want to open up an internet cafe not sure where to start

jamespir

in our town there is a rather large shop come available it used to be a chipshop cafe but they went bust (not sure how ) its in a prime area of the town and the rent is fairly cheap

now i have been unemployed for what seems like an age although its since may and i have found it difficult to get a job as i dont have a passport or full birth certificate

so ive decided to set up my own buisness and i did a bit of research and the response i got back was that people wanted a cafe and also somwhere they could use the internet ..

so ive thought up an internet cafe so i chatted with busines eye and they gave me some info on buisness plans etc

now i found some where where i can get internet ready pc's for free or next to nothing

and ive worked out how to provide tea coffee and sandwiches at a very low cost to me too

but id like some info on what to do next some people have mentioned getting a startup grant which would help with refurb costs etc


do i need planing permission ?


i have basic and advanced food hygeine certificates but would i need anything else to provide food ( its perhaps only gonna be snacks and cold food )

theres also the matter of being able to provide internet services (i suppose its just a matter of finding an isp who offers business broadband

if anyone can help or give me some hints i would be ever so grateful

PolishBigSpender

How much money do you have to invest?

jamespir

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

How much money do you have to invest?

well as long as things go to plan about 1,500 ive applied for a loan and the council have said they will give me a grant to of the same price

so 3,000 overall

PasturesNew

I worked in a company that had all the spare space and staff already, they were running a print shop and decided to open an internet cafe there. They had no extra costs involved beyond sourcing the cheap PCs and connecting them up to the Internet. Building was already paid for, rates, water, electricity was already covered, staff already were standing there so free.

They had about 12-15 PCs. They opened up .... there was usually just 1-3 people in. He was making about an average of £5/hour from it, on good days.

This was in a building with central location, fantastic visibility, in a town with a lot of transient people (tourists, backpackers working the season, daytrippers, locals) ... yet nobody bothered to use it. Big signs outside, big 4' high floppy sign advertising, huuuuge lettering on the side of the brightly painted building - right next to a very very busy small supermarket. Loads of passing people, all traffic coming into town couldn't miss it/went past it. Nobody came in.

Do you know people would actually come to an internet cafe? Many people will say they want something, then never use it.

All this was in about 2006, when less people had less access to their own internet and mobile devices were the domain of only really wealthy people.

jamespir

PasturesNew wrote: »

I worked in a company that had all the spare space and staff already, they were running a print shop and decided to open an internet cafe there. They had no extra costs involved beyond sourcing the cheap PCs and connecting them up to the Internet. Building was already paid for, rates, water, electricity was already covered, staff already were standing there so free.

They had about 12-15 PCs. They opened up .... there was usually just 1-3 people in. He was making about an average of £5/hour from it, on good days.

This was in a building with central location, fantastic visibility, in a town with a lot of transient people (tourists, backpackers working the season, daytrippers, locals) ... yet nobody bothered to use it. Big signs outside, big 4' high floppy sign advertising, huuuuge lettering on the side of the brightly painted building - right next to a very very busy small supermarket. Loads of passing people, all traffic coming into town couldn't miss it/went past it. Nobody came in.

Do you know people would actually come to an internet cafe? Many people will say they want something, then never use it.

All this was in about 2006, when less people had less access to their own internet and mobile devices were the domain of only really wealthy people.

i thinks so theres always hoardes of people queueing outside the library on the couple of days its open and all have mentione they could do with somwhere else and wouldnt mind paying also there is a need for a place to do coffee they have a market on wednesdays and despite having greggs and another couple of "sandwich shops " theres a severe lack of sit down cafe type places so my main sort of objection would be to cover that first and use the internet side to boost profits

martindow

As ever Business Link is always a good starting point

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/

You would also need to comply with food hygeine regulations. I imagine your local authority could advise on this.

£3000 does not sound sufficient as start up investment to me, but seek advice and see if it is possible. Good luck with it all.

paulwf

jamespir wrote: »

i thinks so theres always hoardes of people queueing outside the library on the couple of days its open and all have mentione they could do with somwhere else and wouldnt mind paying

But will they actually pay? And at a rate that is profitable?

TBH now computers are so cheap and there is PAYG (mobile) broadband there isn't going to be much regular demand unless you have a a very transient population (visiting students etc). Even then netbooks and smart phones are taking a large chunk of the demand for the internet when not at home.

Internet cafes now have such cheap hourly rates it doesn't seem worth it for the space and resources the customer uses up.

paulwf

jamespir wrote: »

they have a market on wednesdays

And how strong is demand the other 6 days of the week?

paulwf

jamespir wrote: »

now i have been unemployed for what seems like an age although its since may and i have found it difficult to get a job as i dont have a passport or full birth certificate

This is something you need to get sorted before going any further. If you think you have trouble getting a job without ID wait until you try to get a business bank account or commercial solicitor or anything like that.

Is there a specific reason you haven't got a passport sorted already?

kai666

I would have thought, unless you are in an area with lots of foreign students and/or tourists an internet cafe is a bit of a non starter. Most people have internet access nowadays through home/work/phone/free at the library

Very few people need to pay for internet access nowadays

jamespir

paulwf wrote: »

And how strong is demand the other 6 days of the week?

very much as i say the only source of computers is the library and there open tuesday and thursday and they cant cope with the amount of people whio want to use them

also there is always loads of people looking for somwhere to have coffee

the local greggs must get asked lots cause they have a sign in the window saying sorry we dont sell coffee or tea