Ideas for a small business?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Cafe i say. But one that does snobbish stuff, eggs benedict, quiche, vegan cake, gluten free cake etc etc... Not a sausage egg and beans cafe. You want a spot for the mummies to turn up and relax as well as free wi-fi for working from home people.

Throw in some Artisan Bread and posh snacks and you'll be all good.

There are loads of those near me, I don't think any one of them (perhaps with one exception) has been in business more than a year. The same premises keep relaunching the same concept under different ownership/branding.

It's enough to make me think they're all scams/tax dodges/money laundering.

Or just a terrible idea

[weeksy]

There's 2 near me, both been going over a decade

[Horse]

After that, pet grooming, cleaning, sorting services. Wash and blow dry etc..

i.e. 'things that can't be done online'.

But the flip side side is that it's difficult to grow the business. eg A dog only needs a trim every few weeks

[Count Steer]

After that, pet grooming, cleaning, sorting services. Wash and blow dry etc..

i.e. 'things that can't be done online'.

But the flip side side is that it's difficult to grow the business. eg A dog only needs a trim every few weeks

We have a mobile dog primper locally...they come to you. Seems to do good business.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

A KFC franchise

[Scud]

Depends what sort of village it is too, lots of middle class with spare cash, or struggling families who need a discount shop

[Horse]

pain free

Currently, you're starting from an empty building and trying to fill it.

Start from the other end, with a few questions along the lines of:
- do you need extra money?
- does it need to earn enough profit to make it worthwhile? Or just cover costs?
- how much time and money are you willing to put in before it even covers running costs, let alone profit?
- what would you be happy doing? Is this something you can monetise?

You talked about employing family. That makes it, for you, a long-term investment. You can't get bored, or fed up with annoying customers, and just shut it down.

But you know all this.

[Horse]

Depends what sort of village it is too, lots of middle class with spare cash, or struggling families who need a discount shop

I live in a supposedly affluent town. But there are several shop units empty. We have several charity shops - one even has an out of town 'superstore'!

Discount shop means low margins, small profits.

[DefTrap]

Some friends bought a small deli - over the years this had morphed into their dream, a big deli / cafe / brasserie where the chef could showcase some great recipes.

Didn't really work out - biggest problems ...
- staff. Over and above a normal shop you need loads of them to do all the extras - cook, wait, clean, man tills. You need masses of them if you want to stay open 8+ hours a day and 7 days a week, with all the extra work that comes with employing and managing lots of people. Hard to pay the good ones who will maintain standards enough to retain them or to provide adequate cover when you yourself want some time off, or even a holiday.
- customers. Say they want quality but aren't always prepared to pay for it. Will readily defect in droves if a new, cheaper place opens down the street.
- turnover. Massive peaks and troughs of when the place is busy and empty. Everybody comes at the same time wanting coffee, sandwiches, pizzas etc.

In the end it was too much hassle, and got bored of banging out (nice) food at a fast-food-joint pace. They converted back to a (much larger) deli. Fewer staff, fewer peaks and troughs of when its busy and empty, overall less mess and wastage and hassle

[Yorick]

It's hard to think of a business where you can set up and have people come to you and spend their money.

There are always loads of posts on the village FB chat asking for plumbers/electricians/etc, but it's a pain in the arse doing trade work for people, the money is good but I'm not really bothered about the money anymore, I just want something interesting and pain free to do.

General Fixit business.?

Washing machines, lawnmowers, bicycles etc?

They bring it, you mend it.

[Count Steer]

Similar to Deftrap's tale. The juice bar I mentioned earlier was a refurbished but completely bare unit. Fit out costs...£100k iirc. The main 'thing' was juices, ginger shots, detox, etc etc but they served good coffee (never heard of it before, Chimney Fire), teas and food. They had outside tables in summer and was in a pretty prime location...you pretty much had to pass it on the way from the car park to everything else.

Business was peaky (so there were often delays), getting good staff was an issue, 'home made' cakes and pastries were bought in (they were made in someone's home) and I assume the commercial coffee m/c was leased. The juicers were expensive American jobs and kept breaking with long waits for spares, so back-up m/c's were required. Business picked up when Costa closed for a period (water leak into electricals) but they struggled with demand. Every day the place had to be cleaned inc equipment, kitchen and bogs so it wasn't just 8am to 5pm.

It lasted 18 months.

[Cousin Jack]

The average life span of a food service business was about 18 months some time ago. Lots of established ones that last for years, but even more that go tits-up in moths

[Horse]

Idea for a small business: start with a big one?

[gremlin]

There's a real ale pub-type place near me that doubles as a flower shop during the day. Totally different to a cafe granted, but it's a clever way of increasing the usage of a unit. Another place near me is a cafe that doubles as a cycling shop.

Just adding that idea into the mix.

[MyLittleStudPony]

I guess it would really depend on who is in the area and what else is on offer.

It's not something I know anything about but I suspect unless you go for something you have experience in or know a lot about / are passionate about, it would be easy to get burnt.


edit - similar to what G-dog said: I recall a new, trendy barber shop by day, bar by night doing well

[Count Steer]

Another place near me is a cafe that doubles as a cycling shop.

We've had 2 of those, coffee, cake and bike servicing. I think the first one (Pedal and Spoke?) closed (it was in quite a big unit on the High St that used to be a white goods shop). One of the guys set up in a smaller place off the High St (no coffee ) and did OK so moved a few doors down into a bigger place (that used to be a clothes alteration and bespoke clothes shop - proms dresses, wedding dresses etc*) and opened the café operation again. Closed up and does bike servicing at home now I believe.

It's pretty brutal out there.

* Tale of woe. They got one of the TV business 'gurus' involved (Mary Portas) who persuaded them to expand. They did....and went bust.

[Dodgy69]

I wouldn't bother, it'll just give you hassle and stress.

[Taipan]

Undertakers. People are dying to get into that game!

[Noggin]

My goal out here is to find somewhere with a small bit of terrace, south facing to set up a tea shop!! I have specific plans for the type of food and drink.

Obviously a licence BUT - no inclination to compete with the bars in winter or even in summer (mostly cos I do so hate drunks!!!).

However, I would 100% want to be open through the interseason, especially on weekends. There is a huge gap in providing a place for locals in the interseason.


I'm still working out how to staff it (as in numbers/trust/attitude/languages!) and I know that rents up here are mad.

But - it's only a dream. If pigs fly and life falls into place, then I will try very very hard to make it happen as I am sure that I can make it work. But I'm pretty passionate about cooking/baking and miss a certain type of cafe/tea shop that I can't get here!!


In my few - you have to find something you really WANT to do. Something that interests you. Something you won't get bored of. Something that will make you smile

I reckon that without those, it will be a trial and struggle to get going.

But I am probably wrong!!! I'm not really a business person (much more of an ideas and plans person!!)

[KungFooBob]

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A safe space for geeks to come play D&D and Catan without getting beat up, the profit comes from the nerds paying Iccy protection money.