I want to start my own business - lunch joint (lease, commission)

[MsAnnThrope]

All advice welcome!

I will have a bit of start up capital and want to lease a shop in a heavy industry area, and start a breakfast/lunch takeaway with a lunch delivery service on the side.

Anyone ever done this?

[Billy_J]

Start by visiting your local county health department (or whichever agency licenses food establishments).

Around here they require special stainless steel kitchen equipment and that food be kept at certain temperatures, etc. Anyway the cost of all that stuff can keep someone from going into that business.

So find out how much everything you will need will cost first.

[Ghengis]

while a good idea, I think the cops would probably shut you down

[chet everett]

The category of business with the greatest probability for failure withing the first year has consistently been resturant / food service. The reason that franchise firms from Subway to McDonalds to Dunkin Donuts don't just let anyone with a breifcase full of money open a store is becuase they know how hard it is to succeed and they have detailed selection criteria for new franchisees, extensive training organizations, a huge detailed oriented supplier network and dozens of other steps that help to make success a little more likely than failure.

I have dozens, maybe hundreds of folks with "their heart in the right place" fail miserably in the business of trying to make a buck selling breakfast or lunch to folks.

The best location for a take out / delivery type restuarant is almost certainly NOT in an area of heavy industry as the propensity of such workers to buy lunch is likely much smaller than other kinds of workers.

[AlfredB1979]

Having worked in industry, the problem is hoping that a bunch of guys who work 12 hour shifts (or longer) want to swipe their cards at the gate and drive on out of the gate to see you and take up their whole lunch in line. We get tired of eating the same stuff, too, so you may not see many for weeks at a time.

Oh, having run a restaurant in a past lifetime (took over from the previous boss), one that I did make deliveries with, you will be shocked how fickle your customer base is. Some want delivery, but others will suddenly get the urge to want to be their office delivery guy when times get tough and everyone in the office is crabby and a pain to be around. So, now you've got a delivery person (unless it is you) that you have no use for...but, (s)he wants to get paid, nonetheless.

When "the fit hits the shan", everyone suddenly becomes a healthier eater (or more likely) or becomes a really big fan of eating at/from home.

God forbid I wasn't tired of flipping burgers for a living after that and still doing this. Food costs are insanely higher than what they were ten years ago from my quick glance. Imagine if I still had the same food vendor rep who thought my tendency towards efficiency and lean stock wasn't good enough for his commission so he jacked prices on my products up when he felt like before I canned him? This was a guy I had known for some years when the biz first opened, too. Yeah, it's things like that which hit you when you least expect.

Better idea: Open a small sno-cone trailer. Weather is usually good for that in Oz, right? Low cost and you keep 90% of the take aside from paying your school-aged kid min wage plus tips. Flavors are cheap to make. With a restaurant, count on 90% of the take going anywhere BUT your pocket. When you need to adjust prices up, your customers all but commit suicide in front of you.

When people ask why I haven't gotten back into the biz, with a stone cold straight face, I tell them that I like getting paid and not volunteering my time and sweat for ~15 hours a day while everyone has their hand out asking for my money. That's all. I wasn't in love with doing that so much that I couldn't tell myself "it's time" to shut 'er down when I did. I had a "heart to heart with myself over the Christmas holiday with myself before taking over to reaffirm that.