Takeaway concept - your opinion appreciated

hayley11

edinburgher wrote: »

That's a start - I can help with the copy writing as I have to do marketing blurb for my library all the time

I can bring £9.25 in savings and a big pot o' change to the project!

Ooh actually I have £24 in my paypal account and £20 in £2 coins :j :j

Let's hope Avantra has got lots of money hidden under the bed

avantra

After a process of creating the business plan, went to different lenders grants etc' to my surprise they all said it's a good b.plan and a sound financial investment, however in the current climate I should understand that their 'doubling their risk'

Why? I thought financial risk is their in any future investment.

I have 30k to my name and I will need about 20 more for a 'take away only - hole in the wall establishment'

The most expensive bit? = the rent for a shop outside our train station, it was closed 9 month ago (use to be a small stationary shop).

So at the moment applying for some biz development grant (only 2k) and going back to work to save more ££ I am afraid.

edinburgher

Why? I thought financial risk is their in any future investment.

I'd imagine they're looking to bump up their own profits to some extent. As well as this, however, there's no confidence in the markets at the moment and huge ratings agencies completely failed to predict the economic rout of the last two years. I strongly suspect that increasingly more expensive credit and investments will be significantly harder to come by in future.

I have 30k to my name and I will need about 20 more for a 'take away only - hole in the wall establishment'

Is this with or without external finance? Also, have you considered taking on a business partner? The silly comments from Hayley and I aside, there's obviously a general feeling that this business could work well if pitched correctly and the fact that lenders think your business plan is ok is also a positive sign that might attract an active or sleeping partner.

avantra

30k is my own set aside savings, good idea about a partner, however I did look and couldn't find anyone who is willing to put in as much as I am willing to put in (work and capital) this is my main condition 'a partner will have to put in as much as I do'. I suppose it is putting off some pips but hey ho I can't see how it can be viable otherwise.

In the meanwhile I had a look in the surrounding towns and catering (no shops just catering) is suffering and some are on the brink. Look like a bigger storm is brewing when many have to renegotiate the biz rent.
Can't see how commercial landlords can afford such long voids , the word on the street is that some moved their biz away to cheaper landlords and not died completely.

delain

theres a company called eismann who deliver frozen ready meals to your door. The cakes are lovely but my god it's expensive.

edinburgher

this is my main condition 'a partner will have to put in as much as I do

That's a fair ask - although I suspect it'd be easier finding either:

a) a competent manager type who would essentially run the business for you
b) an investor who'd front the cash, but probably couldn't be bothered with the day to day

Expecting both might be a bit ambitious. After all - it's your idea, your 'baby' and you'd need to be lucky to find someone who would buy into your idea completely, match you in energy and input, but essentially invest their time and money in a fait accompli. That said, if you were flexible to small changes around the edges of your idea you may find someone in time.

In the meanwhile I had a look in the surrounding towns and catering (no shops just catering) is suffering and some are on the brink

This doesn't surprise me - see comments from other posters on the fact that people are cooking for themselves more due to the recession.

keeping saving for the moment would seem to be the right thing. You'd need nerves of steel or complete recklessness to try and start a new catering business in the next year or so

sarah_elton

Fuzzy's Grub, a chain in London, do take-away roast dinners; very popular with the city crowd at lunchtimes. A huge (as in I usually can't eat it all) plateful of roast (meat, potatoes, yorkshires, veg, gravy) for £5.95. Brilliant.

http://www.fuzzysgrub.com/index.html

It's all served carvery style - so pre-cooked and kept on a hot bar. They have about 5 staff, one on meat, one on potatoes, one on veg, etc and your box gets passed along and filled. By doing it this way, their service is exceptionally fast (but then it needs to be because of the sheer numbers they sell to). If you're going to target people coming out of a station on their way home you need to get the food out fast. At the end of a long day, no-one wants to wait around for half an hour for their food.

Do you have any idea yet what sort of price you'd charge for what meals? The problem will be that once you get more expensive than the usual naff takeaway food, you'll rapidly start to hit pub grub prices as there's not a huge gap between them. As others have said, also pricing relative to a high quality ready meal like M&S or Waitrose will be tricky.

edinburgher

They have about 5 staff, one on meat, one on potatoes, one on veg, etc and your box gets passed along and filled

Sounds like the Ikea canteen

avantra

sarah_elton wrote: »

Fuzzy's Grub, a chain in London, do take-away roast dinners; very popular with the city crowd at lunchtimes. A huge (as in I usually can't eat it all) plateful of roast (meat, potatoes, yorkshires, veg, gravy) for £5.95. Brilliant.

http://www.fuzzysgrub.com/index.html

It's all served carvery style - so pre-cooked and kept on a hot bar. They have about 5 staff, one on meat, one on potatoes, one on veg, etc and your box gets passed along and filled. By doing it this way, their service is exceptionally fast (but then it needs to be because of the sheer numbers they sell to). If you're going to target people coming out of a station on their way home you need to get the food out fast. At the end of a long day, no-one wants to wait around for half an hour for their food.

Do you have any idea yet what sort of price you'd charge for what meals? The problem will be that once you get more expensive than the usual naff takeaway food, you'll rapidly start to hit pub grub prices as there's not a huge gap between them. As others have said, also pricing relative to a high quality ready meal like M&S or Waitrose will be tricky.

Spot on, this is the kind of idea (and pricing) I have in mind tho on a slightly smaller scale.

edinburgher

you'll rapidly start to hit pub grub prices

Contrary to what the papers say, I'm sure that there's a solid core of Brits who'd quite like robust, pub grub style food without actually having to go to the pub and spend their hard earned on drinks (which is, let's face it, where the pubs make their money!) It's all too easy for a £3 Wetherspoon's meal to turn into a £10 bill when you find yourself sitting there two hours later on your third pint....