Business Idea

preciousb

Hi all,

Myself and a friend thought about selling alcohol to students but as a delivery service. We have been dwelling on this idea for months.

There are not many around in our city and it seems like a good idea as a start.

I know there are a lot of licence issues but has anyone actually done a business like this? It is just an idea at the moment but we really are keen to go into this.

pitkin2020

licence issues aside, whilst i think you may have a reasonable idea have you looked into the costings in depth, as i dont think your going to make a great deal of profit from selling to students. Firstly many supermarkets and even off licences have superb deals on cheap drinks mainly because they have the buying power to get it cheaper so you would need to compete with these and finding a supplier with a better price may be hard. Students are usually pretty strapped for cash (once loans run out lol) so i cant see many paying extra just for a delivery.
You will also have the cost of delivery (Fuel, tax, mot, business insurance, upkeep of car/van), storage costs etc etc
I'm not saying its impossible but i think the profit margin would have to be so low to get people to use the service esp at the start, you would also need a good base of customers in one location to make it worth while.
If there is really no supermarkets, off licences or even takeaways for miles around you may do well as you could get orders for take-away and deliver at the same time

paulwf

Have a look at Crateman if you haven't already.

Their business model seems to be to open 11pm to 6am when there are no alternatives and they can then charge very high prices.

They've been around a while now so I suppose it must work. With their pricing model you could even start off by buying your stock when Tesco has offers on.

Looks like you'd need a big city to make it work, and not sure I would want to be on call for those hours, but good luck with it.

lcharm

Check these guys at, as per Paul's post these guys all do late night delviery,

http://dialadrinkgb.com/
And theres another Dial A drink in London too that use justeat.com as a marketing channel.
I've never used them as the only time i've needed alcohol at those hours is in a bar/club!

You'll need to check if there's any licensing you'll need as this is a delviery service and also the fact that certain universities and/or their SUs may not approve of it?

Savvy_Sue

Another of your biggest issues is going to be the need for a very secure storage and a very secure delivery van.

Debt_Free_Chick

And the need for upfront capital to buy the stock. You'll need to stock a supply of every drink that potentially could be ordered - or risk losing the custom.

Annie_Other

Keep an eye on new government legislation, they want to hike up the cost of alcohol, per unit and restrict access to 'younger' adults.