walks? Can/will you gamble on us having a good summer? Id imagine this will be a key factor in your final profits.

If for some reason you specifically just want 4500 in 3 months time my advice would be to just get any job you can get in a cafe, tesco, take away etc. Unless you can pull in 6 customers every hour than any minimum wage job will pay better than this idea and have the benefit of zero outlay....

tacofries

BillyBoy13 wrote: »

Im not sure why you are pushing for the 4500 profit? Is this a goal or requirement?


And as its Ireland, I may aswell say it, what happens when its raining? How many people will be out on nature trail walks? Can/will you gamble on us having a good summer? Id imagine this will be a key factor in your final profits.

If for some reason you specifically just want 4500 in 3 months time my advice would be to just get any job you can get in a cafe, tesco, take away etc. .

Hi Billy,

Thanks for the reply!

€4,500 profit is a requirement really as its what I need to pay for accomodation and live fairly comfortable for the first semester of college!

You are dead right about the rainy days affecting footfall, however 200 is the average, so the 'quietness' on the rainy days would result in more than 200 people footfall on the sunny ones!

I actually do have a job that I get paid very well for, just the hours are horrendous and result in me having absolutely no summer! Thus I'd like a 9-5 job or the likes. Also I have always strived to work for my self!

I too share your doubts about 60 customers a day! Is there any other high margin product/service I could provide inorder to increase profit per customer?

Thanks folks!

pog it

It sounds like a risky business. I second the ice cream suggestion, maybe paired with espressos, or filter coffees.

BillyBoy13

tacofries wrote: »

Is there any other high margin product/service I could provide inorder to increase profit per customer?

How are you with sales?

If you could get a second hand kiosk, maybe something like this:



And then stock it with the right products and the right location you would have a better chance of hitting the 4500 figure.

But suppose it depends on how good you are with sales really.....

Voltex

tacofries wrote: »

Hi Billy,

Thanks for the reply!

€4,500 profit is a requirement really as its what I need to pay for accomodation and live fairly comfortable for the first semester of college!

You are dead right about the rainy days affecting footfall, however 200 is the average, so the 'quietness' on the rainy days would result in more than 200 people footfall on the sunny ones!

I actually do have a job that I get paid very well for, just the hours are horrendous and result in me having absolutely no summer! Thus I'd like a 9-5 job or the likes. Also I have always strived to work for my self!

I too share your doubts about 60 customers a day! Is there any other high margin product/service I could provide inorder to increase profit per customer?

Thanks folks!

Just curious OP. Have you considered income tax?
Also your wholesale prices; are they inc or ex VAT?

tacofries

Billy boy, I'd be good at sales, have the type of personality for it. However I do feel that wilth this business it would be a case that if people had no food with them they would buy some, and if they didnt want any they wouldn't. Wouldnt really have much to do with an ability to sell I would think? I like and agree with your Kiosk suggestion but I just wouldnt be able to come up with the seed capital.!

Hi Voltex. If I was earning under €10,000 I am fairly sure I would be exempt from income tax and have to pay next to nothing in USC.. I may be wrong in that though? All the prices I qouted would be including VAT(although I have to admit I wasn't sure until I checked because you made me think of it, making this thread beneficial already!).

highlandseoghan

Once you get your trading licence as far as I am aware it will only allow you to trade in certain areas. Is there stalls / space available in the area that your looking for?

You haven't added in Public liability insurance and what are you planning on trading from eg: van or catering trailer and added in the cost of that.

Although your looking to only get a certain amount of cash to cover college you should consider your business as a full time business and when you go back to college you could hire someone to run it for you and then you could work in it outside of college.

tacofries

highlandseoghan wrote: »

Is there stalls / space available in the area that your looking for?

You haven't added in Public liability insurance and what are you planning on trading from eg: van or catering trailer and added in the cost of that.

.

Hi seoghan,

There is stall space available. Stall holder insurance includes public liability insurance! If I was to sell ice cream it would be from a cart which would be around €400. If no ice cream then the stall would simply be a table done up a bit (cost 50euro maximum).

I suppose the big question really is 'Can I turn 30% of footfall into sales making €1 profit on each?'.

Would you buy anything from the stall highlandseoghan if you were to pass it?

Bandara

tacofries wrote: »

Hi seoghan,

There is stall space available. Stall holder insurance includes public liability insurance! If I was to sell ice cream it would be from a cart which would be around €400. If no ice cream then the stall would simply be a table done up a bit (cost 50euro maximum).

I suppose the big question really is 'Can I turn 30% of footfall into sales making €1 profit on each?'.

Would you buy anything from the stall highlandseoghan if you were to pass it?

30% of footfall into sales? I'd say if you turned 5% into sales you'd be doing very very well

Your far to cheap on your items also imo

I'd be of the opinion that if your doing this just to make 4 grand getting a normal summer job is an infinitely better option

tacofries

Bandara wrote: »

I'd be of the opinion that if your doing this just to make 4 grand getting a normal summer job is an infinitely better option

I have a summer job, just with that theres no life!

highlandseoghan

When you say a table decorated "fancy" is this business idea inside a building or outside?

If I was to buy would depend on the stall. If it looks nice and I am in the mood for whats on sale ye i would buy but if the stall looked dodgy or in a bad way i wouldnt go near it. Your pricing is very cheap and like another poster mentioned 30% to turn into sales is very high I would drop that to at least 5% if you set it up and convert more than 5% it works out better for you.