Cafe set up.

Newbee012

Hi,

Looking at opening up coffee shop/cafe. would anyone know where or who would insure such a business. And if you'd be able to give ball park figure that would be helpful so I know what to expect!
Premises is around 1000sq feet.
What would I need to take into consideration.
I have a premises in mind, and the rent is up for negotiation.
There would be activities/equipment onsite for small children.

Very early days of planning so any advice is welcome.

Thanks

jimmii

Where abouts are you thinking of doing it? Cafes are popping up everywhere these days seems everyone thinks its going to be easy money. Have you got any experience of running a business or running a cafe? We were just talking about what we would do with a cafe now and I think you want to have a real strong USP to make it work you need to give people a good reason to go to you over whatever brand names operate near you. Go and sit outside the location as much as possible to get a real feel for what the footfall is going to be like and do it at different times on different days to give you an idea of how its going to vary over the week.

Insurance wise contact a broker we used Chill and saved a fortune it cost way less than we expected! I think ball park you are probably looking at about €1k I have a retail shop the exact same size and our insurance is about €500 a year (actually went down this year amazingly!!) so I would imagine for a coffee shop you would be looking at doubt due to the hot liquids knocking around!

What you are going to need to do ahead of time is probably going to depend on whether you are going to have food as the HSE will have to have inspections etc. I would contact your local enterprise board they will run start your own business courses and hopefully some more specifically relevant ones to what you are doing and will be able to give you loads of good information!

Newbee012

jimmii wrote: »

Where abouts are you thinking of doing it? Cafes are popping up everywhere these days seems everyone thinks its going to be easy money. Have you got any experience of running a business or running a cafe? We were just talking about what we would do with a cafe now and I think you want to have a real strong USP to make it work you need to give people a good reason to go to you over whatever brand names operate near you. Go and sit outside the location as much as possible to get a real feel for what the footfall is going to be like and do it at different times on different days to give you an idea of how its going to vary over the week.

Insurance wise contact a broker we used Chill and saved a fortune it cost way less than we expected! I think ball park you are probably looking at about €1k I have a retail shop the exact same size and our insurance is about €500 a year (actually went down this year amazingly!!) so I would imagine for a coffee shop you would be looking at doubt due to the hot liquids knocking around!

What you are going to need to do ahead of time is probably going to depend on whether you are going to have food as the HSE will have to have inspections etc. I would contact your local enterprise board they will run start your own business courses and hopefully some more specifically relevant ones to what you are doing and will be able to give you loads of good information!

I actually contacted chill, & am waiting a call back.
Yes, I have a USP, which I of course think is brilliant! But doesn't everyone think that about their own ideas lol. I've chatted to few people & asked around and there is no cafe that provides my USP within at least 15km.
The area is young enough, in that there are a lot of new families with children now flooding the area so they would be my target market, and the area is still growing. Houses are selling & being built also still around here, so there would be a continuation of new families in the next few years.

Rent is a sticking point though.. Although he has said negotiable, realistically it would have to be halved what he asking for the unit. €25 per sq ft. Excessive for a suburb?
I could go elsewhere for half the price, but then would be slightly outside where I would need & want to be for the footfall.
Good idea about sitting outside, I will certainly do that.
Plus this unit already has planning for a cafe.
Any idea if it's easy enough to have a look at planning app that's in place? Is it easy to make modifications?
I will certainly look at local entreprise board & see how they can help me also.
Thanks for your tips

Graham

Google 'specialist commercial insurance broker', make some calls.

jimmii

Newbee012 wrote: »

I actually contacted chill, & am waiting a call back.
Yes, I have a USP, which I of course think is brilliant! But doesn't everyone think that about their own ideas lol. I've chatted to few people & asked around and there is no cafe that provides my USP within at least 15km.
The area is young enough, in that there are a lot of new families with children now flooding the area so they would be my target market, and the area is still growing. Houses are selling & being built also still around here, so there would be a continuation of new families in the next few years.

Rent is a sticking point though.. Although he has said negotiable, realistically it would have to be halved what he asking for the unit. €25 per sq ft. Excessive for a suburb?
I could go elsewhere for half the price, but then would be slightly outside where I would need & want to be for the footfall.
Good idea about sitting outside, I will certainly do that.
Plus this unit already has planning for a cafe.
Any idea if it's easy enough to have a look at planning app that's in place? Is it easy to make modifications?
I will certainly look at local entreprise board & see how they can help me also.
Thanks for your tips

Footfall is definitely worth paying for I don't think €25 is too bad rents have gone up a lot recently it seems obviously just try get them down as much as possible and be sure to add in a break clause just in case we were able to get a 3 year lease with an unlimited break clause after 18 months just to safe. Definitely best to look at the current planning and make sure what you are intending to do fits within that probably best to check with a lawyer to be sure if you are in doubt at all.

skelligs

Check everything.

Families with young children have very little disposable income.

Cafes that encourage children do so at expense of those looking for peace and quiet.

Cost of fit out is not cheap. Health and safety regulations are quite stringent.

Just being devil's advocate.

YellowSheep

Hi
Give me a PM.
Cheers Oliver