Takeaway concept - your opinion appreciated

avantra

After I was made redundant I decided to research an idea I have on the back burner for a long time.
Real simple ‘homeley’ and healthy food by weight to take away and eat at home (just regular British/European dishes). I know its sound simplistic but as I am surrounded by people who try to watch what they eat and when it’s come down to take away there is only Pizza/Indian/Chinese/ready meals in the supermarkets. All these institution are proud to produce fat/sugar/salt laden products, but if I feel lazy to cook and want to have a nice hot takeaway meal cooked (today) we have no high street alternatives in this country. So I compromise on whatever looked semi decent in the Supermarket.

In some countries in South America they call it ‘Comida a Kilo’ where you buy the food by the weight and then sit in or go home with your dish. I am NOT talking about a place where there is sitting and dining, just food and no cr**p.:mad:

My question even after writing 50% of my business plan is why not here in Britain??? I think it might work in a place where clients can still afford to pay for good reasonably priced food on the way from work (I am near the Surry Hants border).
Are we so in love with fast cr**p? I hate to give this kind of food to my kids as they just hook on it forever.

PasturesNew

What sort of things? Give 3-5 examples and prices to get us going.

MrsE_2

Its kinda being done

http://www.cookfood.net/

lynzpower

There are a few of these in london, and brighton.

I have aso seen Brazil by kilo in london, it gdts good reviews too

I think in a way you have to do only a small amountof dishes. For example as toby carvery does if it is hot food. There are a lot fo hot food takeaways and the problem is so many dishes need to be eaten there and then ( eg roast dinner) not reherated.

I have seen a number of outlets in london though that do gourmet ready meals made by a real person, certianly Ive driven past one in Hampstead ( have a google) and there is one in brighton im sure that do eg family sized lasagnes to reheat at home, pies quiches that sort of thing. I did think it was rather expensive though I wonder if theres a market for it now, after all are people going back to basics and learning to cook themselves more to save money

Shiny.Side.Up

If you're describing what I think you are, we do it at our local pub! Our chef will cook anything on the menu (from steak down to suasage and mash, casserole, curry, baps, bapizzas, burgers etc) all home made by him from scratch and does it all to order and take away if you please. :P

paulwf

avantra wrote: »

when it’s come down to take away there is only Pizza/Indian/Chinese/ready meals in the supermarkets.

I know M&S might not have quite the same range as other supermarkets, but there are plenty of healthy options and diet options, and all supermarkets are starting to pay more attention to reducing salt and fat levels.

Don't forget that with British dishes they might not come in one pack (TV dinner style!) but you can buy a pie, mash and veg side dish that can all be microwaved to create a whole meal.

Some areas worth looking into:

- why are takeaways selling the type of food they do? A lot of it is undoubtedly due to patterns of immigration, but it is also likely to be that a lot of people know how to cook British food but struggle to make a decent curry so are happy to buy this in. Also, takeaway food is seen as a treat and we want something that we don't cook everyday at home.

- cost of goods. The gross profit is the key to success or failure of a catering business, generally with high fat, high salt and highly spiced food you can get away with cheap ingredients. Can you do this with healthy food?

- production. Once you have a stack of bases and the ingredients prepped a chef can probably make a pizza in a minute. Curry can be made in a huge pan. Can you achieve the same productivity with the food you plan?

- reheating. Chinese food is mainly stir fried so can be cooked to order in little time. A curry has lots of thick sauce so will stay hot for a long time. What about your food? Can you get it home in one piece and can you microwave it? Generally potato based dishes are a pain to warm through in a microwave.

avantra

MrsE wrote: »

Its kinda being done

http://www.cookfood.net/

Thank you for the link MrsE.
I heard of Cook and I think they have carved a good market, I am not sure
if they only sell frozen meals, I will pay them a visit this week to see and have a chat.

I suppose I am thinking along the lines of selling only fresh cooked dishes of a limited range, basic dishes for the recession affected person that don't want the usual stuff.
I was thinking a very small 'tip your toes' kind of operation not a catering biz, a small place along the lines of Chinese takeaway with a clean pleasant interior.
I would say location is vital and that's why I think small is better. Say getting a relatively expensive lease in a good location outside the train station for example and spend less on the size of the shop and marketing.

From what I read on Cook's web site, their business concept only managed to catch strongly once they went 'big' and expanded (Franchising, selling to wholesalers etc').

As to the recession, this is my greatest concern. I live in Surry and the Cotswold and the high street in the west country is been decimated as any other place. I went to Bath last week and it's a carnage of whitewashed windows along every side street (and some on the high street as well).

However all the takeaways were doing a roaring trade converting cheap oil to a fat income.

Meeting with BusinessLink in two weeks to see what they have to offer.:rolleyes:

MrsE_2

avantra wrote: »

Thank you for the link MrsE.
I heard of Cook and I think they have carved a good market, I am not sure
if they only sell frozen meals, I will pay them a visit this week to see and have a chat.

I suppose I am thinking along the lines of selling only fresh cooked dishes of a limited range, basic dishes for the recession affected person that don't want the usual stuff.
I was thinking a very small 'tip your toes' kind of operation not a catering biz, a small place along the lines of Chinese takeaway with a clean pleasant interior.
I would say location is vital and that's why I think small is better. Say getting a relatively expensive lease in a good location outside the train station for example and spend less on the size of the shop and marketing.

From what I read on Cook's web site, their business concept only managed to catch strongly once they went 'big' and expanded (Franchising, selling to wholesalers etc').

As to the recession, this is my greatest concern. I live in Surry and the Cotswold and the high street in the west country is been decimated as any other place. I went to Bath last week and it's a carnage of whitewashed windows along every side street (and some on the high street as well).

However all the takeaways were doing a roaring trade converting cheap oil to a fat income.

Meeting with BusinessLink in two weeks to see what they have to offer.:rolleyes:

For what its worth, I think its a great idea.
Hubby often says lets get a takeaway & I say NO, too much sat fat:eek:

I use "Cook" for my mum, I must throw a couple in my freezer in case I don't want to cook.

I know you won't open near me, but if you did, I would probably use you.

lisa76

Just had a look at Cook and it looks lovely, if a little pricey for me.

I often think that what's missing is a take away that does nice home cooked 'British' food.

Good luck with your business, and if you were around by me I'd use you!

paulwf

Several of the Cook stores look like they are in commuter belt locations that have train stations but not a supermarket nearby, I bet getting the location right is the most important thing.

I remember a company that had outlets at London train stations called Leaping Salmon that sold meal kits i.e. all the ingredients were prepared and you just had to cook them, it was a good idea but they never made a profit: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/thresher-snaps-up-leapingsalmon-to-sell-gourmet-meal-kits-in-500-offlicences-585971.html

There was a home cooking style takeaway where I used to live and it never did much. I also remember an old episode of Dragons Den where someone had the idea of a British takeaway and the Dragons ridiculed it.

What I'm trying to say is it could be a huge gap in the market...but do a lot of trials and market research first as it might be the gap is there for a reason. You should be able to do a trial run from your kitchen or from a catering van before taking the plunge with a full scale business.

Even if you go for the takeaway route incorporating the Cook concept sounds like a good idea. I have heard negative comments about meals on wheels style companies (Wiltshire Farm Foods etc), if you can offer something similar but far superior quality and not too expensive you could have a good daytime sideline to the business.

Also I would urge keeping the pricing simple or at least do market research into what customers prefer. The M&S 3 for £5 meal deal offer is hugely popular as it gets people through half of the working week, could you do something similar? A Monday to Friday meal plan with more complex options at the weekend similar to the dine in for £10 meal deal (sorry for all the M&S references!) might work.

To keep rents down could you have the main kitchen off site in a very cheap unit then you'd only need a small shop in the prime location?

flea72

as with everything your main problem is going to be pricing. CookFood, is only found in areas, where people have more money, than [STRIKE]sense[/STRIKE] time to cook. Judging by the customers in all the ones i have looked around, its affluent, single, older people - who want a nice meal for one, but can no longer cope with the prep side of things, and think 'meals on wheels' isnt for them. But charging £3.50 for a single portion of Lasagne, that you then have to cook yourself, is a very niche/limited market

Unless you can undercut M&S foodtogo, or set up in places they dont already have a stranglehold, then i think you will find it hard

Flea