running costs of a small chippy

saxysarah

i've had the opportunity of opening a small chip shop newly fitted out - i have enough money to get into the business without borrowing but am wondering how to estimate the weekly running costs as the chip shop is not currently open due to the last owner doing a moonlight flit - any points or tips would be greatly appreciated ;-)

paulwf

You could do a cashflow plan, such as the excel template provided by business link:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1073791120&lang=mqpjjuqrwgc

Try and focus on your main costs. I expect stock, rent, staffing, packaging and electricity will form a bulk of your outgoings so try and get figures for those, it doesn't matter getting an accurate figure for minor stuff.

There usually a trade association that can help, and better still your trade association offers training courses for startups. I bet something like that would be invaluable:

http://www.federationoffishfriers.co.uk/pages/training-courses-77.htm

saxysarah

thanks for the links - will have a good look and see where it gets me - my problem is i'm guessing in the dark for things like electric/water/gas as I have no idea what those type of costs might equate to on a weekly basis

ciano125

My initial concern would be "why did the last guy do a runner?" Could he not make any money from it??

saxysarah

nope he had an affair with one of his staff! according to a variety of sources prior to that it was very busy!

paulwf

saxysarah wrote: »

thanks for the links - will have a good look and see where it gets me - my problem is i'm guessing in the dark for things like electric/water/gas as I have no idea what those type of costs might equate to on a weekly basis

Give the Federation a call or go on their course You'd be amazed in business how many people will give you lots of help for nothing.

As they always say about fish & chips you buy your stock in the morning and sell it in the evening. Far better than a shop where you might have tens of thousands of pounds of stock and some of it might take a year to sell.